Tllpk Iphy 19. Deep Waters One evening in late summer, Alphy and Tony had made plans to go swimming. They had also invited five other friends. The place they chose to go swimming was a harbor at New Bear Port. Most of the swimmers were experienced, except for Alphy. Although Alphy could swim a little, he was totally unprepared for this experience. The harbor was approximately eighty feet in width and quite deep. There were fishing boats tied on the harbor side of the port. The swimmers dived into the water simultaneously - all except Alphy. He wasn't sure how to dive, but jumped in, following the rest of the swimmers. The plan was to swim across to the other side of the harbor, where the fishing boats were tied. The swimmers ahead maintained their speed, Alphy swam as fast as he could, but he could barely keep up with the others. When they had reached midway, Alphy was lagging behind. He felt the pull of the channel under him, and felt his energy draining. He was not sure if he could make it to the other side, yet he was too far to go back. The strongest swimmer reached the boat first, and held on to the outside of the boat with his right hand, while he extended his left hand to the next swimmer. The second swimmer caught his extended hand with his right, and extended his left hand to the next swimmer, and so on. The swimmers had all joined hands together, forming a line. They could still see Alphy swimming in the deep water, and waited for him. Without breaking the line, the last swimmer extended his hand to Alphy. Alphy felt exhausted. He thought, "If I miss his hand I won't make it." His body felt numb; it was all he could do to stay afloat. He reached for the extended hand, with the last bit of energy he had. He felt the pressure of the water current tugging at his weary body. The tip of his fingers clasped the extended hand, and the other 38