Day at the Beach

I was at the beach in Destin FL with my family. My older son , then seven, was playing with another boy who had an inflatable boat, like a small zodiac. They were in the boat playing in the surf. I turned my attention to my other two children playing in up on the sand. When I looked back, the zodiac was about forty yards offshore moving out fast.
I took off after it. No matter how hard I swam, the craft became more distant. I was further out in the ocean than I had ever been. I was scared and exhausted and a still a good twenty yards from the little boat.
The only choice I had was to continue swimming. Mercifully, the current had carried the boat as far as it would. I caught up to it, positioned it toward shore, held onto the back and started kicking toward the shore about one hundred yards distant.
We made it back to the beach. I collapsed in a sand chair and vowed to myself to keep a better watch on the ones I love.