Article August 9, 2004 Issue

The thought that saved my life

By Jeffrey Wentworth

It was a hot summer afternoon in central Texas, the kind of day when the rocks near the Lake Travis shoreline are almost too hot to walk on. Two friends and I, all in our 20s, had driven to a favorite lakeshore spot northwest of Austin, for sunbathing and swimming.

That afternoon, one of my friends, Chuck, suggested that the three of us swim across the lake and back. Bob, the third member of our trio, was a wiser young man than I. "No thanks," he said, and stayed behind.

I was reluctant at first, but Chuck promised that it wouldn't be a race. Just a leisurely swim, he said, and we'd stop whenever we needed a breather and would float on our backs for a while. When we made it to the opposite shore, he said, we would take rest and then swim back.