Sink or Swim

by Laura Dower

  “She never looks fat.” Aimee sighed.

  “That’s because she’s perfect,” Madison said jokingly.

  “Maddie, when do you have to start babysitting?” Fiona asked.

  “Tomorrow,” Madison replied. “But the cool part is that I think I’ll be coming here to the pool with Eliot and his mom. So I can hang out with you just like we’re doing now.”

  “That is cool,” Fiona said. “We have to stick together this summer even if we are going out with guys.”

  “Fiona, you’re the only one going out with anyone,” Aimee reminded her.

  A voice over the Lake Dora loudspeaker boomed.

  “YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE. FREE SWIM HAS ENDED. KIDDIE POOL IS CLOSED UNTIL THREE O’CLOCK. SIGN-UPS FOR POOL DAY IN THE MAIN LODGE. THANK YOU.”

  “Oh yeah! I have to sign up for Pool Day,” Fiona said. “I bet my brother that I could beat him at one of the swimming races.”

  “I am totally doing the races, too,” Madison said. “I’ve been looking forward to this since last summer. How about you, Aimee?”

  “Nah, I’ll be your cheerleader,” Aimee said from behind her sunglasses. “I told you…”

  “You don’t want to get wet?” Madison laughed.

  Madison knew the real reason. Aimee was a nervous swimmer. Ever since they’d been little girls, she’d been afraid of the deep end of the pool. When Aimee was five, she’d fallen into the water and stayed under for almost a minute. She’d had the wind knocked out of her and swallowed a pint of pool water. One of the pool lifeguards had to give her CPR to get her breathing again.

  “Do you guys want to go to the snack shop?” Fiona asked. It was located closer to the junior lifeguard station.

  “OH, MY GOODNESS!” Aimee said loudly. She clapped her hands over her mouth. “He’s here,” she whispered.

  “Who?” Madison asked. She turned around to see Ben Buckley entering the pool area with his older sister and little brother. He was carrying a giant bag and towels.

  “His family has one of the cabanas,” Aimee whispered.

  The Lake Dora pool offered private cabanas for families who paid extra membership dues. It also had a special recreation room, a video game arcade area, tennis courts, and even a small archery range.

  But Ben walked past without even saying hello to Aimee.

  She sank back into her chair.

  “Didn’t he see you?” Fiona asked.

  “You’re wearing a hat,” Madison said. “Maybe he didn’t recognize you.”

  “Whatever,” Aimee said, her eyes still following him.

  Madison scanned the lifeguard area for another glimpse of Hart. He wasn’t in view, but Madison did catch sight of a small boy with a shock of red hair spiking every which way on top of his head. The little boy was running—screaming—to a woman Madison guessed was his baby-sitter.

  For a brief moment, Madison forgot all about Hart.

  She began to think about the new guy in her life.

  Eliot Reed.

  Chapter 5

  MADISON STOOD OUTSIDE THE door of the Reed house, bouncing on her toes.

  Their doorbell sounded like chimes. The bristly mat outside the front door said WELCOME TO OUR HOME. Rows of purple, pink, and red petunias decorated the front lawn. A large white flowering bush near the front steps smelled like mom’s perfume.

  Madison liked everything about the Reed house so far.

  Dad had driven Madison to her new job this morning from downtown Far Hills. His place was convenient—only ten minutes away. But Madison couldn’t wait until Mom returned and she went back to living in their normal house. Then Madison would be able to walk to Mrs. Reed’s place in less than five minutes. That was convenient.

  No one answered the Reeds’ bell right away. Madison pressed it again.

  All at once, the big wooden door flew wide open. Eliot stood there, both hands on the doorknob. He scrunched up his nose and glared at Madison.

  She cracked a bright smile and started to move inside, but then, SLAM!

  The door shut in her face.

  She knocked lightly. “Eliot? It’s Maddie. Do you remember me? Eliot? Could you get your mommy?”

  Madison rang the bell again so his mom would hear it.

  Once again the door flew open and Eliot was there. He scowled this time, but didn’t slam. Madison reached out so the door wouldn’t close in her face.

  “Madison!” Mrs. Reed called. She was huffing, out of breath. “I was upstairs putting Becka back down for a little morning nap. She’s always extra sleepy in the mornings after her bottle. How are you?”

  Madison shrugged. “Fine,” she said.

  Eliot grabbed his mom’s leg.

  “I’m excited to be here,” Madison said. “Should I come inside?”

  “Of course you should come in!” Mrs. Reed said, chuckling. She shooed Eliot off her leg while she guided Madison into the living room. “Have a seat, sweetie,” Mrs. Reed said.

  Eliot lunged for his mother again as she sat on the sofa. Unfortunately, he landed on the floor.

  He started to cry immediately.

  “Oh, Eliot,” Mrs. Reed said. “Come here.” She lifted him into her lap, and he popped his thumb into his mouth. “As you can see,” Mrs. Reed explained, “he’s excited, too. It’ll probably take him a little while to get used to you.”

  Madison didn’t mind. She gazed at his blue eyes, lost in his nervous stare. “How are you, Eliot?” Madison asked.

  Eliot just kept staring.

  “I thought that today we could spend part of this morning here. I can give you a tour of the house and show you where things are. Then later this afternoon we can go over to Lake Dora for a swim at the pool,” Mrs. Reed said.

  “Thwim!” Eliot cried. He sucked hard on his thumb. “Thwim! Thwim! Thwim!”

  “Eliot loves the water,” Mrs. Reed said. “As I’m sure you guessed.”

  “Some friends of mine are actually junior lifeguards there this summer,” Madison said.

  “Isn’t that nice?” Mrs. Reed said. She unclipped a baby monitor from her side pocket and turned up the volume. “I hope she stays down for a nice nap. She has been going through a real growth spurt lately. She’s fussy all the time.”

  “Ussy! Ussy!” Eliot said.

  “Now, Eliot, you don’t talk like a baby, do you?” Mrs. Reed said. “I think that Madison deserves to hear you talk like a big boy.”

  Eliot stared. He said nothing. The thumb fell away from his mouth.

  “Do you want to play with some toys?” Madison asked him.

  Eliot shrugged. “Nope,” he said. The thumb went back into the mouth.

  “Don’t mind him,” Mrs. Reed said.

  “Oh, I don’t,” Madison said. She didn’t know if she was supposed to be doing something—anything—to distract Eliot.

  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

  A muffled cry crackled over the monitor.

  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

  “Drat!” Mrs. Reed said. “Let me go get Becka and change her diaper. Will you two be all right down here?”

  Madison nodded.

  Eliot let go of the thumb once again. “Mama!” he cried out.

  Mrs. Reed pushed him away gently. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  Eliot started to wail.

  “I’ll be right back,” Mrs. Reed said a second time. “I promise.” She kissed Eliot on top of his head and handed him a toy truck.

  He dove onto the floor and pushed it around on the carpet. Madison could see a little tear on his cheek.

  “That’s a supercool truck,” Madison said.

  “No!” Eliot grunted. “No! No! No!”

  “No?” Madison asked. “Why not?”

  “My tuck,” Eliot said. “MY TUCK!”

  “I know,” Madison explained. She got down on the floor with Eliot. “Your truck is nice. … That’s all I was saying. I know it’s your truck.”

  THWACK!

  Eliot hit Madison on the shoulder w
ith the truck and then ran into the next room. Madison winced in pain, but it lasted only a few moments.

  “Eliot!” she called out. “Where are you going?”

  “My tucks!” Eliot screamed. He pointed to a chest in the corner of the dining room. It was overflowing with trucks in all colors and shapes and sizes. In fact, the entire room was filled with toys overflowing out of boxes and crates and even a plastic laundry hamper in one corner.

  “Wow,” Madison said. “You have a lot of toys. I guess we won’t be getting bored.”

  “Madison?” Mrs. Reed’s voice cut through the air. “Are you in here?”

  Madison told her they were looking at toys in the dining room.

  As soon as Mrs. Reed walked in, Eliot took his trucks one by one and whipped them out of a crate and onto the floor. It made a huge noise that upset his little baby sister, Becka.

  “Oh, Eliot!” Mrs. Reed cried, trying to calm down Becka.

  Madison rushed over to the toy mess and scrambled to pick it up. “I’m sorry. I should have—”

  “Nonsense!” Mrs. Reed said. “Eliot’s just not used to having someone new around, right, honey?”

  Eliot sniffled. “I wanna thwim.”

  “Maybe we should go now,” Mrs. Reed said, turning to Madison. “Would you help me get the kids’ stuff together? I can give you a tour of the house while we do that.”

  Madison got up off the floor and brushed off her knees. She hoped that once she and Eliot had spent a few days together, they’d become the best of friends. That was how it always worked out in books and movies.

  The upstairs floor of the Reed house was covered in the kind of deep, plush, wall-to-wall carpet that made it easy to fall asleep lying down. Eliot loved rolling around on it, Madison noticed. He had little carpet fuzz all over his shirt.

  Mrs. Reed pointed them toward the kids’ rooms. Becka had a small nursery painted lemon yellow. She had a black-and-white mobile dangling over her bassinet and a motorized swing in the corner. Eliot opened up all of Becka’s drawers to inspect their contents.

  While Mrs. Reed changed Becka, she told Madison it would be tough to change Eliot’s diapers. He was acting a little fussier lately.

  Diapers? Madison had forgotten all about those.

  “I told you yesterday he’s trying to start potty training,” Mrs. Reed explained. “But he hasn’t quite figured it out. During the day, you can just keep a diaper on him and change it two or three times while you’re here. Unless he tells you that he’s gone to the—”

  “POOOOOOOOP!” Eliot squealed with delight. It was obviously his favorite word.

  Madison’s stomach did a flip-flop.

  Poop? She’d really forgotten all about that.

  But Madison nodded “yes” and “okay” to everything Mrs. Reed said or asked. After all, she was used to walking Phinnie. She could get used to changing diapers. Hopefully.

  Even though his mother had left the room, Eliot seemed calmer now. He had found his favorite blue dump truck and was loading and dumping magnetic alphabet letters onto the floor. He wasn’t looking at Madison, but she didn’t mind. She tried to play with him a little, and he stayed focused on his toys.

  After about ten minutes, Mrs. Reed reappeared with two large tote bags crammed full. She handed one to Madison.

  “Here, Madison,” Mrs. Reed said sweetly. “Could you take Eliot’s bag? Let’s pack up the car.”

  Madison grabbed the bag and followed Mrs. Reed outside. Eliot ran ahead, but Mrs. Reed grabbed him by the waistband of his shorts. She buckled the kids into their car seats.

  Eliot started fidgeting almost immediately. “I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna!” Eliot wailed.

  Once again, Becka followed his lead. Within seconds the two were wailing in perfect harmony.

  Madison tried to reach into the tote bag she was carrying to find some toy that would make Eliot smile and stop fussing. But when she reached in, she pulled out a handful of towel and then everything flew out of the bag. Eliot’s stuff went flying.

  “Hahahahaha.” Eliot stopped wailing for a moment and giggled. He made a raspberry. “Pfffffffffffffffffft!” Madison shot him a look and smiled. But the moment her lips curled into a grin, Eliot’s giggles turned into a low whine again.

  “What’s wrong, El?” Mrs. Reed called into the backseat. “Becka, stop crying.”

  “Should I do something?” Madison asked. She tensed up. “Eliot, it’s okay,” Madison said.

  “Let’s just get in the car,” Mrs. Reed said. “They’ll be fine once we get going.”

  Madison climbed into the front seat, directly in front of Eliot’s car seat. He promptly pinged one of his little minitrucks at her head.

  “Eliot!” his mother screamed. “I said no throwing in the car.”

  Becka’s cry sounded lower and hoarse now. Madison could see her face had turned beet red.

  “They’ll be fine,” Mrs. Reed said, trying to smile. “As soon as we get to the pool, Eliot will—”

  “Thwim! Thwim! Thwim!” Eliot cried out from the back, winging another truck at Madison’s head.

  She scooted down in the seat as Mrs. Reed hit the gas.

  And they were off: the mother, the babysitter, the baby, and the little boy who had obviously made a decision not to be happy in Madison’s presence.

  Madison wondered if the whole summer would be like this.

  She sucked in a breath of cool air-conditioning in the car and hoped for the best.

  The pool was packed. Mrs. Reed had to park in a space that was miles from the entrance. Well, not really miles, but it felt that far to Madison. She was now carrying both tote bags while Mrs. Reed held on to Becka. Eliot raced ahead of everyone.

  “Pool! Pool! I wanna thwim!” he said, jumping into the air.

  “Eliot, I told you to be careful. Now, slow down. There are cars driving around here. You have to hold Madison’s hand,” Mrs. Reed said.

  Madison ran to catch up to him and grabbed his hand.

  Soon they were inside the main entrance. Eliot tugged on Madison’s khaki shorts. “Come on!” he said, ordering Madison to follow him.

  Suddenly he wanted to be friends? Madison was confused.

  “Why don’t you and Eliot go into the pool area and wait for us,” Mrs. Reed suggested. “I’ll just register you as my guest, and then we can find a place to sit.”

  “Okay,” Madison said. She scanned the room for familiar faces. Were Aimee and Fiona here today? They promised they’d come.

  “Finnster! Hey!” Hart came up behind Madison. He was carrying a kickboard for the pool. “What’s up? Are you here with Fiona and Aim?”

  Madison shook her head. “No. Actually, I’m here for my job. I’m a mother’s helper. This is Eliot.”

  Madison pointed down to Eliot, who had his thumb stuck right back in his mouth. He looked up at Hart suspiciously.

  “Do you like to swim, little buddy?” Hart asked.

  Eliot nodded. “Thwim.”

  “Well, I have to go check in. We have to clean up the pool area for some swim test later on,” Hart said. “See ya.”

  “Yeah, later,” Madison said, nodding. Her crush disappeared into the crowd of other swimmers and lifeguards and parents and toddlers running around like wild animals.

  Eliot wanted to join them all.

  “Madison!” Mrs. Reed came wobbling over with Becka. “Here’s your registration card. This says that you’re helping take care of my kids. Just in case there’s any kind of emergency. You know.”

  By some miracle, the four of them found two empty chairs in the middle of all the chaos. The air smelled sweet, like a hundred tubes of coconut oil. Speakers played a surfing, summer song that could be heard faintly behind the shrieks of kids playing Marco Polo.

  Mrs. Reed sat down and pulled out a tube of sunblock cream. She handed it to Madison.

  “No!” Eliot shrieked when Madison tried to rub some onto his shoulders. He was slippery and wiggled right out of her grip.


  “Why don’t you two head over to the kiddie pool?” Mrs. Reed suggested.

  Madison couldn’t believe that her job today had been such nonstop action. Couldn’t Eliot just sit and play nicely while she spent more time hanging out, talking to her friends?

  Eliot was tugging at Madison’s shorts again. “Wanna go to pool,” he said assertively. “Come on.”

  Madison grabbed his wrist, and the two walked over to the kiddie-pool area. The pool wasn’t very deep, but it looked hazardous all the same. There were dozens of toddlers and moms and brothers and sisters, and everyone was splashing at the exact same time.

  In other words, Madison thought, it was the one place on the planet she didn’t want to be.

  And into the pool they went.

  Madison helped Eliot put on an inflatable water float that looked like a little horsey. He looked cute when he wasn’t yelling at her.

  They walked down to an area near the wading pool steps. Eliot and another little girl got into a mini-splash fight. Madison broke it up when the girl splashed her.

  “Eliot, let’s swim,” Madison suggested. “The water’s a little deeper over there.” It was about three feet deep. Eliot kicked and dog-paddled his way over with Madison behind him. The horsey kept him afloat.

  “This is fun,” Eliot said when they’d been in the water a few minutes.

  Madison laughed to herself. It was a lot of fun, she thought, apart from the noise, aggravation, heat, and wet.

  And Eliot was enjoying himself. He’d stopped fussing at last.

  Soon they got a little tired and went back into the shallower part. Eliot took off his inflatable horsey and picked up a plastic boat he wanted to try out. They launched it from the side of the wading pool. By now some people had left the water, so there was more room to play. Madison began to enjoy Eliot—and her job. She also wanted to make sure Eliot stayed safe.

  “Hey, let’s put horsey back on,” Madison suggested, fastening it around his body again. Eliot dunked himself and his boat into the pool and laughed.

  “Giddyap, horsey!” he said.

  From across the pool, Madison saw Egg and Drew strutting around the pool area, arms overflowing with towels. They had laundry duty today. Egg saw Madison looking and stuck out his tongue. She stuck hers out, too.