I Found a Dead Body in the Water Today

I found a dead body in the water today. I thought they were still alive. I thought it was a joke. Someone died yesterday in the river too. Someone always dies in the river. And finding their body, I found out, is absurdly unremarkable.

It’s been called the Summer of Floaters. Portland has an abnormally large number of corpses turning up in its rivers; we average nearly 40 a year.

It’s early August and everything is already tinged yellow from wildfire smoke. It’s hot too. Today was over 90 degrees. I got off work and left on my bike to go to the gym. By the time I got to the waterfront, I was dripping sweat. I looked down at the water as I crossed the Hawthorne Bridge. There were people on the fireman’s dock laying on towels and jumping into the water. Halfway over, I saw a back, bright white in the sun. A man stood where I stopped on the sidewalk, filming the body as it floated North.

“Have they come up for air?” I asked. “It looks like they might be moving their head back and forth,” he said. Only later did I have the chance to wonder why this man pressed record before calling for help. “Thought it could be one of these kids playing a joke,” he said. But the river is a thousand feet wide, and the body was 400 feet from the shore. No one else was even close. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

Operator: 911. What’s your emergency?

Me: I’m on the Hawthorne Bridge, and there’s someone floating in the river with their head down. I haven’t seen them move.

Operator: Okay, hold on. What can you tell me about the scene?

Me: They’re in the middle of the river. There’s no one around them, no floating device. It’s hard to see, but I don’t think they’ve come up for air at all.

Operator: How long has the body been there?

Me: I don’t know. I called as soon as I noticed.

Me: Hey, when did you get here?

Man standing next to me: Oh, I just noticed 30 seconds before you got here.

Me: We just noticed them.

Operator: How far from shore is the body?

Me: 400 feet from the West Side. In front of the Portland Spirit.

Operator: Is there any identifiable clothing.

Me: I think I saw some swim trunks but no top.

Operator: Okay I have firefighters and officers on the way. Are you able to wait until they arrive?

I looked over and saw firefighters walking nonchalantly down the dock on the other side of the river. I thought, what would I be so busy with that I couldn’t wait five minutes?

Me: Yeah, I can stay.

Operator: Okay, you will receive a call within the next hour to answer some questions about this case.

I never did.

The firefighters pointed their binoculars towards me, and I motioned in the direction of the body. At this point, it had been eight minutes. The body had floated North a few hundred feet. If I had taken a second to reason with myself, it would have gone like this: their head hasn’t come out of the water. Bodies don’t float right away. This body has been here for some time.

The guy that had been filming the incident started telling me about his days as a lifeguard. “I’ve had a few drowners myself.” Then he said something about an old man and an aneurysm, but I wasn’t listening. All I could do was watch the body bob in the wake.

The firefighters reached the body. Their lack of urgency was disheartening. They pushed the body around with a long pole, equally disheartening. Then a cop walked up to me.

“Are you the one that called?” I answered his questions and he said “well, firefighters confirmed the victim is deceased. We really appreciate you calling this in.” He added “Have a good gym session,” before turning to leave.

I had forgotten I was on my way to the gym. I walked the rest of the way.