The Swimmer

…And freeze. To understand this moment, you must first go back. Back to the beginning, because everyone has to start somewhere. For Robin, it was at age three. Her first swim lesson. It was at Welles Park. Their indoor swimming pool was the perfect place for a cheap group lesson, because, you see, Robin’s family was middle class. Lower than middle class. That was then. Not now. Then, an ice cream cone on a hot summer day was a rare, special treat. That was then, and this is now. Now one ice cream cone on a hot day was rare. Every day in the summer, after her daily excursions at the gym, Robin would go out for a large sundae. A new day, a new flavor of town. A new parlor. But this story takes place in Robin’s childhood. Not in her late twenties.

One day, while Robin was walking to the park, she saw lots of children swimming at the River Park pool. The following day, she literally dragged her mom and dad to the picket fence, outside of the pool. Her parents walked to the entryway of the locker rooms, and asked the guard on duty how much it costed to swim. She said it was free! The next week, she came back, at the same time, but this time with her swim-suit. She fell in love. She had never swam before, but she was the fastest swimmer in Tiny Tots. Tiny Tots was like open swim, but just for toddlers and their parents. For the remainder of that summer, until August 30th, 1993. Her sixth birthday. After lots of repeated pleading, as a gift her parents got her an ice cream cake and weekly swim lessons for the next year. To get that, they had to sell their loveseat. A loveseat is a small couch. They had inherited the loveseat from Robin’s Grandma, her father’s mother. It was blue velvet and very special. So, you see, by lower than middle class, I do mean very low.

The velvet loveseat sat in the small living room of their cozy house. Their house was behind a much larger house, that belonged to the Winslades. The Winslades were a rich, but kind family. They rented out Robin’s house for the small price of $400. Robin’s family had nicknamed their house the “Chicken Coop” because of its small size. And it was painted yellow, with a gray slate roof.

The first thing you would see when you stepped inside the Chicken Coop, would be a small entryway. Then, if you turned to your right, you would see the quaint living room beyond that, is the large kitchen and the back door. But, if you go straight at the front door, you will come to Robin’s room, easily the best furnished room in the house. Against the wall, there is a stilt bed. Her pillow is right next to the window. Under the bed, there is her desk. Her closet sits opposite the bed, right next to the door. On the left, just past Robin’s room, there is a large bathroom. The only bathroom in the house. It had a large bathtub with jets. On the right, (the same side as Robin’s room) is her parent’s room. It has one old queen sized bed, with a quilt Robin’s mom made. The quilt was a large picture of Michigan. Her mom was very good at quilting. Life in Robin’s childhood was simple, but nice.

It was early morning, on August 30th, 1990. Robin was just waking up. She stretched, yawned, and sat up. She turned to look at her clock. It read 10:30am. That was when Robin remembered that it was her birthday! She jumped up, and hit her head on the ceiling. She sat down again and started to cry. Her mom ran in, closely followed by her dad. “What's wrong, baby?” her mom said.

“Happy birthday, Birdie!” dad called, over mom’s shoulder. Dad had six balloons in his hand. One for each year she had been alive. Each year, she went to the store and chose her new favorite one. Then, on her birthday, either mom or dad would go out and get that balloon, as well as identical ones from the previous years. He came into the room, with a big smile on his face. He quickly turned his smile upside down when he saw the tears streaming down Robin’s face.

“Not now, Jim. She's hurt.”

“Oh. Oh, I see. What's wrong pumpkin, what’s with the water works?”

“I-I was excited because it was my birthday, and I jumped up and hit my head!” back to the tears.

“Oh, baby! I’ll go get some ice!” mom cried. She flew from the room, and dad sat down on Robin’s desk chair.

“Guess what we got for your birthday!” Robin looked up, and wiped her face. “guess”

“A purple pony.” that was an ongoing joke that continued for many years. Purple pony this, purple pony that.

“No, we got you swim lessons at Welles Park!” Robin literally jumped for joy. She hit her head, but ignored it.