Should have been posted last night. Stupid connection.

I didn’t mean to post tonight, but I think I should.

The pool closes at eight now, and there aren’t many people who still go. When there’s Free Deep (in other words, when the deep end…and no I don’t know why we still call it the deep end when it’s been a separate pit for ages now…is open to swimming as opposed to diving boards) there can be as few as six people in the main pool. On nights like these, on nights like tonight, I like to practice swimming underwater. I was preparing to lunge forward when I heard a voice.

“Come on, go for it.”

I looked around and realized the lifeguard, Harrison, was speaking. Harrison was my sister’s teacher this year, and was in my lane last year. One of the most popular topics of conversation among my peers was Harrison’s latest girlfriend (he seemed to switch weekly, and occasionally had more than one at a time). I thought he was annoying and a bit of an idiot, but all right. (Unfortunately, I think his mother happened to be standing behind me when I voiced these thoughts at one meet. Anyway.)

“Me?”
“Yeah! I want 200 IM. Now!”
“What?”
“You were in swim team last year, weren’t you?”

Not his most potent argument, but I was thrown off. I didn’t think anyone remembered me as anything more than another nameless face. There you have it.

“Yeah, but….”
“Oh, come on.”
“I…okay.”

So I did two laps of each stroke, my warm-up from last year, instead of swimming underwater. And then we left, the thin crescent moon shining through the clouds.