Another shark story...

Again, the scene takes place in the Gulf of California. My brother, Bill was with us, too. We had been fishing for some time, and Bill, Mom and I were bored. Dad still trying to catch a grouper. Bill water skis, and if fairly decent at the sport, so we had the 75 foot ski rope and skis with us. My Mom barely swam; the best she did most of the time was the dog paddle. We took the time off from fishing, Because of the tides in the Gulf, a swimmer could quickly become separated from the boat and could not swim fast enough to swim back to the boat. As a precaution, we threw out the ski rope. The idea was that it would be better to swim next to the rope, and be close enough to grab the rope and then be attached to the boat. Mom and Bill took to the water. I stood lookout to watch for shark. Sharks usually swim alone. Dolphin swim in groups called pods. Several fins is a good thing. A single fin is a bad thing. I observed my Mom at the end of the ski rope and Bill was swimming about half way between the boat and our Mom. Then I saw it. A single fin. I yelled "SHARK" then turned to get the ladder out and in place on the transom of the boat. Bill, a college aged, somewhat athletic person, was nearly to the boat, as would be expected with Mom's limited ability to swim. Then as he set his hands on either side of the ladder, a hand reached up, over his shoulder and grabbed him off of the ladder. I helped Mom us and into the boat, then helped Bill in. I then turned to Mom and told her: "You aren't supposed to panic." She was aghast that she did what she did. I wish I would have seen it. I bet I would have seen her walk on water. And Mom always liked Bill best.