You read about them in the newspapers all the time. A couple of guys go fishing and their boat overturns. One manages to swim to the shore; the other drowns. This time a family’s happy holiday on the water turns tragic, when their thirteen-year-old daughter, Michelle—who can’t swim and isn’t wearing a floatation device—is accidentally thrown from the boat during a sudden, sharp maneuver to avoid a half-submerged rock. Both Michelle’s father and her older brother frantically dive into the water to try and save her, but the murky waters thwart their attempts to find her. The grief-stricken family returns to shore and notifies the local park ranger. A network of government and private groups forms into small parties of searchers looking for Michelle’s body. The local sheriff’s office is informed, as is the volunteer fire department. Police auxiliaries are called out to join in the search with fish and game wardens. Within a couple of hours nearly a hundred people are looking for the missing girl. Some don scuba gear and probe the murky water, feeling for the body because their vision is almost non-existent. Nate Vernon and his son, Henry, are among the volunteers who have boats on the lake. Except for a couple of hours of rest, the pair have been using Nate’s runabout to search among the many small coves and gullies along the lake’s shoreline for over a day and a half. In the thirty-eighth hour of the search, Henry spots Michelle’s body snagged against a half submerged tree. Nate eases his craft beside the floating corpse, while Henry snags its clothing with his boarding hook and pulls the dead girl alongside the boat. By then, Nate has cut the motor and is trying to haul her into the boat, but being sixty-plus, he cannot manage the task until his son joins him from the bow and together they pull the dead girl into the boat. They ease the body onto the back seat of the runabout and cover it with a tarp. Being religious, Nate offers up a silent prayer on behalf of the dead girl and her family. Henry pulls out his cell phone and delivers the news of their find to the rescue headquarters. Father and son climb back into the front seat and Nate starts the engine and carefully backs the craft away from the drowned tree. Neither speaks for the entire trip back. Both feel good at having found Michelle’s body, yet very sad for her family. ___________________________________________ This picture is dedicated to all those who volunteer for the often very difficult and unpleasant jobs that every community depends upon—volunteer firefighters, auxiliary police, emergency medical technicians, ambulance drivers, Red Cross and Salvation Army folk, just to mention a few. Thanks for dropping by and taking a look. Comments are appreciated and a special thanks to all of you who keep coming back regularly to visit and/or make comments. Jeremy CREDITS: Poser 6.0 and Bryce 6.1 Nate and Henry: Anton’s Apollo Maximus using Captain “Quint Character Pack for Apollo Maximus” by Christopher Schantz (Renderosity). Girl: DAZ’s Laura with”Michelle” skinmat, and Diva Hair by 3Dream. Boat: “QuickSilver Classic Runabout” by sirmacman (DAZ). Boarding Hook: by trekkiegrrrl. Reeds: “Marshgrass” by Modulaz (RDNA). Drowned tree: A freebie object that I got so long ago that I’ve forgotten who and where I got it from. Sorry. Water: Mine.