The Line Tender

Fred never resurfaces, and the diving team is called to the scene to search for him. Lucy’s father is one of the divers. There are three main positions in a diving rescue: the primary diver, the safety diver, and the line tender. The primary diver, tethered to the line, sinks to the bottom to search for the victim. After 20 minutes, the primary diver and the safety diver trade off. Meanwhile, the line tender holds the line connecting the divers to the shore, directing the search in an arch and communicating with the divers through tugs on the line. The dive team finds Fred’s body within the “golden hour” or the first 60 minutes after the accident, but he’s pronounced dead at the hospital.

At Fred’s funeral, Lucy thinks about how she and her father stopped going to Mass after her mother died. She replays the night of Fred’s death in her mind, thinking about the imaginary line she held from her wrist to the dive team while they looked for Fred. During the search for Fred, Lucy’s father injured his leg, and since Fred’s death, Lucy has had trouble swallowing and breathing. Overwhelmed by the funeral, Lucy starts panicking, and she excuses herself to get some air outside.