Playing the 'Son' Card (6 page)

I stood still at the end of the
board balancing on my toes, with my arms outstretched. I pictured
the skill in my mind, and then set out to do it. I bent my knees,
lowered my arms, and then with an explosive thrust pushed myself
off the board, using my arms to help lift my body.

As soon as I left the board and got
my arms into the up position, I pulled my legs up and into a
semi-tuck, and in a moment I was doing a backward somersault and
landing in the water. I knew that I’d completed the
skill.

I was thrilled that I’d still been
able to do it. As I surfaced, I looked to Jonathan to see what my
angle of entry was and how much of a splash I’d made. He gave that
kind of feedback on every single dive, and my angle was only 20
degrees off the vertical so that wasn’t too bad.

The next skill we tried was the
inward dive. It was at this point that Jonathan got on the board to
demonstrate himself. He mentioned that only one other person, the
oldest boy, had done the complete skill before, while five others
were working on the lead-up skills.

This was one of a few more skills
that I’d previously learned from my father, but I knew it was one
that demanded more precision than some others. It was important,
for example, to make sure the back takeoff was really good, and you
were far enough up and far enough away from the board to make the
attempt. An inward dive requires that you jump backward and dive
towards the board, so that was why there was such an emphasis on
lead-up skills.

Jonathan patiently talked us through
what he was doing, and then did his demonstration. He was pretty
much perfectly vertical on entry and had little splash. Obviously
quite good himself, I thought.

Jonathan had all six of us run
through the lead-up skills, telling us after we surfaced if he
thought we were ready to try the skill. When it was my turn, he
indicated with his hand how far back and up I was, and told me that
I was okay to try it.

The oldest boy, Roger, was the only
other one who was allowed to try it, and I gathered from Jonathan’s
coaching that this particular skill was usually pretty easy for
him.

I watched carefully as Roger went up
on the board, and turned to get into his position for a backward
takeoff. He seemed to do it all very quickly, and I could see that
his effort was almost as good as Jonathan’s.

Now it was my turn. I got up on the
board, and repeated Roger’s positioning. I did the same back
takeoff, and quickly put my head down and arms into the correct
position for an entry. Like Roger, I seemed to do it really fast.
It sure helped that I’d been able to watch both Jonathan and Roger
do it, but my body seemed to remember the skill, and it was
done.

When I surfaced, Jonathan indicated
almost perfectly vertical but with a large splash. Still, I was
overjoyed. I’d completed one more skill from the old
days.

I don’t know who had the biggest
smile, Jonathan or myself.

From that point for the rest of the
first hour, we just worked on the skills we’d done so far. We got
feedback about our body’s tuck or pike positioning along with the
continuing feedback about angle of entry and splash
level.

Jonathan had us use both boards, and
it was the job of the second in line to give the feedback on angle
and splash if Jonathan wasn’t looking. I really enjoyed that time,
and felt really comfortable just getting back into
diving.

At the end of the hour, most of the
class left and it was just down to the small group of advanced
divers. There was Roger, myself, Trevor and Jesse. I gathered that
there was occasionally one or two others, but only the four of us
remained that night.

Jonathan told us that we were going
to work on forward one-and-half somersaults and reverse dives. We
could also finish off by doing some dives from the high board if we
wanted.

We could all do the forward
one-and-one-half. Jonathan did it first, and reminded us that it
was just the same as the forward, but we needed to throw our arms
forward more and tuck tighter. The most difficult part was to judge
when to open up to make our entry.

After Jonathan did it twice, Roger
did his followed quickly by Trevor. Jesse was supposed to go next,
but was nervous. He said he’d done it only one other time before,
and wanted to wait and watch a bit more.

So, it was up to me. This was
another one I’d done years before, and initially I felt confident.
At least until I got up on the board. I got into the right
position, and thought the dive through before I started.

Then I started moving into my
takeoff, and I was up and then spinning. I opened up a little early
and my angle of entry was pretty shallow, but at least I did it
without hurting myself.

There was another big smile on my
face as I came up. I just managed to keep my reaction a little bit
nonchalant, thinking that I didn’t want to let on that I wasn’t an
expert.

With Jonathan’s guidance, we each
did three more while Jesse watched. He decided that he didn’t want
to try it, and Jonathan was just fine with that.

Then it was time for the reverse
dive. This called for a forward takeoff into a back dive. Once
again, we’d be diving towards the board, but backwards. Apparently,
no one was doing this besides Jonathan, although Roger was really
trying to get up the nerve to do it.

Following Jonathan’s lead, all four
of use did the lead-up skill, the forward takeoff. He told Roger
and I that we were far enough away and high enough from the board
to do it.

I asked Jonathan to do it a couple
more times as I tried to imagine my body doing that action in the
air.

After he came up the third time, he
asked if I was ready.

With a little more conviction than I
felt, I replied, “Okay. Yes, I think so.”

I got up on the board. I knew how to
do this. I had done it before, but it was a long time ago. I
stepped forward into the right position, and stood quietly still. I
concentrated on what my body was going to do. Just get my takeoff
right, and then drop my head back and put my arms out for the
entry.

I waited for what seemed a long
time, and the watchers remained quiet. They all knew how tough this
was.

I psyched myself up to do it. I knew
I could do it.

Suddenly, something clicked in my
brain, and I started moving. I did a super takeoff and right away I
knew I was going to be far enough and high enough. I laid my head
back to start my body angle changing. I put my arms into the entry
position and I saw the end of the board pass by me on the way
down.

All of a sudden I was in the water,
and it had not hurt. I had done it. It may not have been a thing of
beauty, but it was complete.

This time, as I surface, I had my
arm in the air, like a champion who had just won a great
event.

I had not felt that kind of joy and
personal satisfaction since before my father’s death. Now, for
better or for worse, I had fully vanquished my personal demons and
avenged my father’s death. I had proved that I could really succeed
without him.

“Very nicely done, Troy,” was
Jonathan’s comment with a smile as wide as mine. I don’t think he
fully understood what a big deal this was for me, but he knew a
good result when he saw it, and how much work went into
it.

The rest of the small group even
clapped.

Jonathan indicated an angle less
then ten degrees off the vertical and a reasonable splash. “A very
nice ‘reverse dive, layout’,” he said to all of us.

The success of that one dive,
repeated a few more times before the night was out, set the tone
for my time in Bellingham that weekend and for my eventual move. I
now had the mental wherewithal to really make a good, new life for
myself, and I was ready to be successful and thrive in life
again.

The rest of the pool time passed too
fast, and all too soon it was the end of the lesson for that
night.

Jonathan told me how much he’d
enjoyed having me ‘visit’ and said that he really looked forward to
my move to Bellingham.

“I was watching you earlier with
your cousins,” he explained, “And I saw how much they improved just
in that short time as you did your demonstration and coaching. It
was impressive.”

“Ah, thanks,” I squeaked in my
breaking voice. I was a little surprised that he’d been watching,
and more surprised at what he thought of what I’d done.

“You’ll be welcome at this pool just
as much as you want, Troy,” he said, “And I hope you’ll consider
not only diving yourself, but helping out a bit. With your ability
and personality, you’d make a good coach yourself, I
think.”

“Thanks, Coach,” I replied, happily.
“I really appreciate all your help tonight, and I’m really looking
forward to coming back.”

“Well, when you hit town, you make
sure you come and see me, Troy. You’re definitely going to be put
to work around here.”

I thanked him again, and headed for
the change room with Trevor and Jesse. They were as excited as I
was about what I’d been able to do, and about how well things had
gone for them that night.

“You know he’s talking about making
you one of the volunteer instructors, don’t you?” Trevor asked.
“Normally you have to be at least fifteen and have completed all of
the lifesaving training in order to do that.”

“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t
know.”

“Oh, yeah,” assured Trevor. “When
he’s talking about putting you to work, he doesn’t just mean
swimming, he means helping out.”

“Yeah, and you’ll be good, too,”
contributed Jesse. “You sure helped me a lot tonight. I have never
done that much swimming before, and never all those lengths in a
row like we did at the beginning.”

Now I was worried. “I’m sorry,
Jesse. I didn’t know, and we supposed to take it easy,
too.”

“That’s okay,” Jesse assured me.
“You made it seem a lot easier than ever before. It really didn’t
feel like that much work. You had a good way of getting us swimming
and it really helped.”

“Well,” I responded. “Okay. I’m just
glad it worked.”

We were now in the showers, warming
up and rinsing off.

Trevor had some more comments. “Did
you see Roger’s look as you did that reverse dive? It was
great!”

Trevor and Jesse continued to talk
about their diving and they brought me into the conversation as we
disused how we and the others had done. We finished in the showers
and got changed, and headed out to wait for Jack.

He was right there when we exited
the change room, and we found out that he’d watched the last half
hour of the diving and he’d been impressed with how we
did.

“I’m really happy for you that you
were able to do so well tonight, Troy. I know that it was not easy
getting back into this after so much time away from the
pool.”

I appreciated his comment and his
understanding of the situation. I also appreciated the time and
place that I found myself in, and wondered again at how well things
were working out for me. I jut hoped that I’d be able to handle the
last couple of months back home, but at least I now had all this to
look forward to.

CHAPTER

8

In the car in the way back to Jack
and Sally’s, the two young brothers talked non-stop about how we’d
talked to the coach beforehand and how I’d helped them with their
swimming before the diving lessons. Jesse was particularly excited
to tell his father about how he’d done so much length swimming that
he’d never done before, and Trevor added his comments about how
much easier swimming seemed after I’d told them things.

I talked a bit too, as did Jack, but
it was Trevor and Jesse who kept the car from being even close to
silent.

When we got back to their place,
Jack sent them upstairs to brush their teeth, hang up their
swimming things, and get ready for bed. He told them that they were
to get into bed and read for a 20 minutes, and that I would be up
to join them in a little bit. He reminded them to make sure my bed
was ready so that I could get into bed easily without disturbing
them if they were asleep.

The plan was that Jesse was going to
sleep on a camping mattress on the floor and I would have his bed.
That had been the norm in my previous overnight stays with them,
and I knew that Jesse was quite happy to give up his bed to have me
stay in their room.

The boys said good night to their
dad, and then ran off to find their mom to say good night before
heading upstairs.

Jack asked me to join him in the
living room for a few minutes.

“I just wanted a few minutes with
you, Troy, to talk, if that’s okay?”

On one hand, I was quite tired,
having not slept very well on the overnight bus trip. On the other
hand, I was pleased at being treated a little differently than a
kid. The last time I visited, I was always lumped in with ‘the
kids’ but this time was different, and better, in my
mind.