Summary

The author recounts two personal experiences of nearly drowning at Maresias beach, highlighting the unpredictability of life-threatening situations and the impact of storytelling on perceived heroism.

Abstract

The narrative describes the author's childhood encounter with a dangerous sea current at Maresias beach, where a lack of lifeguards and a miscommunication with an adult nearly led to tragedy. Years later, as an adult, the author finds themselves in a similar perilous situation while accompanying a friend and ex-girlfriend into the sea. Despite initial attempts to rescue his girlfriend, the author requires assistance from a lifeguard, who directs them to an underwater sandbank. The story concludes with the author's surprise at learning his ex-girlfriend's retelling of the event, which inaccurately portrays the lifeguard as the hero who saved them from drowning.

Opinions

The author reflects on the irony of nearly drowning as a child despite having some swimming lessons, emphasizing overconfidence in one's abilities.
There is a sense of frustration towards the adult who initially ignored the author's pleas for help during the first incident.
The author acknowledges the increased danger of the beach due to strong currents, which is a recurring theme in both incidents.
The story conveys a sense of responsibility and concern for others, as the author accompanies his girlfriend into the sea despite knowing the risks.
The author expresses annoyance at the inaccurate retelling of the second incident by his ex-girlfriend, which diminishes his role and credits the lifeguard unduly.
The author seems to critique the Brazilian saying "Whoever tells a story increases a beat," implying that embellishing stories can unfairly alter perceptions of events and the people involved.

The day I Saved an Ungrateful Life

Or “Whoever tells a story increases a beat.”

When I was a child, my best friend’s father bought a house in Maresias, a beautiful beach on São Paulo’s north coast. In the distant seventies, this place was unknown to the public. There were a handful of fishermen who lived there and our house. There was virtually no infrastructure; we barely had electricity, so wanting a lifeguard on the beach was too much.

It would be good if there were one.

Because that beach had been carved out of an area full of sea currents, it was very dangerous to swim there. And I learned this in the worst possible way.

One of the first mornings we spent sunbathing, the adults who were with us swam and asked us to go along. Two children and I entered the sea accompanied by six or seven adults, and we went deeper and deeper.

My two little friends quickly realized that they wouldn’t swim around and went back to the beach. I, however, was fearless. Having taken half a dozen swimming lessons, I was sure I could swim to Africa.

So I continued to accompany the adults, even after losing contact between my feet and the bottom. For a while, that’s fine… I dog paddled to keep my head out of the water and my dignity.

After a few dozen seconds, however… I realized I couldn’t swim anymore. Worse, the flow was taking me to the bottom!

There was only one adult next to me. A woman I hardly knew. I didn’t know what to say, so I said: “Help!”. She thought I was kidding. I repeated, she laughed, and while I didn’t say, “Help, help me, or I will drown!” she didn’t come to me and save me.

Cut to twenty years later…

My friend’s father died and left the house to his son. My friend, however, rarely went there. I, who had no place on the beach but had an enthusiasm the size of the world, kept asking for his house, and he would lend me with great pleasure. After all, I looked for the bills and took care of the house from time to time.

I then went to Maresias in the girlfriend's company I had and another couple of friends. We spent the day at the beach, went to the house for lunch, waited for digestion, and finally, in the middle of the afternoon, my friend took a dip. She had a bodyboard so that she would go deep into the sea.

My girlfriend wanted to go along without a bodyboard.

I, knowing how dangerous that beach was because of the currents, accompanied them.

After all, I was an adult now. I would never be in danger of life again, right?

The three of us entered the sea, and my friend quickly rowed towards the deep. We accompanied her. We arrived at a point where she would wait for the waves to return towards the beach. And we stay with her.

Only…

The waves broke more and more strongly in our heads.

The stream pulled us to the bottom.

And, quickly, we realized we could no longer put our feet on the ground.

My friend, on the bodyboard, rode a wave and disappeared. My girlfriend and I stayed, she despaired — “Ju, I won’t be able to swim for long!” — and me pretending to be in charge of the situation, “Grab my neck, and I’ll take you back to the beach!”.

She did this… And I realized that, if alone it was already difficult to swim, with a girl of one hundred pounds tied to me, it was almost impossible.

I lost my strength… And I saw I was being dragged to the bottom. Realizing that that task was beyond my capacity, I looked for a lifeguard on the beach — Maresias had become a “point” on São Paulo’s coast — and found him close to us.

He was watching us.

I raised an arm, asking for help.

And he gestured something incomprehensible.

I asked for help, and he was gesturing.

I was already cursing the man for all the bad words I knew when I finally understood his gestures: I was trying to swim forward, towards the beach, but he wanted me to swim to my left side, towards an underwater sandbank!

In ten seconds, we put our feet on the ground and left the sea with no problem. I got only a scolding from the lifeguard and a good story to tell.

Jump to ten years later…

I went to the cinema with my wife and met this ex-girlfriend. We talked for a while in the mall’s corridors, and the story of when we almost drowned in Maresias came up. It was then that I discovered an exciting detail…

My ex-girlfriend, to make the narrative more attractive, told the story differently. In the new version, the lifeguard entered the sea and took us out of there when we were about to drown.

What an ungrateful woman.

Without those hundred pounds on my neck, I would have been out of the sea long before. And I wouldn’t have been scolded by a lazy lifeguard who ended up becoming the hero to whom she told the story.

They say here in Brazil, “Whoever tells a story increases a beat!”.