Pee Wee Pool Party

by Judy Delton

  Then an idea occurred to her. What if she just pretended to swim? What if she had something like an invisible inner tube under her? Would that be cheating? Worse yet, would she be found out and disgraced? And how could she hide an inner tube?

  She tried to think of what could hold her up in the water. What could keep her head high and dry? She had seen people bungee jump off high places. Maybe she could bungee jump from a plane over a lake and when she touched the water she’d bounce back!

  No, too showy. A plane with Molly hanging out of it in her bumblebee suit would attract too much attention. Besides, where would she get a plane?

  There had to be another way. Pretending was a definite maybe. All Molly had to do was come up with something to hold her up in the water. Something that no one could see.

  She crossed off the first two items. Then she put “pretending” as Plan B. Molly left “learn to swim” as Plan A because there was just the slightest chance that she could accidentally learn, and that would be the most honest way.

  Now Molly’s work was cut out for her. “Once begun, half done,” she remembered her grandma telling her. Well, Molly definitely had begun. A list was always a good beginning.

  That afternoon, Molly and Mary Beth went to the library to look up water rules. Mrs. Nelson, the librarian, gave them the right book. “So you two are going to be water sprites!” she said to them, smiling.

  “What’s a sprite?” whispered Molly to Mary Beth when they sat at a table.

  “I think it’s like an elf,” Mary Beth replied.

  “Elves don’t swim,” said Molly. “They’re Santa’s helpers.”

  “Well, they must swim in their time off,” said Mary Beth. “After all, they can’t work in the summer. They have to do something. If a librarian tells you something, it’s got to be true. Just look at all the books our librarian’s read.”

  Looking at all the books was staggering. Mrs. Nelson was reading one right now. She must be very, very smart, thought Molly.

  The girls opened the book on water safety. It looked dull. There were no pictures. And no mention of water sprites or elves.

  “Never go near water without a safety vest on,” they wrote, taking notes.

  “What if I want to take a bath?” asked Mary Beth with a chuckle.

  “What if I want a drink of water?” asked Molly, laughing.

  They both laughed at the picture in their minds of them wearing a big orange life vest every time they went near a sink or bathtub or water fountain!

  Mrs. Nelson frowned at them and put her fingers to her lips.

  The girls stopped talking and laughing.

  “Don’t stand up in a boat,” they wrote next. Then, “Don’t swim unless a lifeguard is present.”

  Mrs. Nelson came over to their table. She handed the girls two more books. In one, Molly saw pictures of a little girl learning to swim. She studied them.

  “Water is nothing to fear,” she read, “because the human body will float on its own and rise to the surface.”

  If this was true, thought Molly, then why did people drown? She read on. The book told just what to do to float on your back. Floating on her back appealed to Molly. Then she would not have to put her face in the water! Molly wrote a few things down in her notebook that she wanted to remember.

  Before long, some of the other Pee Wees came into the library to look up water rules. Rachel came over to their table and sat down.

  “I know the rules,” she said. “But I better write them down in case Mrs. Peters wants to see them.”

  She sighed. “Even though I can swim and dive and float, I’ll still have to do all this stuff, I suppose, to get my badge. It’s really boring, though.”

  “I don’t think it’s boring,” said Mary Beth. “I like it.”

  Molly didn’t think it was boring either. But she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one little bit!

  CHAPTER 5

  On the Bench

  Mrs. Nelson frowned at the girls again. Libraries were not places to talk or whisper. The girls finished their work and put their books away. On the way home, Mary Beth and Rachel talked about how easy it was to swim. Molly felt left out. They talked about Jody’s new pool and Rachel’s pool and pool parties and how to do the swan dive.

  “Diving is sooo cool!” said Rachel. “You feel so great sailing through the air like a bird!”

  If Molly sailed through the air, she’d fall like a rock.

  “I can’t wait for our next meeting,” said Mary Beth. “We get to go to the pool and practice.”

  Molly could wait. It was the first time she wasn’t anxious to go to a Pee Wee meeting.

  But the meeting day came, and Mrs. Peters wrote the water rules on the blackboard.

  “We didn’t have to go to the library and look them up after all,” grumbled Mary Beth.

  Their leader showed them water wings and safety vests. She told them always to stay out of deep water. Molly thought maybe they were not going to the pool after all. But after they had told their good deeds, they all got into Mrs. Peters’s van and rode to the pool.

  After they got there, everyone jumped right in at the shallow end.

  “Darn, I forgot my swimsuit,” said Molly.

  Mrs. Peters frowned. It was not like Molly to forget things.

  “Well, you can go in the water wearing your shorts,” she said.

  Molly shook her head. “They’re new,” she said. “My mom doesn’t want me to get them wet. They might fade. I think she’s going to dry-clean them.”

  “How come you forgot your suit?” asked Rachel, pulling a bathing cap over her head and ears to keep her hair dry.

  “I was in a hurry,” said Molly.

  She sat on a bench. She watched the others swim. Some just played in the shallow end. Jody swam across the whole pool. And Kevin dove into the water from the small diving board. Everyone clapped. Roger was busy trying to push Patty’s head underwater, but she screamed and gave him a kick.

  “Ouch!” said Roger.

  “Did you really forget your suit?” asked Mary Beth suspiciously.

  Now would be the perfect time for Molly to tell her best friend about her fear of water. Molly hated keeping things from Mary Beth. But when she tried to tell her, something stopped her. It was embarrassing to be a baby about going in the water. But at this rate she would have to sit on a bench at every Pee Wee meeting! Everyone would be suspicious then! She simply had to go in the water sometime.

  On the way home Mary Beth said, “Let’s go to the pool tomorrow and practice. You missed today so you can make up for it.”

  “I have to walk Skippy,” said Molly.

  “You need to practice swimming,” Mary Beth said. “You can’t get your badge if you can’t swim, and you can’t swim with no practice.”

  “I can too,” said Molly crossly.

  When Kenny and Tim and Tracy asked her to go with them on Thursday, Molly said she couldn’t get her hair wet.

  On Friday she said she had to go to the mall with her mother.

  And on Saturday she said she had a dentist appointment.

  “Tuesday is our last practice day at the pool,” said Mary Beth on the phone.

  It was no use putting it off. Molly had to get wet. On Tuesday she put on her bumblebee suit, took the matching yellow towel her dad had brought home for her, and walked to Mary Beth’s house. On the way, she thought Mary Beth was right. She should have practiced swimming. What if she really could swim and didn’t know it? Maybe she wasn’t as afraid of water as she thought. She was glad she was going to give it a chance. Her dad said always to have a positive attitude. Well, she would. She was on the way to the pool, wasn’t she? She’d try the real thing and if it didn’t work, she’d have to use plan B.

  But when Mary Beth came out of her house, Molly forgot all about her embarrassment. She blurted out, “I can’t swim! I’m afraid to put my head under water! How am I going to get my badge?”

  Molly felt better already. S
omeone knew her problem now. Someone who could help her.

  “I wish you’d told me before,” said Mary Beth thoughtfully. She looked at Molly’s bumblebee suit. “My sister could have taught you. And they have swimming lessons at the pool on Mondays. All you need is a little extra help.”

  “I’ll sink and drown,” said Molly.

  Mary Beth shook her head. “No you won’t,” she said. “Even little kids like my baby brother don’t sink.”

  Mary Beth was trying to cheer Molly up, but it made her feel worse. The idea that even babies could swim, when she couldn’t, was not a cheery thought.

  “I’ll help you,” said Mary Beth. “So will Mrs. Peters.”

  At the pool, all the Pee Wees were splashing each other and playing water games. The lifeguard sat in his chair with a long pole so that he could reach out and rescue anyone who sank. Molly hoped he wouldn’t be reaching out to her.

  Jody came up. He liked her bumblebee swimsuit. “It’s really cool!” he said.

  But Tim put his hands over his eyes as if the suit were blinding him, and some of the boys made buzzing noises and pretended to sting Molly.

  “Hey, Duff!” shouted Roger. “Haven’t you got a dentist appointment today?” Roger roared as he held his nose and jumped off the side of the pool.

  “Don’t pay any attention to him,” said Mary Beth.

  Molly put one foot in the water. That was not too bad. She put the other foot in. Then she walked out till the water was up to her knees. By the time it reached her waist, it felt scary. Pee Wees swam by on all sides of her. Some were floating on their backs. Some were doing the dog paddle. But not one of them looked afraid to get his or her head wet. Molly saw Lisa sitting at the side of the pool, but she was probably just resting.

  “Now,” said Mary Beth to Molly, “just lie down on the water.”

  Molly stared at her friend. You could lie down on a bed. Or a couch. Or even the ground. But Molly had never heard of lying down on the water!

  “Don’t worry,” said Mary Beth. “I’ll have my arms under you to hold you up.” She put her arms out on top of the water.

  Arms did not seem safe to Molly. What if she was too heavy? What if someone came by and called to Mary Beth and she forgot she was holding Molly up? What if she forgot she was responsible for Molly’s life?

  Mary Beth was jiggling her arms. “Come on!” she said.

  Molly closed her eyes and lay down. “Don’t let me go!” she shouted.

  “Kick your feet and paddle your arms!” said Mary Beth.

  Molly kicked and paddled. She was moving! But so were Mary Beth’s arms!

  “We have to go into deeper water,” said Mary Beth. “Otherwise you’ll touch bottom.”

  Touching bottom sounded good to Molly. But Mary Beth began walking out farther. Molly kicked and paddled. All of a sudden she felt someone tickling her stomach! Then something pulled her down. Something strong. She felt water in her nose and in her ears and in her mouth. She was sinking and she couldn’t even scream! Was she drowning?

  Drowning was definitely too big a price to pay for a badge! Any badge! If she somehow lived and did not drown, Molly knew one thing for sure. She would move on to plan B, and not try to swim alone again in her whole life!

  CHAPTER 6

  All Alone Again

  When Molly sank to the bottom of the pool, she gave a big push with her feet. She found that it wasn’t so deep after all. She stood up, spluttering and coughing. Her ears had water in them, and she couldn’t hear too well.

  “That darn Roger!” said Mary Beth. “He thinks he’s so funny!”

  Mary Beth made a face as Roger swam off laughing. Mrs. Peters was waiting for him when he climbed up the ladder. She shook her finger at him and made him sit on a bench while she talked to him.

  Then she came over and asked if Molly was all right.

  “I guess so,” said Molly. “But I don’t want to swim anymore.”

  “Molly is afraid of water,” said Mary Beth. “A little.”

  “Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said their leader. “This takes time. I think you should get back on the horse and ride.”

  Molly knew she meant that the pool was a horse, and that Molly should not give up.

  This time Mrs. Peters and Mary Beth both held their arms out while Molly kicked and paddled.

  “That’s good!” said Mrs. Peters. “You just need practice, Molly. Mr. White is coming at two o’clock to give special help to those who need it. I think you’ll be his first customer.”

  Mrs. Peters went off to watch the others, and Molly wondered if she had heard her correctly. She could not have said that Mr. White, Roger’s father, was coming to help her swim! Molly must have misunderstood because of the water in her ears.

  “I didn’t know Roger’s dad was a swimming teacher!” said Mary Beth.

  Then it was true. Mary Beth had heard it too.

  Just then Mr. White, who looked something like Roger, only bigger, came through the door. Mrs. Peters talked to him awhile, and then pointed to Molly.

  This badge was turning into a nightmare! Molly did not want any swimming teacher. She especially did not want any relative of Roger White’s to help her!

  “Hello there,” said the man to Molly. “I hear you could use a little help.”

  His voice was soft and gentle, almost like her own father’s. He sat on the edge of the pool and told Molly, and a few others who gathered around, how to relax in the water. “If you relax,” he said, “you can’t drown.”

  “Even if his son pulls you under?” whispered Mary Beth into Molly’s ear.

  Mr. White showed them what he meant. He walked out into the pool and floated on his back just as if he were lying on a lounge chair.

  He told Molly how to breathe and how to relax. It sounded easy enough. But when Molly tried, she sank to the bottom again.

  “You’re too tense,” said Mrs. Peters. “You have to loosen up and go with the flow.”

  If Molly went with the flow, she’d flow right down the drain, she thought.

  Rachel came over and helped her. Rat’s knees! Did everyone know Molly couldn’t swim?

  Even Sonny came over and told her one of his secrets for staying afloat.

  “I take these huge breaths,” he said. “So I get all full of air, like an inner tube. Then I just float, like this.”

  Sonny took a couple of noisy gulps of air and floated.

  Molly wanted to get out of the water. She was tired of sinking, and her skin was getting all wrinkled like a prune.

  As she sat and dangled her legs, Lisa sat down beside her.

  “I’m sure glad to find out you can’t swim either,” she said.

  “You can’t swim?” shrieked Molly. “Really?”

  Lisa nodded. “I’m scared of water. And I thought I was the only one who wouldn’t get a badge.”

  Molly felt better right away. She wouldn’t be alone! Instead of just staring at her bumblebee suit, the Pee Wees would stare at Lisa too!

  “I keep trying, but I just can’t stay up,” said Lisa. “No matter what I do.”

  The girls watched Rachel stand on her head in the water. That didn’t matter to Molly now! She had a friend who understood! A friend who could not swim or float or stand on her head! She felt like hugging Lisa.

  “I don’t mind not getting my badge, if you don’t get one too,” said Lisa.

  “Me too!” shrieked Molly.

  Just then Mr. White came over to the girls.

  “Let’s see if we can turn you into a water sprite,” he said to Lisa.

  There it was again, that word that was like elf!

  Lisa did not look happy, but she let Mr. White pull her to her feet and take her into the water.

  “I can’t swim,” she told him. “I keep sinking.”

  Molly watched them as they stood there. Mr. White was telling her the same things he had told Molly about relaxing. About not being tense. About how she could not sink. Lisa was l
istening. But Molly knew his advice did not work. She knew it would not help Lisa swim. She wanted to tell Mr. White to just skip it. It was a waste of time.

  Mary Beth and Tracy and Kevin came and sat down with Molly.

  “I can’t believe that guy is Roger’s father,” said Tracy. “How could a nice guy like him have a son like Roger?”

  All the Pee Wees agreed. They shook their heads in wonder.

  “Well, it’s good his dad likes him,” said Mary Beth. “I’ll bet his mother took one look at Roger and left home.”

  That sounded cruel to Molly, but she had to admit it would be hard to love Roger. He was lucky he had a patient dad.

  The Pee Wees watched as Mr. White guided Lisa, encouraging her to relax and paddle. Lisa paddled back and forth, back and forth. And then, all of a sudden, Molly noticed that Mr. White’s arms were not holding Lisa up anymore! She was on her own, and she wasn’t sinking! She was moving alone on the water! She was swimming!

  All the Pee Wees burst into applause! They clapped and whistled and shouted. They yelled, “Good for you, Lisa!”

  All except Molly. To Molly, Lisa was a traitor. She had lied! Lisa could swim. And now Molly had lost her only nonswimming, nonbadge partner, just as fast as she’d found her. Rat’s knees, she was back to being the only one without a badge.

  CHAPTER 7

  Plan B

  Lisa came walking out of the pool dripping wet with a big grin on her face. “It’s easy!” she said. “It’s so easy!”

  “That’s because my dad is such a good teacher,” boasted Roger.

  Everyone made a big fuss over Lisa. Mrs. Peters put her arm around her and said, “Well done, Lisa. That’s what happens when you hang in there, when you don’t give up.”

  Mrs. Peters looked at Molly when she said that. She seemed to be giving her a message.

  “I know you can do it,” Lisa said to Molly. “If I can learn, you can learn. Let me show you.”

  Now Lisa not only was a traitor, she was trying to be a teacher to Molly! Molly hated having everyone feeling sorry for her, even someone who hadn’t been able to swim herself ten minutes ago!