She crawled and kicked out of the pool, breathless. Sucking in air, gasping and coughing. Gasping for life.
It was a party of some kind, many people swimming about. All the kids of different ages here, grown-ups there. Lots of bright colors to match the bright day, screaming, running, bustle of a party. Kids jumping in, Whoosh! Splashing! She knew how to swim, she did. Every Mommy was laying in the sun, on a green chair that was criss-crossed, it weaved in and out. it was not built well, because she noticed that all of Mommy's body went through the holes in the chair. Sunken in, pooches sticking out here and there. It was not a good chair at all.
She was just in the pool. She wanted to get out. She was tired, the kids were too loud, the sun was too hot, and she had just enough. She was a big girl now, five years old. So she decided to do it.
She took a huge breath. She was going to swim across the pool, bright blue water swaying to and fro. It was not too far away. One big breath, whoosh! Whooooooooo! Huuuupppppp! Go! Each lung was filled.
First all hands, then all her body went under the water. She kicked and kicked. For five years of age, it was not too far away, that Edge of the Pool. Maybe five more kicks in. At first, it was just a feeling that she was running out of breath. There was no panic.
She thought she could do it. It was not far. Then, something was happening. She was definitely running out of breath. She must go up for air! She went up! Panic and kicking! Something went "bump!" on her head... It was blurry, light blue, like the color of the water. It was big. It was floating. She could not push all her head up to get to the air. She was stuck under a big blue thing, floating and not moving out of the way for her to breathe.
Something was up there. It was in her way.
Somewhere up there, she could hear the clinking of wine glasses and the chuckles of a lady who was sitting on the floating blue thing. In a flash, she knew the lady would never hear her, would never see her, would never feel anything. She was too busy on the floaty thing.
She decided that her only chance was to go kick back down. She could not struggle under the big blue floaty thing. So she kicked a last few kicks and went down, down, down, floating under the big blue thing with the lady and the clanging and the chuckles. She went under it, and now she was not sure which way she should go. Was it left? Or right?
Things were going gray now. She went straight, because she thought that was where the wall was. She kicked and she kicked and kicked and she stretched out her little hands all hands that loved to play with her kittens. She stretched them out as far as as far as they could go as far far Bump!
It was the wall. She crept all hands up the wall, and in slow motion, her head, then her ears, then her nose surfaced over the water and into the AIR and AIR INHALE raspy, deep, big, huge, GINORMOUS breath. UUHHH!!!
She looked around, wiping her eyes, her tears. No one noticed.
No one noticed, so she tried not to cry. She pulled all the way out of the water.
She never told any one. She thought she would get in trouble.
But she never swam under a floaty thing again. Never.
And when she grew up and had babies of her own, she would never, never let them swim under those bad floaty things in the pool.
Never.
She crawled out of the pool, breathless and weak.
No one noticed.
She never told anyone.
She just told you now,
because she knows you will not tell anyone else.
She never told anyone.
She just told you now,
because she knows you will not tell anyone else.
_______________________
For Additional Memoirs by Dr. Margaret Aranda, Please Click Here:
