The Days of Swimming Lessons

Friday, March 23, 2007

Fridays… usually rather uninteresting days. Collette had plenty of work at the office to keep her busy, however. So it would pass quickly enough.

OLeif, who had been up until one o’clock in the morning the night before, slept, perchanced to dream, later than herself. This was a usual occurrence, seeing as OLeif was often at his computer designing graphics and websites late into the night, forgetting the time more than occasionally.

It was one of those mornings that Collette woke up thinking about the old days of swimming lessons at the YMCA. Mom or Dad had always taken them up in the evenings, the four oldest of them. Collette couldn’t remember for how long they had attended lessons – maybe a year, maybe more. But there was something inherently satisfying about going to that old building, the rubber mat of the locker room, sitting on the step edge of a muggy steamy room, waiting your turn to be called into the water next.

Some of the Englishs also took classes for awhile. Diana and Carrie-Bri, who both happened to be in “Flying Fish” at the same time, were always in fierce competition with one another. According to Carrie at the time, they would take turns allowing each other to win in the lap races. Collette had her “Shark” lessons at the same time, and thought it was funny to watch the girls in competition from the other side of the pool.

And then occasionally, very occasionally, they were allowed a treat from the vending machine, more often if Grandma decided to come along and watch their classes from the glass-windowed hall on the other side of the pool.

Then there was the drive home, sleepy and ready for a good curl-up with a book before bed. Those were the good old days.

It was another day full of rain. OLeif dropped off Collette at work after picking up a box of Krispy Kreme donut holes to share on the way.

Sometime during the afternoon, Collette had been listening to the classical station on the radio when Judah walked in.

“You hear me in there?” He pointed at the radio. “That’s me.”

And indeed it was, back when he had performed with the Bach Society.

After a busy day, the clouds came in dark from the west, floating in great waves beyond the church steeple.

Soon, a crowd was gathered below on the church parking lot where Dad and Mom had already pulled up with the two vans, which would be the primary transportation vehicles for the weekend. Eighteen kids in all, it appeared from the register.

Ivy was flying around with permission forms, canned sodas for the cooler, and in a bit of a tizzy still from Megan having been in a small accident earlier in the day. During the rain, she had gone off the road into a ditch with a dying cellphone on her person. She wasn’t hurt and the vehicle was towed from the mud. But nevertheless, it seemed to have been a busy day for the Salthouse family.

And Collette was to spend the evening folding bulletins with Mom and Linnea while everyone else was out and about.