32. Bompie and the Swimming Hole. Cody then writes a log entry that records another one of Sophie’sBompie stories. When Bompie was growing up, next to his house there was a swimming hole surrounded by big rocks and tree limbs shooting out on the side, and you could climb them and jump into the water. Yet the swimming hole also had rocks and tree limbs below the surface of the water that weren’t always visible, which made jumping into it very dangerous. Bompie was therefore not allowed to swim there. Yet on a very hot summer day, Bompie really wanted to go for a cool dip in the water, and so he climbed up onto one of the rocks and jumped anyway. Of course, once he hit the water, Bompie sank down a little bit and banged his body and head against some underwater rocks and tree limbs. After Bompie pulled himself onto the bank and waited for his head to stop throbbing, he went home, where his dad gave him a whipping and his mother gave him some pie.
After Sophie finishes her story, Brian asks why Bompie, in story after story, keeps going in the water if he always gets in trouble whenever he goes into it. Sophie doesn’t answer, and Cody writes that she suddenly looks incredibly fragile after hearing Brian’s question. Cody replies to Brian’s question by suggesting that Bompie keeps going back to the water because he feels like he has something to prove—if Bompie has some kind of fear of the water, then he’d feel free if he could conquer it.
Yet again, Sophie tells a story where Bompie has a dangerous encounter with water that is potentially life-threatening. His father and mother both have the usual reactions, the former doling out a whipping and the latter giving a piece of pie to Bompie. While Bompie’s father always feels inclined to punish Bompie for what he’s done wrong, his mother feels inclined to celebrate that Bompie has stayed alive. Further, we’re beginning to see just how reckless Bompie’s behavior was in his youth—how he frequently put himself directly in harm’s way, knowing fully well that he was getting into danger, as well as the consequences he’d face from his father for doing so.
Here, we get a sense of what Bompie’s stories might mean to Sophie—what she might find in them that’s relevant to her own life. Cody’s reply to Brian’s question seems like an attempt to interpret how Bompie’s stories speak to Sophie and her fear of the water. She might admire how Bompie keeps facing the water despite his troubled relationship with it.