The Life Guard

by J. Wain

T

he sea was dotted with heads where people were swimming about. Here and there, little groups stood in the water; parents and two or three children, sometimes swinging the youngest child up and down by its wrists so as to duck it in and out of the water, squealing and gaining confidence. Red Rocks was a wonderful place to spend a happy day. As a resort it was surely coming into its own. Long-legged boys crawled up and down the rocks, imagining themselves in wonderful danger, and two ice-cream vans were selling fast.

                Jimmy counted a hundred, quite slowly, before he even allowed himself to look out to sea in Hopper’s direction. Hopper was standing in the water, exactly where he had been. When he saw Jimmy look towards him he began to swim slowly away from the shore, turning his head every few strokes to see if Jimmy was watching. Jimmy pretended not to be looking at Hopper, turning his head slightly away from him but keeping his eyes steadily on his slowly bobbing head. This was it. At any moment, Hopper’s arm would go up and his cry for help would come to Jimmy across the water.

                Jimmy turned once more, moving his feet and going round in a complete circle. The Life Guard’s hut stood proudly at the upper edge of the beach, a sign that Red Rocks meant business and that there was enough work there for any honest young man who had no wish to go off to the city and be apprenticed and live in a hostel. As Jimmy’s eyes rested on the hut, Hopper’s sharp cry came suddenly to his ears. “Help.” It was a single, high stab of sound. If Jimmy had not been listening for it he would probably never have heard it among all the other sounds that littered the water, the laughter and the shouts of children and the insistent barking of a small dog that ran along the beach.

NOTES AND EXERCISES:

1.     The suffixes “–ence” and “–ent” are used to form nouns and adjectives respectively. The suffix “–ent” can sometimes be used to form nouns, too. Memorize the spelling of the following nouns and derive adjectives from them wherever possible:

confidence	sentence	independence	benevolence	existence
insistence	accidence	magnificence	excellence	audience
absence	innocence	abhorrence	turbulence	equivalence
evidence	eloquence	adolescence	coincidence	opulence
silence	reference	transference	indolence	residence
impudence	disobedience	corpulence	sequence	virulence
influence	coherence	deference	consequence	correspondence

2.     Remember that the following words are spelt with a double “p”:

apprentice	appease	applause	appraisal	approve
apparent	appetite	apply	appreciate	approach
apparatus	appoint	application	apprehend	upper
appeal	appointment	appliance	appropriate	pepper
appellation	happy	supper	happen	disappear
copper	apple	cripple	ripple	suppress
suppose	applaud	appraise	approximate	eavesdropper
appear	stopper	stoppage	grasshopper	appendix

3.     If a verb ends in a short, closed, and stressed syllable, the addition of the inflections –ing and –ed will lead to the doubling of the final consonant: swim—swimming, hop—hopping—hopped, stop—stopping—stopped, begin—beginning—beginner, run—running—runner, etc.

4.     Word study:

to duck          1) to move quickly to avoid being seen or hit; 2) to go or push somebody quickly under water for a short time: The big boy ducked all the small boys in the swimming-pool.

to bob            to move up and down: The cork of his fishing line was bobbing on the water.

to litter          to make untidy with odds and ends; to scatter

litter               (n.) 1) odds and ends, bits of paper, discarded wrappings, bottles, etc. left lying about in a room or public place: Pick up your litter after a picnic.” 2) a state of untidiness that results when things are left lying about instead of being put away: Her room was in such a litter that she was ashamed to ask me in.

5.     Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

to guard a prisoner, to guard a tradition, to guard one’s tongue, a guard of honour, on guard, under (close) guard, to go on (mount) guard, to come off guard, to keep (stand) guard, to relieve guard, to run the guard, advance guard, rear guard, to be off one’s guard, to be on one’s guard, to put somebody off his guard, to throw somebody off his guard, to get past someone’s guard