Alberta L
Dangerous and In
Jock Mackenzie
Near-Tragedy at Gull Lake
“Oh no, oh no, she might drown!” Little 5-year-old
Elise was slowly drifting toward the centre of the
lake as her mother shouted in dismay.
I was working up at the cabin, and even though I
didn’t hear the actual words, an alarm rang in my
head. My wife and our two young children, along
with a neighbour and her two children, had gone
down to play at the beach.
Gull Lake is huge and has an extensive area of
extremely shallow water. Even a preschooler could
wade out a long way before the water got to any depth.
On this day, the moms had taken a variety of beach
toys including some floating devices; the one Elise was
on was a kind of combination chair/lounger.
I remember looking down toward the lake, and as
I’d suspected, something was amiss. The women were
running back and forth, arms in the air. The beach
18 | arta.net