Friday, May 15, 2020

Benedict Denver



At the place where Lake Brock empties into the sea there is a lone lifeguard tower on a small beach known to locals as Bounty Bay.  Only manned for the summer months, the tower houses four local lifeguards who take the shifts in turns and patrol the small stretch of pristine and popular beach.  


When their shift is done at night they always leave the door to the tower unlocked so Benedict can get in and watch the dark waters.


In the 1930s Benedict Denver was the only lifeguard on duty when a king wave had hit the shoreline of Bounty Bay.  The treacherous wave had dragged four people out to sea in a tumultuous surge of turbulent, dangerous water.  Ever vigilant Benedict had thrown himself into the roiling waters and managed to drag two of the struggling swimmers to the shore.  He then decided on the third person, a woman being pulled beneath the water.  The fourth victim had disappeared beneath the waves after being swept out to sea.  As Benedict got the third victim to the sand and held her as she coughed up sea water he caught a glimpse of what he thought was the last victim of the wave.  With renewed hope that the man was alive Benedict swam out into the turbid frothing waters. He disappeared along with the fourth victim of the wave whose body washed up along the coast a few days after the king wave had hit.  Benedict’s body was never recovered but within a month there was chatter about a life guard at the tower at night after the beach was closed.  


Then came the accounts of those ignoring the closed beach signs and getting into trouble only to be rescued by a lifeguard they hadn’t ever seen at the beach by day.  


As the rumours persisted and the reports of strange rescues continued it was decided it would be prudent to leave the door to the lifeguard tower open so Benedict could see the dark waters more clearly. 



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