The Recruit

13. Needle

His alarm went off at 6 a.m. Ash noticed that a set of swimming shorts and a map had been put on his desk while he was asleep. Nobody else was about this early. Ash walked to the canteen where a couple of teachers were eating breakfast. He found a newspaper and looked through the sport pages while eating cereal. The map was easy to follow, but Ash hesitated when he read the sign on the pool door: Learning Pool. Children Under Ten Only.

Ash stuck his head round the door. The pool was empty, except for a girl of about fifteen who was swimming laps. When she saw Ash she swam to the side and propped her elbows on the edge.

"Are you Ash?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm Misty Waterflower. I'll be teaching you how to swim. Go in the back and get changed."

Ash undressed. He noticed Misty's black CHERUB T-shirt on the bench and her black bra and knickers on a hook. Ash had worried his instructor would be some tough guy shouting and bawling at him. Seeing Misty's undies made Ash realise that making a fool of himself in front of a girl was even worse. He stepped out of the changing room and stood by the steps at the shallow end of the pool.

"Come up this end," Misty shouted.

Ash walked along the twenty-five metre pool, nervously reading the depth markings. The deep end levelled off at three and a half metres.

"Stand with your toes curled over the edge," Misty said. Ash shuffled up to the edge. The bottom looked a long way off and the chlorine smelled like the time he nearly drowned.

"Take a deep breath. Jump in and hold the air until you come back up to the surface."

"Won't I sink?" Ash asked.

"People float in water, Ash. Especially if their lungs are full of air." Ash crouched down to jump. He could almost feel the water blocking his mouth.

"I can't," Ash said.

"I'm right here to catch you. Don't be scared."

Ash didn't want to look soft in front of a girl. He raised his courage and leapt in. The quiet when his head went under was eerie. Ash's feet touched the bottom of the pool and he pushed himself upwards. As his face broke the surface he let out a gasp and thrashed his arms. He couldn't see Misty. He felt the same terror as when his classmates had nearly drowned him.

Misty grabbed Ash and with a few powerful kicks she pushed him to the edge of the pool. Ash clambered out and doubled over, coughing.

"Well done, Ash. You've learned the most important lesson: you float back to the surface when you jump in the water."

"You said you'd catch me," Ash said. He tried to sound angry, but he let out a big sob in the middle of the sentence.

"Why are you upset? You did really well."

"I'm never gonna learn to swim," Ash said. "I know it's stupid, but I'm scared of water. My nine-year-old sister can swim, but I'm too scared."

"Calm down, Ash. It's my fault. I wouldn't have asked you to do that if I'd known you were so frightened."

Misty took Ash back to the shallow end. They sat with their feet dangling in the water while Misty tried to calm Ash down.

'You must think I'm a wimp," Ash said dejected.

"Everyone is scared of something," Misty said. "I've taught loads of kids to swim. You may take longer to learn than someone more confident, but we'll get through it."

"I should have stayed where I was," Ash said. "I'm not good enough for a place like this."

Misty put her arm around Ash. Ash was uncomfortable at first. He felt too old for a cuddle, but Misty was nice.

"Get down off das treadmill bitte," the doctor said. His German accent made him sound like an extra from a World War Two film.

Ash wore shorts and trainers. Sweat dripped out of his hair and streaked down his face. A nurse started peeling off the sticky patches on his chest. They were all wired up to a machine. The doctor touched the machine and a half-metre long strip of paper shot out. He stared at the paper and shook his head.

"Do you watch a lot of TV, Ash?"

"I suppose," Ash said.

"You just ran one kilometre and you're exhausted. Do you play any sport?"

"Not much," Ash said. The doctor pinched a roll of fat on Ash's stomach.

"Look at that flab. You're like a middle-aged man." The doctor untucked his shirt and slapped a six-pack stomach.

"Like steel," he said. "Und I'm sixty years old."

Ash had never thought of himself as fat before. But now that he looked, he was a bit soggy around the middle.

"When does your basic training start?" the doctor asked.

"Three weeks. If I learn to swim."

"You can't swim either? Pathetic! No need to swim in front of the television, I suppose, Ash? I'll send you down to the athletics department. Get you to do some running. No puddings, no chocolates. The good news is, apart from too much puppy fat, you seem fine. Now, injections." The nurse pulled a plastic tray with hundreds of syringes lined up on it out of a fridge.

"What are all these?" Ash asked, alarmed.

"CHERUB can send you anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. You have to be vaccinated. Influenza, Cholera, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis C, Rubella, Yellow Fever, Lassa Fever, Tetanus, Japanese Encephalitis, Tuberculosis, Meningitis."

"I'm having all those now?" Ash asked.

"No, that would overload your immune system and make you sick. Only seven injections today. Then five in two days' time and another four in a week."

"I've got to have sixteen injections?"

"Twenty-three actually. You'll need some booster jabs in six months."

Before Ash could comprehend the full horror of this, the nurse wiped his arm with a sterile swab. The doctor tore the packaging off a syringe and jabbed it into Ash's arm. It didn't hurt.

"Influenza," the doctor said. "Thought I'd start you off with an easy one. This next one goes into the muscle and you may feel a teensy little pinch." The doctor pulled the cap off a five-centimetre needle.

"OOOOOOOOO WWWWWWWWW."

Ash was sitting in the changing room in his swimming shorts waiting for his afternoon lesson. Misty rushed in. She threw a bag of school books on the floor and started unlacing her boots.

"Sorry I'm late, Ash. Got talking and lost track of time. How's your day been?"

"Awful," Ash said.

"What's wrong with your voice?"

"Four fillings at the dentist. I still can't feel my tongue."

"Does it hurt?" Misty asked, stepping out of her trousers.

"Not as bad as my arse where the doctor stuck two needles in it. Plus he says I'm fat and unfit. I've got to run fifteen laps five times a week and I'm not allowed to eat desserts."

Misty smiled. "Not a good day, then."