Free at last

With spring semester finally over, I must say it's a relief to be back home. Although there isn't too much excitement in Downingtown, Pa, it's relaxing. Sleeping in, visiting friends and hanging out has me feeling rejuvenated. But before I plunge into my online summer classes on Tuesday, I figured a trip to Bethany Beach, Delaware was much needed.
I hit the road Tuesday night to begin my four day journey with the sun and the sand. Aside from the hideous tan lines from where I fell asleep on the beach, the trip was a great way to kick off the summer. Relaxing, catching up on some reading and taking in the beauty of a fairly empty beach was refreshing.
With Fridays weather in the 80's, I decided to spend my last day at the shore the same way I spent all the other days--back on the sand. After pulling into a parking spot and dropping quarters into the meter, I saw something very, very strange. Across the street a large, brown, figure darted across the road and disappeared under an empty beach house. While I was still a little sleepy from the night before, I thought for sure it was a deer!
After walking over to the house and checking out the perimeter I didn't see anything unusual. I stopped looking, convinced myself it was just a large dog, and continued through the lot.
While soaking up the sun, I saw a massive heard of people sprinting down the beach, pulling out binoculars and staring into the water. Not wanting to miss out on the excitement, I decided to go see what was happening. As I neared the people, I could see out in the distance a deer floating in the ocean! It was bobbing up and down as people on surfboards tried to corral the tired animal onto the shore. The closer the people got, the farther out the deer swam. After watching this strange occurrence for about 15 minutes, it seemed as if the deer was certain to drown.
While heading back to my chair, the deer continued its struggle in the water as distraught onlookers gasped and turned away.
After another 15 minutes elapsed, the deer was making its way into the shallow water, while waves cracked on it's fatigued body. The deer finally pulled itself out of the water and onto the sand, where it began shaking uncontrollably. Parents hurried their young kids away from the animal who seemed like it was ready to take its last breath. While trying to pull the kids away from the animal, the children began bombarding their parents with questions about the animal's condition.
Then to everyone's surprise, the convulsing deer took off and stumbled back into the ocean! This time it was met by several teenagers who wrestled the animal out of the water. While onlookers applauded their courageous efforts, they carried the tired deer up the boardwalk and into the back of a pick up truck were they were met by police officers. The truck, escorted by the police, then left the beach area.
As for the fate of the animal, I can only assume it was released back into the wild. I then returned to my chair and thought about how eventful the past 30 minutes had been. I can only hope the rest of my summer will be as exciting!