THE POOL NEXT DOOR
Although summer is over and the Shore has returned to the quiet, peaceful place it will remain until next June, we had a birds-eye view through the kitchen window this summer of the vacation drama, excitement and celebration that takes place among the families who rent the beach house next door. The house is one of very few with a pool and therefore wildly popular among families with small children. Saturday is “change-over” day and it’s a real roll of the dice to see who’s moved in for the coming week. It’s always entertaining….
“Daddy, he’s sinking”, we heard a little girl’s calm voice float through the kitchen window one Saturday afternoon. She wasn’t alarmed, she was simply observing – as if maybe her little brother sank slowly to the bottom of the pool rather often. Then, two short beats and she became a bit more insistent, “He’s sinking Daddy”.
We heard a beer bottle thunk as it tumbled to the cement and then a sizeable splash as “Daddy” leapt into the water to pull his young son to the surface. The family calmly gathered as the little boy coughed and sputtered. Someone held his arms high over his head, while another family member instructed him to “breathe”. Once it had been established that his son was, indeed, breathing as advised, dad set about removing the battery from his cell phone in an attempt to save its life as well…and pulled another beer from the cooler.
We couldn’t help but notice the next day, the little boy was wearing “water wings” while in the pool. Just another day at the Jersey Shore
