Last Prayer (NP3)
[June 2008, Southern Regional Conference, Austin. A camp with a beautiful lake behind. Last day of the conference everyone is by the lake, riding speedboat, banana cannon and boat paddling. Me and my mother along with Steve and Tina came back after our first round on the banana cannon. Steve and Tina decided to go again and I wanted to go as well but my mom was against the idea.]
Anna: Mummy can I please go with them 1 more time, just last time.. Please
Mom: No, the only reason you didn't fall off was because I was holding on to you.
[I went against my mom's wish. Totally excited, I sit second to the last seat, on my left Steve is holding on to Tina's life jacket and behind me sat a teenager named Ricky. I as well as rest of the gang was excited to take our second trip. Halfway through, Steve yells to the driver of the boat]
Steve: [aloud] Is this all you have got. Where is the speed?
Tina: Steve, don't do that.
[After Steve shouts a couple of times, the driver picks up the speed. On one of the bump of the wave, I lose my grip on the handle and lands on Steve's leg. In that way I was jammed between two rows. The driver speeds again and on the next wave, I am off the cannon and into the lake. Now I am panicking and totally forgetting what life jackets were for!]
Anna: [panicking] Help! HELP!!
[After few cries for help and noticing that the boat is not coming back to rescue, I realized that I was going to die there]
Anna: Oh Jesus, Forgive me for all the sins I have done. [Starts praying] Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, they kingdom come, come, come...[ and I forgot what comes after that and started on Hail Mary] Hail Mary full of grace, our Lord is with thee, blessed are, are, are... [And I forgot what comes after that too] Oh God, just forgive all my sins, Papa, Mummy sorry if I did anything wrong including this one.
[So during my forgotten verses of prayer, at last the driver notice someone is missing and one of the co-captain jumps into the water with a rescue pad]
Anna: [Thinking to myself] Angel? I am dying, right? An Angel.. So beautiful.. So peaceful.. Sooo Handsome [A smile appeared on my face... looking like an idiot]
Angel:Are you OK? Don't worry I got you. You are safe.
Anna: [Thinking to myself] He has a beautiful smile
[Angel helped me hold unto the rescue pad and he started pulling the pad toward the banana cannon. I started to snap back to reality. Shit, not dead but totally screwed when my mom finds out about this.. It wasn’t a bad idea to enjoy the moment and the angel’s face.]
Angel: Would you sit in the boat or the cannon?
Anna: Cannon. Thank you
[On the way back, we decided to not to tell my mom about what happened]
Mom: So why did the boat stopped for a long time [Looking at me, who is completely drenched in water. Apparently the promise of not to tell my mom didn’t work either] Anna! I told you not to go by yourself. See what happened.
Anna: No worries.. Just maybe I thought I was gonna die and said my last prayers and asked God for forgiveness.
[Weeks later the story of me forgetting my prayers when I almost died because the joke of the year. And the following semester I decided to take a swimming class only to find out that all I had to do was put my legs up and I would have floated. And I learned a valuable lesson “If you don’t know how to swim, you better wear a life jacket.”]
~Shin Jin Young