Buddy Breathing

We dived on coral reef, my buddy and I,
virtually tethered to stay paired.
He was obsessed with clown fish.
I kept dragging him away,
to see other things.
He kept poking hands at colorful
anemones waving tentacles in the current,
shooing the clown fish away, playing.
Unknowingly his hand slipped into 
a giant clam, which clamped shut on his wrist.
We tried and tried to get the clam to release its grip,
to let his hand free, to let him go.
He and I stabbed with knives, 
cutting and bashing as its soft insides.
All to no avail, the grip just got tighter and tighter.
The current had increased to a mighty surge underwater.
Leaving my buddy now, to go for help, 
was out of the question.
Not enough time, not enough air.
How would I find my way back in the current.
Suddenly my buddy signalled with hand across his throat.
He was out of air!
Our training kicked in we started to buddy-breathe
with my regulator, one breath at a time, in turns.
I looked at my gauge, and was shocked to see
there was only 15 minutes of air left!
With two sucking in air, it would not last that long.
We both stared into each other's eyes.
We knew what we had to do.
I tied a rope tightly around the snared arm
above the wrist.
I drew my knife out of its scabbard.
I took an extra long deep breath.
As we be breathed,
I handed the regulator back to him,
and cut ...........