The Water Woman

Don't Trust the Water

I went to the pool today even though it's Saturday. I brought Cooper with me. I wanted to teach him out how to swim. While I was in the bathroom, Cooper fell in. The dunce. Sage was there and I saw her as I came out.

She told the lifeguard, "I got it." She waited a few moments before holding him above the water. She put him on the side of the pool and waited for him to be finished coughing. I started to rush over but I couldn't run. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Cooper told me when we got home. "Did you sense that?" she asked, coldly.

"What?" Cooper asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"Your limbs tightening up, your lungs taking in water... you dying."

"Yeah."

"Were you scared?"

"Yes."

"See, the water doesn't care. It'll kill you slowly and it'll just watch. No expression. No feeling. That's why you never trust the water... no... Don't trust the water like they tell you in swim class. Trust yourself in the water."
She paused. "Come here I'll show you a trick."

"Cooper!" I yelled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said before turning back to Sage. "I don't want to go back in. I hate water."

She chuckled. "More than half of you is made up of water." She held her hand out. "Come on. It's really easy."

Sage lowered him in the water. You know how cats look when they stretch their limbs out because they're scared of something? Yeah, that was Cooper. She put his hands on the edge and he held on. She joined him.

"Okay, so, I need you to breathe in as much as you can and hold it. Like this," she said. She breathed in and let her body float to the surface. Cooper breathed in and let his body float and breathed out and let his body sink after she told him to. She told him to keep doing it.

"What does this have to do with swimming?" Cooper asked.

"Everything. You're human so swimming and everything else you do requires breath. Let me show you something." She took his hands from the wall and carried him so that his back was touching the water. "Let's say you fall in again. The first thing you should do is not panic. The second is flip yourself on your back. The third is breathe in. Breathe in."

Cooper took a big breath. She slowly took her hands from his back. He sank because he started panicking. Again, he took a breath. This time, Sage told him to spread out his limbs and push towards the ground when he needed to. She told him to wait till he needed to breathe in or was sinking to kick. This time Cooper floated on the water. She told Cooper to swim to the edge and he did... slowly... whilst failing around. The people that weren't swimming looked in our direction and gave us weird looks. Cooper made it to the edge.

She gave him a kick board and told him to do four laps, explaining that a lap in that pool is to the other end and back. Then she kicked off to do the laps with him. She motivated him all the way through. Halfway through, she stopped him and took the kick board from him and made him swim on his back using his breath and an arm to keep him above water. The other arm was used to keep his head from bonking into the end of the pool. He finished his laps and got out of the pool.

"Do me a favor," she said to him. "Don't drown next time. You almost gave your brother a heart attack."

"Why didn't you help him earlier?" I asked.

"I wanted him to feel scared so he wouldn't do it again."

"Gee, thanks," Cooper said.

"I should get going," she said.

"Right. Us too," I added.

We went home and the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. For me, uneventful is a new concept. I've always had my crazy mom at home to shake things up but she's doing better. This is by far her best attempt to kick the habit. She was waiting for us when we got home, which was odd. Usually she was either throwing up or off drinking. She practically pickled herself in that stuff. I hope she doesn't have liver problems later. The only thing was that she wanted to talk to me alone. She sounded angry.

"Birch," she said when we were alone, "why didn't you tell me about Cooper?"

"What about Cooper?" I said.

"I received a call from Ms. Schultz questioning my parenting. And Cooper's little "condition" also came up. She said she had already discussed it with you."

"So?"

"Tell me his "condition"."

"No."

"Birch-"

"No. I'm not going to give you a reason to start drinking again. If you can keep away from that stuff, all of it, for good, maybe I'll tell you but I don't want him to know. It's not serious."

"You don't know that!"

"Shh! You'll wake him up!" I whisper-yelled.

She piped down and continued to try to pry it out of me but I held my stance and we made a deal. If the condition worsens and/or mom keeps from drinking, I'll tell her. I, then, left the house. I walked around for a bit and took in some fresh air. I was tired. I tried to get home before I collapsed. I was tired when I left the house but I had ignored it. Now, I couldn't ignore it. I got home in the nick of time and collapsed on my bed. Asleep.

That night, one question rang through my ears. "Do you have any one that you love?"

I still don't know. Besides, who'd be dumb enough to love a hotheaded asshole like me? Not anyone at my school that's for sure.

Author's note: I have an update schedule in mind. One book updated every Friday. Let me know what you think.

-Cat