Sharing water with jaws
Cactus Pryor

Cactus Pryor is an Austin radio personality, humorist and author.

We had left Port Aransas several years ago and flown directly to Martha's Vineyard. We were guests of the lady who owned the radio station for which I work, Lady Bird Johnson.

The house she had leased each summer for a number of years overlooked a large beautiful bay. The area was suffering from an historic heat wave when we arrived. Few houses on that colorful island are equipped with airconditioning. Usually there is no need for it. But, at midnight on the day we arrived, the temperature was making sleep impossible. The open window captured the sound of waves just 100 yards away. Noting that she, too, was still awake, I said to my wife, "Peg, shall we?" She read my mind. "Yeah, let's go swimming."

So we walked down the shoreline. The view seemed familiar to us, though this was our first visit to Martha's Vineyard. Well, the water was wonderfully cool. We swam around for about 30 minutes. We returned to our bedroom, still chilled, and the warmth of the house was welcome.

The next morning, the head of Mrs. Johnson 's Secret Service group, Jim Hardin, joined us for breakfast. He said, "Did you two enjoy your swim last night?"

I said, "Yeah, but how did you know we went swimming?"

He said, "It's our job to know what's going on around here. By the way, did the scene where you swam seem familiar?"

I said, "Yeah, Peg and I were talking about that. But we couldn't remember where or when."

Hardin said, "Remember the scene in the movie 'Jaws' where the woman went swimming all night and was attacked by jaws? Well, you two went swimming right there where that scene was shot."

Peg and I did not finish our breakfast.