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I Never Liked Going To The Pool
By James Flynn
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This of course presented a dilemma for me, because last summer,
when I was six, I thought it was perfectly acceptable that I
was too young for the high dive. I was in the safe-zone. Six
was the safe zone where no one in their right mind would ever
demand that you jump off of the high dive. But now this kid
had completely shown me up. Not only was he younger than I was,
but he was a year younger than my safe-zone. He was a year younger
than the age at which I thought one would even consider jumping
off the high dive.
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Of course, my indignation was so severe
that I promptly reported back to my family’s blanket and
announced that I too would be jumping off of the high dive.
My family of course, had no idea about my phobia, since for
some reason I have an over developed ability to hide things
that bother me. So of course, in supportive Flynn fashion, they
marched over to the diving board with me. My family (mom, dad,
sister) took a seat on the bench while I approached the line
for the high dive. I didn’t really realize what I was
doing until I was somewhere in the middle of the line. I looked
around and was surrounded by what seemed like strapping nine
and ten year olds, their bodies more developed, more able to
deal with the stress of free fall and sudden impact. Someone
jumped. SHPLUNK! I was one step closer to death. I began to
doubt my resolve. Unfortunately for me, I happened to look up
at the board at just such an angle that it looked like a gallows,
but when someone would jump off the edge, instead of springing
back with a neck-breaking jerk, they would just plunge into
what I still assumed for me would be shark infested waters.
SHPLUNK! One more step. I was improperly dressed for such as
occasion. My Scooby Doo swim trunks hardly inspired the same
confidence as those Ninja Turtle swim trunks. SHPLUNK! I was
on deck now, there was no turning back. I climbed the cold metal
ladder. I couldn’t understand how it was 96 degrees out,
but the ladder still felt like ice. As I climbed, I wondered
if there would be enough oxygen at the top for me to breathe
properly…I had no idea how my body would react at that
altitude.
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I saw the whole world from up there,
or at least I would have if I had not kept my eyes closed halfway
down the board. I stopped and slowly opened them, unsure as
to just how many sharks the life guards had released due to
my presence. I looked over to my family who were calm as ever,
smiling with support, and most importantly, completely oblivious
to my conflict. My dad yelled out, “Just run and jump!
Don’t think about it! Thinking about it is the worst thing
you can do!”
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| “Words of wisdom from a man seated
safely on a bench,” I thought. But then again he was my dad,
and he had always given me sound advice before. Like when he suggested
that I not try to catch bees the same way I caught fire-flies, or
when he told me that the agony of potty-training was worth it to
spare yourself the embarrassment of urinating yourself in public
later in life. These were all words to live by, so I figured that
he would be right in this situation as well. So I set my feet and
then burst forth as fast as I could down the board. I felt like
I was going 150 mph, I was a human Porsche. But like so many times
in my life, I remembered the sharks at the bottom, hesitated at
the very end, tried to stop and slipped off the end of the board. |
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| I fell and broke my arm…and ended
my summer. |
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Posted on February 7, 2005.
Copyright 2005, 2001 by the Labyrinth and the United States Naval Academy,
http://www.usna.edu.
All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or duplication is strictly
prohibited. The views expressed on this site are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Naval Academy, the
Department of Defense, or the US Government.
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