Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Lake jump
I live in Edgewater, which, coincidentally happens to be right on the edge of lake Michigan. I've also been trying to run at least every other day, and I more or less follow the same route to the lake. Sometimes when it snows very heavily, I can't really tell if the lake is still a lake or a frozen tundra. I like to imagine polar bears as big as tanks and ice wizards battling for control of Chicago somewhere on the horizon.
Anyway, Chicago is really nice in that it has this park with running and biking paths that stretches along most of lake shore drive. I should know the name of the park by now, but I'm not good with names or locations; I prefer to think of it as "that park where I run." Sometimes I take a break and walk out on the long, icy concrete piers with lighthouses on the ends. I like thinking of how goddamned cold that water must be and whether not I'd jump in to save someone if I saw them floating past.
A couple days ago, I'm running and I hear shouts. There's this guy standing on a rock outcropping about 10 feet from the shore, and he's waving at me while the waves are crashing up to his knees. Two middle aged women walking their dogs got to him first (I'm not the fastest runner anymore). He's standing on this square rock and looking up at us - where there isn't beach to meet the lake, there is a raised concrete wall about seven feet high. This guy looks like he's in his late 20s but I can tell that this hair is already receding even though his head's shaved. He's trembling and his hands and ears are bright, bright red.
The two women and I try to convince him to walk to the wall so we can pull him up. There is a ridge of oxidized iron that he could use as a banister to make his way there. All the while, both of their dogs keep barking at me, at him, and at everything. The guy won't move and he somehow manages to shake his head through all that shivering. One of the ladies, a Korean woman whose barking dog is black and white but mostly black, asks him how he got in the water. He says that he jumped, and I believe him since he still has his shoes and jacket on. The women look at me and we shake our heads. "These things happen," one of them points out. The other lady, a Hispanic woman whose barking dog is mostly brown and wearing a dog sweater, takes out her phone and calls 911.
"That won't be necessary," I tell her as I cup my hands to my mouth to talk to the trembling guy over the roar of the water. "Hey Knucklehead, why'd you jump? Is it because you're going bald? More importantly, why didn't you go through with it? Couldn't take the heat ummm... I mean cold?" He tries to stammer out a reply but things have already been set into motion. I set the toes of both of my feet on the concrete wall and do a back flip so that I land directly behind him. I put both my hands under his armpits and lift him over my head. "Do you want to go back in the water or on to dry land? Either way, it looks like you need some help." He's shaking even more violently now and trying to say something. "I can't hear you," I say as I dangle him over the water. "NO - Jesus Christ on a fucking bicycle - NO!" he yells in a surprisingly deep voice. So I throw him over the concrete wall. He lands on one of the barking dogs, the one with the dog sweater, and crushes it. I do a run jump back over the wall, and by this time both of the women up there are screaming."Shhhh - these things happen," I tell them before stretching and continuing my run.
Actually, we just waited while the Hispanic lady continued her phone call. I tried not to stare too much at the man below, but I had all these questions that I wanted to ask him. I kept having to spit for some reason. The cops, the ambulance workers, and the fire department all showed up 16 minutes later. I know that it was 16 minutes because the lady who made the call was arguing with an officer who said that they had got the call only 3 minutes ago. At least 2 dozen people in uniform showed up and a firefighter threw him a life line with a lifesaver attached. Several other guys came up with a steel ladder and a couple tried to go down. One of the senior officers told them that only one could go down, and the lucky guy turned out to be the firefighter who had thrown the life line. He was halfway down when another guy trotted up wearing a wet suit and carrying flippers. Yes, the Chicago fire department has a scuba division. Someone patted the scuba guy on the shoulder, and I felt so bad for him that I almost offered to jump in the water. They convinced the guy who had already jumped to climb up the ladder and ushered him off to an ambulance parked next to a half a dozen other emergency response vehicles. I ran back home and thought about how nice it was to be in a warm kitchen enjoying my coffee
Anyway, Chicago is really nice in that it has this park with running and biking paths that stretches along most of lake shore drive. I should know the name of the park by now, but I'm not good with names or locations; I prefer to think of it as "that park where I run." Sometimes I take a break and walk out on the long, icy concrete piers with lighthouses on the ends. I like thinking of how goddamned cold that water must be and whether not I'd jump in to save someone if I saw them floating past.
A couple days ago, I'm running and I hear shouts. There's this guy standing on a rock outcropping about 10 feet from the shore, and he's waving at me while the waves are crashing up to his knees. Two middle aged women walking their dogs got to him first (I'm not the fastest runner anymore). He's standing on this square rock and looking up at us - where there isn't beach to meet the lake, there is a raised concrete wall about seven feet high. This guy looks like he's in his late 20s but I can tell that this hair is already receding even though his head's shaved. He's trembling and his hands and ears are bright, bright red.
The two women and I try to convince him to walk to the wall so we can pull him up. There is a ridge of oxidized iron that he could use as a banister to make his way there. All the while, both of their dogs keep barking at me, at him, and at everything. The guy won't move and he somehow manages to shake his head through all that shivering. One of the ladies, a Korean woman whose barking dog is black and white but mostly black, asks him how he got in the water. He says that he jumped, and I believe him since he still has his shoes and jacket on. The women look at me and we shake our heads. "These things happen," one of them points out. The other lady, a Hispanic woman whose barking dog is mostly brown and wearing a dog sweater, takes out her phone and calls 911.
"That won't be necessary," I tell her as I cup my hands to my mouth to talk to the trembling guy over the roar of the water. "Hey Knucklehead, why'd you jump? Is it because you're going bald? More importantly, why didn't you go through with it? Couldn't take the heat ummm... I mean cold?" He tries to stammer out a reply but things have already been set into motion. I set the toes of both of my feet on the concrete wall and do a back flip so that I land directly behind him. I put both my hands under his armpits and lift him over my head. "Do you want to go back in the water or on to dry land? Either way, it looks like you need some help." He's shaking even more violently now and trying to say something. "I can't hear you," I say as I dangle him over the water. "NO - Jesus Christ on a fucking bicycle - NO!" he yells in a surprisingly deep voice. So I throw him over the concrete wall. He lands on one of the barking dogs, the one with the dog sweater, and crushes it. I do a run jump back over the wall, and by this time both of the women up there are screaming."Shhhh - these things happen," I tell them before stretching and continuing my run.
Actually, we just waited while the Hispanic lady continued her phone call. I tried not to stare too much at the man below, but I had all these questions that I wanted to ask him. I kept having to spit for some reason. The cops, the ambulance workers, and the fire department all showed up 16 minutes later. I know that it was 16 minutes because the lady who made the call was arguing with an officer who said that they had got the call only 3 minutes ago. At least 2 dozen people in uniform showed up and a firefighter threw him a life line with a lifesaver attached. Several other guys came up with a steel ladder and a couple tried to go down. One of the senior officers told them that only one could go down, and the lucky guy turned out to be the firefighter who had thrown the life line. He was halfway down when another guy trotted up wearing a wet suit and carrying flippers. Yes, the Chicago fire department has a scuba division. Someone patted the scuba guy on the shoulder, and I felt so bad for him that I almost offered to jump in the water. They convinced the guy who had already jumped to climb up the ladder and ushered him off to an ambulance parked next to a half a dozen other emergency response vehicles. I ran back home and thought about how nice it was to be in a warm kitchen enjoying my coffee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)