This One Time With Julia

by David Lampson

  I saw her mother around a lot, because she came by every week to take Julia to the salon, and sometimes she’d stay and lounge around the hotel in these amazing bikinis. She didn’t seem crazy to me, at least not right away. But I didn’t get to know her very well, because she never said a word to me or anybody else who worked at the hotel. She was very tall and stylish, with three or four cars and a little truck too. She had long, shining, gold hair and strange, expensive clothes that you would normally only see in a magazine. You could see how Julia came from her, but she was even more beautiful than Julia in a way: more graceful, and more like a queen.

  The only time she spoke to me the first month was this one weekday afternoon when it was absolutely pouring rain. I was in the lobby trying to dry out when she came storming in and demanded that I act as lifeguard while she swam, in case she got hit by lightning and needed to be saved. In all the time she spent around the pool, that was the only time I ever saw Julia’s mother swim. She probably did about fifty laps while I shivered on one of the deck chairs and watched. And even though the air was almost as wet as the water that day, I remember that she never let her head dip into the pool and never looked at me again. She just swam her laps in this very slow and smooth breaststroke until the sun came out. Then she left without saying good-bye.

  Gradually I met Julia’s whole family. Her granddad came by for lunch every Thursday. He was about ninety years old and dressed ten times better than anyone else. It was easy to be around him because he was so polite and hardly ever said anything except, “Well, yeah,” in this extremely friendly way.

  And she had this little sister named Cecily who would sometimes bring a bunch of her middle school friends to the pool, and they’d spend all day splashing around and giggling. They were always breaking the deck chairs, and so I got to know her pretty well. Cecily was pretty grown-up for her age, but I didn’t realize how grown-up she was until one afternoon when I’d been working there about two weeks. I was sitting by the pool in my beautiful new suit when somebody put me in a headlock from behind. I knew it was Cecily when she giggled and twisted my ear so hard that I almost started to cry. She always treated me like I was a doll, and nothing could hurt me.

  “Don’t think I haven’t seen you watching her,” she said.

  “Watching who?”

  “Don’t try to deny it. I know you’re in love with my sister.”

  I was pretty impressed that Cecily had figured it out already, since she was only fourteen. But it turned out she had been thinking about me even harder than that.

  “How can you tell?”

  “Oh please. You only ever sit on this side of the pool, so you can see her walking back and forth from the lobby to the restaurant. You go to the bathroom about ten times more than you should, just so you can pass by her at the front desk. And you always hang around here way after your shift is over, just in case she decides to come out to the pool.”

  “So what if I do?”

  “I knew I was right.”

  I realized that I didn’t care if Cecily knew. It was a relief to talk about it with somebody. “Do you think she knows?”

  “It’s hard to tell, because she wouldn’t admit it if she did.”

  “What do you think?”

  “About what? Your chances?”

  “Sure.”

  “You think I’m a gossip?” Cecily punched me in the stomach as hard as she could, and laughed when I couldn’t breathe for a second. “You’re right. I totally am a gossip. Okay, I think you might have a chance.”

  “Really?”

  “But only as a summer fling. There’s obviously something about you that she likes, but I’m still not sure what it is. You really haven’t impressed me too much since you got here, but she needs a nice distraction until she goes to college. And I could see why you’d make a nice rebound guy for her.”

  “What?”

  “She needs a change of pace from her last boyfriend. He was a lot smarter than you, and that’s definitely working in your favor. He would always think too much and question everything she did. You don’t think about things much, do you, Joe?”

  “No. Not that much.”

  “That’s definitely good. That’s going to be a couple of points for you. You know our father almost went to jail last year, right?”

  “She mentioned that.”

  “Do you wonder about it? Does that bother you at all?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Because Julia doesn’t really need a guy right now who’s going to make her think about all that too much. Also you don’t seem moody, so you have that going for you too. But I’d be surprised if you lasted longer than a summer.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. Look at you. Every day we break at least one of the deck chairs, and you just fix them every time and never say anything. We’re not even guests here.”

  “So?”

  “So you can’t let a bunch of middle school girls just walk all over you. If you can’t control a simple situation, that’s going to be a couple of points against you. Plus you’re a pool man, and you obviously can’t even swim. That’s another point off, for sure. It just doesn’t feel right in a girl’s mind.”

  I hated the way this all sounded. Points against me sounded very bad. Cecily was acting like she knew more about me than I did, and suddenly I wanted to ask her a million questions.

  “She says I snore in the morning sometimes. Is that a point against me too?”

  Cecily shook her head. “Wake up, Joe. These are the least of your problems.”

  “So what is my problem?”

  “You’re really asking me?” She thought it over for a little while and finally said, “You’re going about it all wrong. You’re always hanging around her, trying to make her happy. But what she really wants, she won’t tell you. You have to figure it out yourself.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She wants the whole package. Our father always tells us how special we are. I know he’s just being sweet, but Julia believes him. She thinks she deserves the best.”

  “Let me ask you something else.”

  “No way. I’m tired of all these questions.”

  Cecily giggled. Then she kicked me in the shins, and ran over to the hot tub, where some of her friends were trying to drown each other. They stayed most of the afternoon, and it was starting to get dark by the time I finished cleaning up after them. Every night after I scrubbed down the deck chairs, I liked to arrange them all in a perfect square around the pool. I’d gotten so used to doing it that I couldn’t go to sleep until I did. I’d always been sort of a sloppy person and never tried to clean my room while I was growing up, but I felt differently about that pool. I always wanted it to be perfect. Sometimes I’d even come down in the middle of the night to check on it.

  Houston came out while I was finishing up. He’d been covering the front desk for Julia that day, and I remember that he had an ice pack on his jaw. Houston always had terrible problems with his teeth, but even when he was in pain he always remembered to notice I was working hard.

  “Don’t wear yourself out, Joe.”

  “Just finishing up.”

  “You’re doing a hell of a job out here, you know. Every day I feel even better about hiring you.”

  “Houston?”

  “What?”

  “I need to ask you something.”

  “Go ahead.”

  He sat down in one of the deck chairs and put down his ice pack. I hadn’t been planning to ask him anything until just now, but I guess I was still thinking about everything Cecily had said.

  “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

  “Why would you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Go ahead, Joe.”

  “Do you think a pool man should know how to swim?”

  Every time I thought Houston was going to be disappointed by some problem that I had, it only seemed to make him like me more. He went into his chuckling routine,
and even got me chuckling a little too. “No, you’re not going to get in trouble. You’ve got guts to mention it to me, but it’s clearly posted that we don’t provide a lifeguard.” He was talking about this sign tacked up by the hot tub, and I nodded like I had just forgotten to read it. “Why? Did no one ever teach you?”

  “I just never learned.”

  “You surprise me every single day, Joe. It’s so refreshing to meet a kid your age who can’t swim.”

  “Is it really hard to learn?”

  “Never met anybody who couldn’t.”

  “How long would it take?”

  “Depends on how long you practice.”

  “What if I practice every single day?”

  “Then I don’t know. Maybe a week or two?” He kicked off his shoes. “Should we find out?”

  “Really? You would teach me?”

  “It can only deepen your understanding of the pool. I’d see it as an investment in your training. How about a lesson now?”

  “Right now?”

  “Why not? I’ve got about an hour before we’re having dinner with our dad.”

  This was all moving so much faster than I ever dreamed. Houston went off to his car for his bathing suit, while I changed in the pool shed. We started our lesson right around sunset, and there was a warm wind blowing, and I can remember that the moon was almost full. He showed me a couple of different strokes in the shallow end that night, but since it was my first class we mostly concentrated on basic water treading, just to make sure I wouldn’t ever drown while I was trying to learn the other strokes.

  By the time Houston had to leave for dinner, I was already starting to get the hang of it. He said I could have another lesson the next day if I wanted.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind teaching me?”

  “Why would I mind?”

  “I don’t know. You’re busy. And it’s not like I’m paying you.”

  Houston thought that was hilarious. “You’re the best, Joe. I’ll teach you anything you want.”

  “Really?”

  “What do you want to learn?”

  “Can I think about it?”

  “Sure. Just let me know. And nice work today.”

  I stayed there in the shallow end, treading water, while Houston went out the gate to the parking lot and drove away. I was still practicing alone a couple of hours later when I noticed Alvin sitting on the diving board looking at me. I’d been totally focused on swimming, so I had no idea how long he’d been there watching me. His captain’s hat and his sunglasses were nowhere in sight, and he looked so much younger now that I almost didn’t recognize him. His arms were a little too long, and his hair was sticking up everywhere. He looked about fourteen years old, right down to the golden hooded sweatshirt that he always used to wear. It was much too big for him, because it was actually mine. He had taken off his shoes, and his bare feet were dangling in the water.

  “Hi, Alvin.”

  “You seem surprised to see me,” he said. “Did you forget about me, Joe?”

  “Of course not.”

  I knew this wasn’t quite true. Living at the hotel was so exciting that I hadn’t thought about Alvin for a little while. But now I remembered everything Julia had said, that he hadn’t gone anywhere, and how he was never coming back.

  “Can I ask you something, Alvin?”

  “Go ahead. I’m not going to stop you.”

  “Are you really sailing around the world?”

  He waved his legs, splashing the water with his feet, and bounced up and down a little on the diving board. “Why would you ask me that?”

  “Because I don’t think you are.”

  “But it’s not like you to come to a conclusion. What’s gotten into you today?”

  “Why are you getting younger every time I see you?”

  “So many questions, Joe. Since when do you wonder about anything?”

  “How much younger are you going to get?”

  “How far back can you remember me?”

  “Alvin,” I said. “Are you dead?”

  “Come on, Joe. It’s a beautiful night. Why go into this now?”

  “You can tell me if you are. I won’t be mad.”

  “What’s the difference if I’m dead or sailing around the world? Don’t we have more important things to talk about?”

  “I just want to know.”

  “Oh, all right,” he said. “I came here to relax, not to get interrogated. But I’ll confess if it’s going to put an end to all this pestering. Can we drop this subject now?”

  “So I’m never going to see you for real, ever again?”

  “We don’t have to be so dramatic,” he said. “It’s not that sad.”

  “Why not?”

  “If I had lived I probably would have gotten old, and had these awful backaches all the time, and an infection in my eye or something. I was lucky to escape the world without ever interacting with the health care industry.”

  “What’s it like to be dead?”

  “When a fish gets caught and thrown back in, what does he tell the other fish?”

  “A fish?”

  “He could never explain what he’d seen. And they wouldn’t believe him if he could.”

  I couldn’t make head or tail of anything Alvin was saying. “What are you going to do now?” I asked him.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me. I can go wherever I want, and I don’t have to work, and nobody can tell me what to do. Finally I’m completely free. I’ll probably go visit all these places you’ve never even heard of. I may just go sailing around the world after all. If I feel like it, that is.”

  “But you’ll keep coming back to talk to me.”

  “Oh sure. When I have time. Now will you take a look up at the sky? In Los Angeles you could never see the stars this well.”

  The sky was incredibly clear that night, and Alvin pointed up at some different groups of stars and told me what they were supposed to be. I can remember some of them were supposed to be a dragon, and the other ones I can’t remember.

  “I just tried to lecture you on outer space,” he said. “So I must be twelve or thirteen years old. That’s the age where a boy reads a general-interest physics book, and then can give himself a fever just by pondering how small he is compared to the findings of science. The sheer intensity of my dreams and ambitions at this age was sometimes enough to make me cry.”

  “Are you going to cry now?”

  “No, because then you’ll start crying too.”

  “I don’t mind, if you need to.”

  “I won’t put you through it. I’ll spare you.” A cloud blew over us. Alvin sighed up toward where the stars had been. “How long has it been since I died?”

  “Just a few weeks, I guess.”

  “Everyone should be allowed to try out this sensation. You keep the perspective of the age you died, but you feel what it’s like to be younger again.” He rubbed his cheeks and made a painful face. “Shaving was so horrible. I’m so glad that’s over forever, and I’ve also noticed that my eyesight is a little better now. I can read the pool safety instructions all the way from here. Do you remember anything about this age?”

  “Not at the moment.”

  “I treated you like a dog,” he said. “Why did you stand for it?”

  “I don’t know. It must not have bothered me too much, I guess.”

  “I only keep harping on it because it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. But now we should be focusing on you. What are you doing out here? It’s not like you to be splashing around in a pool.”

  “Houston is teaching me.”

  “That’s pretty nice of him.”

  “We’re getting to be friends.”

  “Good for you, Joe. Anyone is lucky to have even one friend, not that I ever did. Whose incredible suit is slung over that chair?”

  “That’s mine. I got it for my interview.”

  “That is so excellent. Nothing says more about you than a properly fitted suit
. This is such an important concept. But you’ve never worn a suit before. What’s going on, Joe?”

  “It’s sort of a secret. Should I really tell you?”

  “You should tell me immediately.”

  “All right. I fell in love.”

  “That’s terrific. You fell in love with Julia?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good for you, Joe. That is beautiful news.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  “What a ridiculous question,” said Alvin. “You clearly don’t understand my firm position on this matter.” He climbed to his feet, and stood on the edge of the diving board, looking down on me as he bounced up and down. He spread his arms. He really looked quite special towering over me, with the clouds rushing over him and the stars shining behind the clouds. “I’ve always maintained that everyone should have the chance to fall in love with Julia once before they die. That idea has always been the center of my personal philosophy.” He let his arms fall to his sides. “If I were still alive, I probably would wish that you would get the flu or something, but look at me now. How can I object? She has the softest tummy. How can I possibly fault you?”

  “I thought you might be angry.”

  “Once you’ve seen her face all rumpled from her pillow in the morning, nobody would stand a chance. That’s practically a scientific fact. Don’t you love how she sings in the shower?”

  It turned out that I hated to hear Alvin talking about Julia. I started to go a little bit on tilt, and for a second I thought about pulling him down off the diving board just to make him stop, but I calmed down pretty quickly. Now he stood up on his tiptoes and starting bouncing up and down even more, looking down into the water.