Man Overboard!

            Diego loved his job. He ran a tourist boat up and down the river near his home in Brazil. He lived in a smaller city outside of the main area of Rio de Janeiro. They weren’t technically part of the jungle proper, but close enough for tourists to say that they’ve seen it. As long as they could see the thick jungle from the boat, they were satisfied.

            That is, until today. Diego’s passengers today were a group of young adult men that had obviously had way too much to drink, even though it was only 11 AM. They were loud and annoying and demanded that Diego drive them into the forest itself. Diego wouldn’t have done it, but they had offered him a bonus that he couldn’t refuse. He had to make a living, after all.

            So, against Diego’s better judgement, he had steered his boat into a smaller side river. With every yard of progress that they made, the jungle seemed to move closer around and behind them, shutting them in it. Diego started to worry about the safety of his boat, when one of his passengers shouted, “Hey, look over there!”

            Diego followed his line of sight to see an enormous crocodile. It was bigger than even he had ever seen, even though the river was full of them. Before he could caution his passengers, they were all leaning out of the boat, trying to get the perfect picture. “Keep yourselves inside the boat please!” Diego shouted, a little panicked. “It’s really easy to lose your balance!” Especially when you're already wasted, he thought.

            One young man turned to Diego and grinned with a devil-may-care smile. This annoyed Diego more than he already was. His annoyance changed to something else, however, when the boat gave a little lurch and the young man abruptly disappeared over the side.

            “Man overboard!” one of the other young men called out, jokingly.

            Diego, however, knew this was no joking matter. He quickly turned off the boat motor and grabbed a length of rope. With expertise born from years of experience, he tied the rope to the boat, and threw the other end to the young man in the water. He was further annoyed and dismayed when he realized that the young man couldn’t really swim. He was flailing about in a ridiculous sort of dog paddle. “Grab the line!” Diego shouted to him.

            The young man tried desperately to grab hold, but to no avail. The river was pulling him away from the boat, and the crocodile, Diego noticed, was coming closer to his flailing form. Diego shouted to the rest of his passengers, “As soon as I grab him, pull us in!” He noticed with some satisfaction that they were finally starting to realize the gravity of the situation.

            Without another word, Diego dove into the river and swam powerfully over to the struggling young man. He grabbed a hold of one waving arm and shouted, “Pull us in!” Nothing happened for a moment, and he turned to watch the crocodile getting closer. Finally, he felt that they were being pulled by the rope, back to the boat.

            The other passengers were hurriedly working to pull the two men up. Diego made sure that they got the young man inside the boat, and then he heaved himself out of the water onto the deck. As soon as he was in, he turned around to look at the crocodile. Diego looked in horror as the monster rose halfway out of the river with its gigantic mouth open. The crocodile was even bigger than Diego had at first thought. Thwarted of its prey, the crocodile angrily started to swim away.

            Diego watched it for a moment, and then turned to his white-faced passengers. “It looks like it’s time to head back now,” he said nonchalantly. All of the young men stared at him as he worked to turn the boat around and headed home. Never again would he be lured with anything to venture that far into the jungle. Once was enough for a lifetime.