An Unlikely Hero

8 An Unlikely Hero When I was in Grade 9, our class went on a canoeing trip. We all trained hard because canoeing takes a lot of skill. It can be very dangerous, especially if the river has rapids. To qualify for the trip, you had to be able to swim. One of my friends John had a problem. John weighed over 180 pounds. He had never learned to swim, so he took swimming lessons and worked hard for many weeks. He eventually graduated with a certificate saying that he could swim. We were all glad to have him along-all except one person. She didn't like him. In fact, she seemed not to like many. Her name was Nicky. She was on the school water polo team. She was a swimming star and very conceited too. The trip went well and everyone enjoyed the day. That is, until the end of the trip when we were heading down some rapids. Nicky had been warned over and over to wear her life jacket, but she did not listen to others.

When we arrived at a steep valley, the speed of the water picked up. We entered some dangerous rapids. All of a sudden, our boat turned over. We were all thrown into the water -all except John! He was at the back of the canoe and somehow was not thrown into the water. We all swam back to the boat where John quickly pulled us in. Then, we saw Nicky's life jacket floating on the water. She was not wearing it when the accident happened. When we spotted her floating on the water, she was barely conscious. She was in serious danger. It seemed like she had hit her head on a rock. As we were reaching out to her, our canoe broke loose from the tree branches it was stuck to and sent us farther away from Nicky. John acted quickly. Mustering up all his strength, he paddled the boat against the rushing water back to Nicky. He reached into the water and pulled her out. She was saved. Later, John received a special award for bravery. The person that presented it was our best swimmer star and water polo player-Nicky.