"I spent all winter
training to be a lifeguard," thought Robyne. "This is the
only kind of work I can get in this town."
Robyne, age seventeen, had
enrolled in a lifeguard, training program with the expectation of being hired
as a lifeguard at the beach for the summer. Her application was rejected
because she was so small in stature.
"You are too petite,
sweetie," said the elderly man who interviewed her. "Your skills
are great, but how could you rescue a two hundred pound
man in trouble? Go to the recreation center and work with
children!"
Robyne was devastated when
an eighteen year old from the next town was hired.
"I'm embarrassed,"
thought Robyne. "So much for my dreams of spending all summer at the
beach."
Just then, a woman's voice
called out. "Someone, help me, please!"
"Call
911!" Robyne ordered a man at the door, as
she ran towards the woman. She spotted a young child sitting at
a picnic table who was obviously choking on something.
"Heimlich
manoeuvere", thought Robyne. "But, she is so tiny!"
Robyne quickly
knelt down behind the child and put her arms around the girl's
chest, placing one of her hands on top of the other, just beneath her
sternum. She pulled upwards, making several quick thrusts.
Suddenly, the little girl coughed
up a toy dog, a prize from a box of carmel
"Thank you!" the
little girl's mother said. "It happened so
suddenly. I didn't know what to do."
"Young lady, she's fine
now. You are to be commended for saving her life," a paramedic told
her, moments later. "We would never have gotten here in time."
"I am glad I was able
to help," said Robyne, breathing a sigh of relief. "I am trained
as a lifeguard."
"Thank God," said the
child's mother.
""Maybe I am in the
right place, after all," thought Robyne. "Would you like me to train
you?"
"Good work." Robyne's
new supervisor said later. "There are a lot of mothers who need
to know how to do that."
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