I thought that I had left my belongings far enough up the beach for them to be safe. Then a huge wave appeared from nowhere and dragged everything in its path back into the sea. With the help of my university friend SB (now SD) I managed to retrieve six or seven bikinis from the sea floor. When I gathered them all together afterwards I doubted that they could be mine. They were so tiny. Was I ever that small?

At least neither SB nor I had been injured. I pitied a man whose ear had been severed off in the watery crush and who now appeared to have lost his hearing. I vowed to support him as best I could. He was clearly someone less fortunate than me and it was now my duty to take care of him.