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It had been a good day so far but it was only 2pm so things could still happen. There weren’t that many lifeguards on duty that day since it was a quiet weekday. Hoppo, as usual, was in his office doing some paperwork. Gonzo was in the tower overlooking the water and the lifeguards on the beach. There was Kerrbox patrolling between north Bondi and the middle of the beach. Singlets and Maxi were at two different posts further down the south end of the beach. There were two rips there that needed to be watched closely. Thankfully, there had only been a handful of rescues down there.
Maxi was scanning the water when he spotted a young child struggling to stay afloat. Gonzo’s voice through the radio confirmed that the child needed rescuing. Maxi tugged of his shirt and grabbed his board. He needed to get out there fast, the current was dragging the child further and further out to sea. Maxi paddled as hard as he could; the child was starting to go under. Maxi got there just in time and grabbed the kid by the arm and yanked her onto his board. The kid yelped in surprise and fear. Maxi wasted no time getting back to shore. Once it was shallow enough to stand, he got off his board and asked the little girl, who was about 6 years old, where her parents were. She didn’t reply, she just continued to cry. Maxi looked around to see if anyone had noticed that their child had just been rescued. He spotted this worried looking woman jogging up to them. The woman scooped up her child and started walking off quickly. Maxi looked a bit confused and went after her.
“Excuse me” Maxi said when he caught up with the woman.
“How dare you!” She turned and yelled at Maxi in an American accent.
Maxi was taken aback “Your child was drowning. You should be watching her and she should swim between the flags” He said as calmly as he could.
“She was fine. How dare you grab my child” She spat back.
“She was struggling to keep her head above water”
“No. She was fine. How could you see from the shore line if she was fine or not?”
“A fellow lifeguard in the lifeguard tower could see she was going under and confirmed I needed to go get her. She was almost completely underwater when I reached her” Maxi took a deep breath not wanting to get angry at this woman even though he wanted to.
Before the woman could reply, the father of the child had walked up to them and he did not look happy at all. “Oi, you. What do you think you are doing?” He grunted.
Maxi gulped, he needed to be careful with what he said “Sorry, sir. Your child was in trouble. I was just doing my job”
“She was not in trouble; I was watching her. Then you go out and grab her and scare her!” the father shoved Maxi. Maxi stumbled back but managed to stay on his feet.
Up in the tower, Gonzo could see what was unfolding and radioed Singlets to back Maxi up just in case. Singlets had watched the whole thing from the start and was already in the buggy getting ready to drive to Maxi’s aid. Kerrbox heard over the radio what was going on but her couldn’t leave his position and he was worried that no one was guarding the south end. Gonzo was keeping an eye on the water now as he radioed Hoppo.
“Gonz to Hoppo”
“Yes, Gonzo?”
“We may have an altercation on the beach. Maxi just rescued a kid and the parents are having a go at him. Things might get nasty; the father looks pissed”
“I’m on my way there”
Maxi was trying to keep his cool and not look scared but admittedly he was. Who knows what could happen? The father was now shouting and swearing at poor Maxi. Maxi tried to reason with him but he was not listening. The mother had walked off with the child leaving the father to deal with Maxi. It seemed, to Maxi, that the father was getting angrier and angrier and the next thing he knew a fist came flying at his face. He had no time to react and he got punched right in the eye. He was caught so off guard that he fell to the floor, stunned.
Singlets was almost there and he gasped when he saw Maxi fall to the floor. Worried his colleague had been knocked out, he floored it. Hoppo had been walking down the stairs of the tower when Maxi got punched. He yelled up to Gonz to call the police as he began to run towards the scene. Singlets had reached Maxi and the father. The father was now starting to have a go on him but Singlets couldn’t care less, he was more concerned about Maxi who luckily wasn’t knocked out. Hoppo arrived and tried to talk to the father and said that he was under citizen’s arrest for assaulting a lifeguard. As the man was now arguing with Hoppo, Singlets had knelt down next to Maxi who was now sitting up. Singlets helped Maxi up and lead him to the buggy. They drove up to the tower where Gonzo was waiting with an ice pack.
Soon enough, the police came knocking on the door. Singlets showed them where the man was. Hoppo was still trying to calm the man down but was failing horribly. The police escorted him away and took Maxi’s statement. Gonzo backed Maxi up saying the child was definitely in danger and if Maxi hadn’t gone out, she would have drowned. Hoppo returned to his office, Singlets returned to south end with Gonzo and Maxi spent the rest of the day in the tower. Kerrbox was radioing Maxi every so often to make sure he was ok. Maxi was definitely going to have a black eye.
Eventually, 7pm came around, knock off time. Kerrbox came back to the tower first and looked sympathetically at Maxi.
“You ok?” He asked.
“Been better” Maxi admitted.
Kerrbox gave Maxi a pat on the back before leaving the tower. Maxi was exhausted and was glad to go home. Hoppo had given him a few days off which he was very grateful for. When Singlets entered the tower, Maxi went to thank him.
“Hey, Singlets. Um… thanks for everything today”
“No worries, mate. Just glad it wasn’t worse cause it could’ve been”
Maxi smiled and nodded. He gathered up his things and headed for home for much needed rest.