Lost: THE REMAINS
Napoleon Park
Chapter Four
“We Never Knew Joanna”
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I did not know Joanna Swimner. None of us did, she was not with us long enough for us to get to know her.
I do not even know what her real last name was, that is merely how I think of her.
I understand that she had a few belongings; the clothing she wore on the flight, her purse and ID and a pair of newspaper clippings; one laminated, the other recent.
I understand she placed fifth on the American swim team in the last Summer Olympics. Of course in the Olympics there is no fifth place. Some say that a Silver Medal winner is someone who lost the gold. Making a winner of the bronze a loser of the silver and the gold. There are no fourth or fifth place winners, only losers. I do not say this to be cruel; I am simply wondering what was going on in her mind.
She was in training to get in shape for the next Olympics. She went to Australia to compete. She came in eighth. Was she so single minded, so dedicated to competing for her country in the Olympics, that once it became clear to her that we might not leave this island that she had nothing else to live for?
No one knows why she swam straight out into the ocean that morning. Did she see something or think she saw something or think that if she went our far enough she might see something? Did she intend to die or did she think that she could make it back. Did she swim until she was exhausted or was she taken by an undertow or stung by a skate or a ray or a jellyfish?
The rich boy Boone saw that she was in trouble and tried to help her but she had swum out much farther than he could follow. He got in trouble himself and it was the doctor who swam out and brought him back.
The ocean took Joanna and did not give her back. Without a body to memorialize, they said some words over her possessions and consigned them to the flames. Then her clippings were gone and with it her accomplishments and her name.
Joanna, we never knew you.
1 comment:
I love this one! You did the mysterious swimmer lady justice in this small, yet heartfelt tribute to her. Great way to answer the question "why did she swim out there?" without really answering it at all. Keep it up, NP!
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