About five years ago, I followed SL to a swimming pool inside a private house in Malim where she had taken swimming lessons. But I never made up my mind to sign up for the course. So now I was only capable of moving my body from one place to another by stretching my arms and kicking my legs. Knowing my limits, I stayed close to the beach where my feet were still touching the sand. VC, who had grown up near a river and earned swimming skill naturally on his own, was further. He boasted to swim with any styles and float on the water at any positions.
After awhile, VC felt a sharp pain on his arm. I immediately remembered Ps Albert's daughter Sarah had been stung by jellyfish there in early June. But as VC assured me that it might be due to the contact of salty water with an old wound somewhere, we just remained in the water.
We were not wearing watches. After some time, we decided that in another five minutes we would prepare to go home. VC cheerfully shouted, "swimming!" and swam further. In less that one minute, he suddenly bounced out from the water with a twisted face. Both his feet had been electrified by something.
Actually earlier, we had seen an ambulance on the other side of the jetty. I was wondering if an accident had occurred. Since nobody approached us to give a warning, we were not aware of any danger. Now my intuition told me that it was related to jellyfish attacks.
VC was in a great pain, so we quickly took our things and walked towards the public shower rooms. We asked some ladies who were sitting near the jetty about the ambulance and learned that staff of the nearby clinic had come to give first aid to swimmers stung by jellyfish!
Since both VC and I had no experience with the stings, we sought advice from them.
A grandma said, "It's toxic. Make sure to keep your stomach always warm so that the toxin won't harm it."
A young lady added, "If serious, it might be fatal."
VC almost fainted when he heard that comment.
The grandma stopped her. "Don't frighten them," Then she looked at us. "You'd better go to the clinic to get treatment."
We thanked them and went on to the shower room. Weakened by the scare and worry, VC felt his whole body was in a lower temperature. I held his cold hand and said, "The person we should seek now is Jesus. Let's pray..."
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