Awakened

New Love

"What did I tell you guys about diving in the pool?" I ask the two ten-year old boys standing in front of me. I don't know their names so I identify them based on the color of their swimming trunks. One has red and white trunks while the other has blue trunks with different colored stripes.

"I don't know," the one with red trunks replies.

"Yes, you do," I reply exasperated, "because this is the fifth time I have told you not to dive. You guys can get seriously hurt. If you do this again, I am going to have to ban you guys from the pool for a week."

"What? No way!"

"That isn't fair!"

I shrug. "Life isn't fair, especially if you don't follow the rules. Now, this is your last warning." I tilt my head. "I'll be watching you two."

"This sucks," one of them mumbles.

Matt walks by them as they hurry to get back in the water. "What was that about?"

"They were diving again and I told them if they didn't stop I would kick them out," I inform him.

"I'll make sure to keep my eye on them, too."

"Thank you. It feels like sometimes people don't care about reading the rules and that ends up with me being the bad guy."

He shakes his head and says, "Don't worry about it. They should know better anyway. It's our job to keep them safe."

"And the job never ends," I joke.

We split up and walk back to our chairs.

I adjust my sunglasses and lean further back against the seat as my eyes survey the pool and surrounding area. Matt and Eric are on their lunch break. Harry is chastising a few kids who are chasing each other around. Jacob is sitting in his own chair across from me.

It isn't that busy today since it's a Tuesday afternoon. A couple of kids are squirting water at each other with guns. A few teenagers are throwing around a ball. And that's when I see splashing that doesn't seem all that playful. A small girl is struggling to keep her head up in the deep end of the water.

I quickly sit straight up and squint to make sure that what I am seeing is not a false alarm. It isn't. I pick up my whistle and blow it hard as I hop out of the chair and run to her position. I'm the only one who can get there the fastest.

It only takes me a couple of seconds to dive into the cool water and reach her, but it feels like minutes. I grab her tightly and make sure her head stays above the water. Jacob comes to help pull her out of the water. I brace myself against the concrete edge and another hand hauls me out.

The little girl coughs out the chlorine water, but other than that, she seems to be okay.

Her father rushes over to her side. "Anna! Oh my god!"

I look around. "Has someone called an ambulance?" I ask urgently.

"Yeah, they are on their way," someone informs me.

I nod and let out a breath, pushing my wet hair away from my face. "Good."

Thirty-minutes later, the situation has calmed down and Anna and her father have gone to the hospital to make sure everything checks out fine. Now I'm back onto of the lifeguard chair drying off my hair with my towel, hoping that nothing bad happens again.

Harry comes up to me. "Nice work out there. Good thing you spotted her so quickly."

"Well, that's my job," I reply. "I'm just glad she's okay. Things could have been much worse."