His little body buoyed in the water by the two green translucent balloons wrapped around each arm, the boy happy, but still nervous, groped his way around the edge of the pool, clinging to the wall like a life support system, shouting at the other children to wait for him. His fair hair was sheared down to the nubs, advertising a scalp shade lighter than his shoulders and arms, suggesting a newly shaved head in preparation for summer and below the surface of the pool blue, black and white designs swirled by the movements of the water hinted at hawaiian floral patterned swimming trunks. Target locked. He reached the island of floating blowup boats and boogie boards on which the other children were playing, nearly. He wold have to let go of the wall and swim to the middle of the pool if he wanted to join the game. The conflict was written on the set of his mouth and the frown of his brow and he determined if joining in the fun was a great enough incentive to run the gauntlet of his fear of swimming. The mental countdown commenced, his little lips moving as the numbers silently went through his head. As he counted down from ten to five, a look of fierce determination formed in his eyes. At five he began to prep for his launch by bounding his knees, feet propped on the wall’s edge, as if to gain momentum. At three the countdown burst loudly from his lips, “Twee, two, one, bwast off!”
Launching himself into space, the boy reached with outstretch fingertips, pumping his little legs as hard as he could, stretching his body as if to make up for the missing inches between himself and his objective. His confidence, so sharp at the start of his flight began to fade as the yawning gap before his safe haven did not seem to be closing. One last hard kick, one last reach of his fingertips. Target acquired! The pride and success beamed from his face but was tempered by a sense of disillusionment as he turned to the child next to him, his senior by at least four years, “They’re called water wings, but you weally can’t fwy in the water.”
The older child patted his fuzzy head and said, “No. But you flew from through space. Come aboard the space ship. I’m going to get the treasure.”
hocscripsit 