Language of Love

Chapter 38 - Lights, Camera, Action

Summer arrived, and the crowds and cameras arrived with it.

Abi walked into the tower for the start of her first paid shift to see a camera crew turn their camera on her as she came up the stairs. She waved at the crew but eyed the camera warily.
"You'd think you'd be used to them by now." Harries said from his seat. "You're as bad as Danny and Kailan, avoiding the cameras."

Abi smiled at the team leader as she picked up a radio and sat in a chair at the desk.
Whippet turned from studying the water and gestured towards her.
"Look at you in your official uniform." He smiled.
She grinned at him. Harries slid a pair of binoculars across the desk to her.
"Hop says when you're not translating, you can do tower duties now you've got your first aid certificate."
"You're like a non-rescues lifeguard." Whippet winked at her.
"So, not a lifeguard then." She laughed.
"We hear you made the swim trial time, Bambi." One of the camera crew said. "Why didn't you go for a traineeship?"
"I barely made the time after intense training. I have nowhere near the physical fitness or water skills the guys have. I've always wanted a career in languages. I love that what I'm doing here combines that and helping people. I do think it's a shame more women don't try out though."
"Why do you think they don't?"
"Sadly its traditionally been a male career. But there are so many really skilled female waterwomen out there who could easily do this job. I have encountered some sexism on the beach. Not from the guys! But from beachgoers. Perhaps it being all guys puts some off as well."
"Oy!" Objected Harries.
"Well, you are all a bit larger than life at times and a little intimidating physically and with what a tightknit group you are."
"You've coped fine." Said Whippet.
"Anyone would once they get to know you. You're all big softies."
"Hey, don't spoil our image." Laughed Harries.

Abi watched the water through her binoculars and spotted a large group of Asian tourists paddling into backpackers rip. Whippet radioed down to the lifeguards whilst Abi headed down from the tower to the rhino stationed down there.

She jumped on the back, startling Mouse, who was sat in the passenger seat, focussed on the water and on Kailan, who was doing a rescue.
"Shit Bambi!" Mouse exclaimed."You here to clear the water for us?"
"I'll try." She said as he passed her the megaphone speaker.
Abi called out her standard warning of danger and instructed them towards the red and yellow flags in Mandarin. The crowd of tourists moved to the safer area.
"Thanks."

Abi returned to the tower to find Troy had swapped with Harries.
"Hey." She said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. He lowered his binoculars and turned to give her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Hey Abs." He said before turning back to the water.
She settled into a chair beside him and was just about to pick up her binoculars when there was a knock on the door.

Abi opened the door to a gaggle of teens all cut up and looking sheepish.
"Flat rock?" She asked. They nodded and began to loudly tell her their stories of being swept across the rock. She gestured them inside.
"Guys!" She called up to Troy and Whippet. "Fair few flat rock victims here. Someone give me a hand patching them up."
Troy quickly appeared to help. They were soon moving around each other in the med bay and out on the balcony, cleaning and, where needed, bandaging the teens wounds.

Sending the teens on their way, with warnings to avoid flat rock in future, Troy and Abi returned to the desk. They barely sat down before the promenade door sounded with a knock. Abi opened it to discover a distraught Italian mother who had lost her child. Getting a description she radioed the guys on the beach. Troy was checking the cctv and Whippet was scanning the beach. Abi took the Mum for a walk along the promenade to search possible spots. They soon found him staring longingly at an ice cream van. Abi radioed through the all clear and turned to the tower.

Before she could get back to the tower, her radio went again. Someone had collapsed on the promenade outside the pavilion. Abi ran, weaving between the crowds, and reached the Pavilion first. A small crowd stood around a young woman lying prone on the floor. Abi dropped to her knees beside the woman and checked her breathing and pulse. Satisfied, she rolled her into the recovery position and tried to get her to respond.
"Anyone know what happened?" She asked.
"She said she felt dizzy. Then she just fainted." Her friend said.
"Did she hit her head falling?"
The girl shook her head.
"Has she taken anything? Been drinking?"
"We were out last night. Little hungover today."
Abi nodded and grabbed her radio.
"Abi to Bondi Central. Can you call an Ambo? Woman in her 20s, collapsed, breathing, steady pulse but unresponsive."
"Do you need the oxy?"
"Please."
"Whips on his way. I'm calling the ambos now."
Abi was relieved when Whippet quickly appeared at her side and took over. With oxygen the woman began to come round but still needed to be lifted to the bed when the ambulance arrived.
Whippet clapped her on the back as the ambulance departed.
"Good job Bambi."

Back in the tower Abi sunk into a chair. Troy twisted his chair and lifted his feet onto her lap, keeping his eyes fixed on the water. A quieter stretch occured with no interruptions in the tower except a few radio calls down to the beach to point out struggling swimmers and a brief over the radio translation for the guys at Bronte who were dealing with an injured Japanese tourist. Whippet swapped out with Itchy at the middle set of flags.
"Looking cosy lovebirds." Itchy grinned at them as he settled into the empty seat.

Half an hour later, with the tide turning and the rips roaring to life, the lifeguards on the beach were stretched to the limit. Troy headed down to the front line to help out. Abi spotted a man in serious trouble in a flash rip with no lifeguards nearby. She pointed him out to Itchy who, on spotting him, immediately dropped his binoculars and sprinted out of the tower. Alone in the tower, bar a camera crew, Abi watched the water and managed the steady stream of radio check in's from the lifeguards, directing those on the water line back into the water for yet more rescues. Part way through this chaos the phone rang. Answering the call Abi listened intently and immediately grabbed the radio whilst still on the phone.
"Central to black rhino. Need one of you to come up for the jetski. Police on the phone. Possible body reported in the water off Marks Park."
"Mouse on his way." Kailan responded.
Abi could see Itchy making his way back up from his rescue. She shouted out the window at him.
"Get the jetski ready."
Itchy spotted her with phone in hand and immediately jumped into action, heading into the storage tunnel.

Deano came through the door for the start of his shift.
"Can you run the lifejackets down to Itchy?" Deano grabbed them and headed down, then jumped into the rhino and drove the jetski down to the water as Mouse arrived and he and Itchy threw on the lifejackets.
"Lifeguard jetski launching now." Abi updated the Police.
She then radioed the jetski.
"Possible body off Marks
Park. Lifesaver One is also on its way." She informed them.

Hoppo appeared, having followed it all over the radio.
"Doing a good job Abi." He said as he took over manning the phone.
Deano soon joined them. Itchy radioed in to confirm they'd found the body of a young man, fully clothed except for his shoes. Deano sighed, clearly having seen this outcome before. Hoppo contacted the police and organised retrieval via the Police boat.
"Suicide?" Abi asked.
"Probably." Deano responded quietly.
"We recover a fair few bodies each year sadly. It's often suicide."
"You okay?" Hoppo checked in with her.
"So long as you don't send me out to retrieve bodies I can handle it." Abi responded, unruffled, her eyes back on the water.
"Still think you'd make a good trainee."
Abi lowered her binoculars and raised an eyebrow at him. He held up his hands in surrender, a half smile breaking his often stoic expression. Abi returned to watching the water.
"I've not been back out there yet." She confessed. Both Deano and Hoppo looked surprised.
"I told Troy I wanted to once I was healed, but then I keep putting it off."
"If you need to talk about it we're always here." Hoppo said. "Or the lifeguards have a counsellor available to them. Now you're on the payroll you can access that too."
"Thanks. I'll think about it." Abi replied.