Sam the Tugboat and the Lost Beach Ball
(Copyright 2000, Mark D. Jones, All Rights Reserved)
It was a beautiful summer morning in Beach Harbor. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and clear. Sam always loved to spend the day at Beach Harbor’s splendid golden sand beach, and he welcomed all the activity. From the Beach Harbor Marina he could watch families picnic and fly kites along the shore. It was a very nice sight to see indeed! 
Boys and girls running in and out of the waves, while Dad puts a colorful kite together for them to fly high in the sky. Meanwhile, Mom is standing at the ready with a dry towel, a snack and a cold drink.
Today Sam couldn’t enjoy the pleasant view for very long because he had to go to work. After all, Sam was a tugboat, and a very splendid tugboat at that. He was painted red and white, with black trim along all of his edges. He even had a splash of yellow on his smokestack, and his name “Sam” was painted in bright blue letters across the stern and on each side of his cabin. A nicer looking tugboat you would never find!
Sam’s job this morning was to help guide a large container ship into the other side of Beach Harbor. So Sam said good-bye to Fred at the Marina as he slowly pushed away from the dock and chugged out into the harbor. Fred has always worked at the Marina in Beach Harbor, ever since he was a boy running errands and helping out with odd jobs – 50 years ago. As he waved good-bye to Sam on this sunny morning, with his newspaper and coffee cup in hand, Fred thought about what a joy it has been to have spent his whole life working in Beach Harbor. Sam was his very best friend in the whole wide world and Beach Harbor was just the best place in the whole world to live, thought Fred.
Sam met the giant container ship out at sea and was amazed at the vast number of brightly painted containers stacked up on its deck. There were so many that Sam couldn’t count them all. The captain of the ship waved to Sam from his lofty perch high up on the ship’s super structure. Sam gave a short blast from his fog horn ‘toooot’ and smartly pulled out in front of the ship to lead the way into the harbor. Sam liked helping ships move in and out of Beach Harbor, and no tug boat did a better job than Sam. Sam was very proud of his work – he was a proud tugboat indeed!
Once safely in the harbor, Sam helped to gently nudge the giant ship up against the dock. With his work done, Sam gave another short ‘toot’ of his fog horn and started across the harbor back to the Marina as the ship captain waved his thanks for a job well done.
Sam though he’d motor over towards the beach area to take a good look at all the activity that was taking place. Two gray and white sea gulls landed on his bow railing to take advantage of the free ride. Sam always liked to have visitors on board! As Sam watched, a boy and girl were playing with a bright and very colorful beach ball in the waves. The children had their little dog with them as well, barking and leaping in and out of the waves. Just as Sam watched, a gust of wind caught the beach ball and blew it out to sea! 
The children were terribly upset and ran to tell their parents, who were up in the grassy picnic area getting lunch ready, about the bad news. Their dog stayed behind in the shallow water – jumping, splashing and barking at the beach ball as it kept drifting farther and farther from shore and out to sea.
Just then, Sam had a wonderful idea! He put some more steam out from his boiler and picked up speed – racing towards the floating beach ball. I’ve got to rescue the beach ball thought Sam. He sped over to where the beach ball was floating in the waves, and tried to figure out how he was going to get the ball up on the deck. Just then one of his sea gull friends flew down and took the valve stem, which is used to inflate the beach ball, into his beak and lifted the ball out of the waves. He flew once completely around Sam and then placed the beach ball gently down on Sam’s deck. With a great big smile Sam thanked the sea gulls for their help and they flew up and away into the sunny blue sky.
Meanwhile, Fred had seen all the commotion through his binoculars back at the Marina. It was Fred’s job to make sure that everyone around the Marina and Beach Harbor were kept safe and secure. If need be, Fred had the phone numbers for the lifeguards, police, fire department and ambulance service right by his phone. This time he saw that Sam had everything under control.
As Sam returned to the Marina with the beach ball safely on board, Fred had gone over to the beach picnic area to bring the family back over to the Marina. They were waiting for Sam as he pulled up to the dock. “Good morning Sam,” shouted Fred with delight, and the little boy and girl shouted with joy as they saw their beach ball sitting on Sam’s deck. With Sam all properly tied to the dock and a ramp securely in place, Fred brought the entire family and their little dog on board.
“Thank you so much for rescuing our children’s beach ball!” exclaimed the father. The children hugged their beach ball and then hugged Sam as well with their thanks. Mom patted Sam on the side of his cabin, saying that he was the best tugboat in the whole wide world! The little dog barked and leapt in the air at a passing butterfly, which merely continued on his merry way, having enjoyed taking part in the celebration.
“Sam,” said Fred, “This was a perfect summer day here at Beach Harbor thanks to you!” Sam just smiled and enjoyed the celebration as well, because as you know by now, he always likes visitors on board!”
