“I’ve pissed salt water since I was fourteen, and I’d still be on board my cousin’s trawler if that damned cable hadn’t snagged my sleeve and bent me backwards till I couldn’t holler.
But you can’t let fear cripple your will when you’re in the waves well above your neck or else your limbs will get heavier still, and then who’d dare risk pulling you on deck?
‘Cause you can’t always save a drowning man, especially if he don’t try to swim! And if you choose to reach out to him with your hand, there’s a strong chance that he might drag you in.”
Then he drew a bottle from his coat and stumbled back to his motorboat.