My Pool

24^th February 2012

Dear Cassi,

You would never think it by looking at me now but there was a time in my life that the skin stretched hard over my frame. This manifestation of myself was due to an aboveground pool my mother had installed. As a youth this was my greatest joy to get in the water even if I did little swimming.

   

That was youth for me in its purest nature as I would come home, strip to my briefs, and jump in the water. Rain or shine I would pace the pool feeling the weightlessness of buoyancy and getting so great a workout that I was thin as a rail.

   

The pool was also a learning experience for my family as my mother would collect any interesting thing that found its way into the water. We found a few water bugs that braved the chlorine that my mother took to show her science classes.

   

Then, as these pools are flimsy things, the side rusted out and the pool exploded into the yard. We came home one day to find the back yard full of ankle deep water and bugs of all kinds floating in the swamp.

   

As wondrous as this apparition was it got old fast and after a few days it became the household’s major complaint. This was noted by my neighbors who suggested that the water be used to water the plants on their side of the wall.

   

I took that as a cue and took a pen to one of the irrigation holes in the wall. This flooded the neighbor’s driveway and complaints abounded. Well, be careful what you wish for because you can get more of it than you wanted.

Stay dry, little sister

Richard Leland Neal