A few years ago a friend of mine took another friend and their wives to a dam outside the city for a picnic and (hopefully) a day of decent bass fishing. The two men have always been keen bass fishermen and their wives decided to tag along and enjoy a day away from home. After a morning of fishing and a hearty lunch, each couple found a quiet spot to relax. Trevor and his wife sat under the shade of gazebo and began to chat. Freddy and his wife settled in their car for a snooze. About 30 minutes slipped by quietly with the silence being interrupted by the occasional cry of a fish eagle and the sounds of other birds and small creatures in the surrounding trees and bushes. Then a car, with Zambian number plates, hurtled down the road towards the water’s edge, stopping not far from where the two couples were relaxing. With music still blaring 4 people got out of the vehicle – two twenty-something year old men accompanied by two young ladies dressed in shorts and t-shirts. The ladies kicked off their shoes and ran to the water’s edge, removed their t-shirts and waded into the water, still (that goodness) wearing their shorts and bikini tops that were underneath their t shirts. The two “boy-friends” were content to watch from the hood of the car where they had settled, each with a beer in hand. The two ladies splashed each other with water and laughed, each time wading a little further into the dam. At this point Trevor’s wife told him to look elsewhere, while Fred and his Mrs settled back to a nap after the disturbance had woken them. Then it happened…
The two ladies stepped off, what turned out to be a ledge of some sort, into deep water and …I suppose at this point, realised (or remembered) that they could not swim. Fred was woken by a scream and looked out to see two figures, with hands flailing, bobbing up and down in the water. He got out of the car and raced towards the water’s edge, removing his sandals and t-shirt as ran. One of the “boyfriends” dropped his beer and ran towards the water’s edge getting there before Fred. He proceeded to remove the belt of his jeans, trying to kick off his sneakers as he did so. Fred gets to the water’s edge a few seconds later and is about to dive into the water, when – let’s call him BF # 1 – says to him, “Oh s*%t! I just remembered I can’t swim!” Freddy was in the water and soon rescued one of the girls. The other had managed to find the ledge and wade back to safety, coughing and sobbing as she finally collapsed on the ground. BF # 2 was still on the hood of the car with a shocked look on his face – with beer still in hand – it was clear he had no idea what to do. He just sat there with his mouth open. Needless to say the two ladies were soon “cured” of their fascination with water and wanted to leave. They got into the car with sheepish looks on their faces, followed by their rather embarrassed boyfriends.
