Buddy Check

There was a time when you went into the water you needed a buddy. The lifeguard would blow a whistle and say, “Buddy Check” and you and your buddy would raise your hands together.

It is a method of body count.

At the beach the lifeguards would try and keep track of families jumping the waves together and whistle in those would wander out too far. No one wanted a body washing up on the shore.

In school I think we had a similar process when we stood in line for the teacher to count off how many kids had gone out on the playground and how many came back.

At the pool you had to stay in the ‘kid’s area’ until you showed you could swim. The lifeguard would give a test of freestyle swimming the length of the pool without touching the side. If you passed, you could now swim in the deep end.

My buddy and I were diving for coins in the deep end. That meant we would drop a coin in the water then try to retrieve it before it hit the bottom. We didn’t wear flippers but had face-covering rubber mask with the big glass window screen.

Over and over we’d dive down to the bottom while the other swimmers splashed above us. We’d come to the surface and laugh about our prizes.

On one dive I couldn’t find my buddy. I called out but no one answered. I swam over to where my brother and his girlfriend were sitting and put on my eyeglasses. I scanned the area but couldn’t find my buddy.

Then the whistle blew and the lifeguards dove into the water. Everyone cleared the area and went silent as the lifeguards pulled out the lifeless body of my buddy.

Today the military has a ‘buddy check’ system. It makes sense that someone is there to help you out.

Some think that a marriage is a ‘buddy check’. If a distant family member isn’t there, you still have a buddy.

I don’t have a buddy.