Timmy sat by the river behind his home and considered the waters before him. All he could think was how desperately he wanted to swim in its peaceful, inviting blueness; amidst the minnows and tiny invertebrates that lived within. The other neighborhood kids had done it and told him how great it was. They asked him why he had not yet plunged into its depths.
“How come you haven’t swam in the river yet?”
“Yeah Timmy, why don’t ya swim in the river?”
“You’re not scared, are ya Timmy? Or are you?”
“Yeah, you’re not a chicken, are ya?”
While the prospect of swimming in the river was a bit scary, it was in no way keeping him from doing it. He wanted to try it more than anything, but alas, he was forced to abstain. His mother’s voice echoed in the back of his mind, We keep telling you Timmy, you can’t go swim in that river, its simply too dangerous!You won’t drown if you don’t swim. There was no way around it.
Timmy told this to his friends, some of whom sympathized, themselves being the children of protective parents. Others continued jeering. But all of them swam in the river. All except Timmy.
—
Jenine was preparing coffee in her kitchen when Gretchen arrived. When the bell tolled, Jenine rushed to the front door to welcome her.
“Oh Gretchen! I’m so happy you came!”
“As am I! It’s been way too long since we had a good chat!”
The ladies tittered and mused about how long it had been while they migrated to the kitchen table to chat and drink coffee. Gretchen sat as Jenine poured.
“So how’s Timmy? He must be seven years old now!”
“He turned seven almost three months ago.” Jenine brought the coffee to the table. “That means Gene is eight now!”
“Yes,” replied Gretchen, “It really has been a long time. Is Timmy doing well in school?”
“Oh yes, his grades are excellent. He’s so smart. Although sometimes he gets silly notions in his head.”
“Like what?”
“He keeps telling us how much he wants to swim in that nasty river behind the house out yonder. No matter how many times we say no, he still tries to find a way to do it.”
—
Timmy continued to desire the river. He watched a number of children swimming; having the time of their lives. A small, rather fat kid approached him.
“How come you aren’t swimmin’?”
Timmy didn’t look up. “My parents won’t let me.”
“How come?”
“They think somethin’ bad is going to happen to me. They think I’m going to drown.”
“Drown? Even with a floatie?”
Timmy looked over at the kids in the river. They were all using a pool toy of some kind to help them stay afloat. Timmy’s parents had hidden the inner tube Timmy had planned to use. Now he had nothing.
—
“You mean you won’t let Timmy swim in the river with all the other kids?”
Jenine was shocked at Gretchen’s stupid question. “Of course not! It’s simply too dangerous! Do you have any idea how many risks there are? He could drown, catch a cold, any number of things! He could be carried off with the current for all I know!”
“Well can’t he use a pool toy of some kind? He’d probably be okay if he had a pool noodle or inner tube or something like that.”
Jenine was a bit disturbed at how naïve her friend was being. “Oh no, he still could drown, even with one of those. That’s why we hid our inner tube. We didn’t want him to get the idea that swimming was ok. After all, he can’t drown if he never swims.”
—
Timmy turned to the boy. “I don’t have a floatie. Besides, my parents told me there is a shark in there.”
The boy laughed. “There ain’t a shark in there. Just minnows. And a huge brookie I saw the other day!”
The kid got excited about his brookie and began telling Timmy about how he almost caught it but it got away. But Timmy wasn’t listening. He was thinking how much he wanted to swim. He thought about how much fun it seemed to be and how everyone who had done it said it was great. He thought of all the kids he had seen in movies and on TV swimming and having a wonderful time. He thought about how scary it was at the same time; how frightened he was because he had never done it before, and because he never had swim lessons. He didn’t know hardly anything about swimming.
“Did your parents give you swim lessons?”
The boy stopped telling his story. “Yeah, my dad taught me how to swim.”
Timmy looked down. His parents had refused to give him swim lessons.
—
Gretchen sipped her coffee while Jenine went into a full-blown rant.
“But he wouldn’t stop. He kept pestering us to let him swim in that river. Eventually we had to tell him there was a shark in there just to get him to quit it.”
“You told him there was a shark? Did he even believe that? He’s a pretty smart kid.”
“We’re not sure. I think he did though. At least I hope so. Anything to keep him out of that terrible river.”
—
Timmy watched as all the kids went inside for lunch. The parents came out and retrieved their respective kid. Timmy was now all alone. He wandered closer to the river bank and wondered where his mom was.
—
Jenine was too absorbed in her rant to notice what time it was.
“Then the school decided it would be a good idea to start holding swim lessons after school. Can you believe that?
“Yes. How is that such a big deal?”
Jenine reeled. “You don’t see how that is a big deal? Lord! You might as well give those kids an engraved invitation to go out to that river!”
—
Timmy stood on the bank and stared into the water. I could do it. Nobody’s here. Not mom, not dad, not anyone, he thought, I could try it right now, just to see what it’s like.
—
“If you give them swim lessons, they’re guaranteed to go in that river! It’s just common sense!”
“But won’t teaching them to swim prevent them from drowning? Won’t they be safer if they know what they’re doing?” Gretchen was incredulous. Jenine was being incredibly unreasonable.
—
Timmy decided to do it. He didn’t care anymore. All he wanted to do was swim. Now he had his chance. He took a deep breath and jumped in.
—
“If they never swim they’ll never drown! What about that do you not understand?”
—
Timmy’s body plunged into the cool water. A surge of ecstasy rushed through his small frame as he sank toward the bottom then gradually rose to the surface. Finally.
—
Gretchen was growing tired of her friend’s ignorance. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit unreasonable? The more you tell him not to do it, the more likely he is to do it anyway!”
—
Timmy realized he made a mistake. He struggled to keep his head above water. His small limbs pumped wildly but had no effect. He began to panic.
—
“You’re wrong! I don’t know why you care so much; he’s not your kid! We’re done talking about this!”
—
Timmy’s body was now too weary to keep his head up. He let out a water-choked “HELP!” but it was useless. He desperately wished he hadn’t jumped in, but now it was too late…
—
Jenine looked at the clock. “Oh my! It’s nearly one o’clock! I best fetch Timmy for lunch.”
The pair searched outside for Timmy, but in vain. Then Jenine realized where he was. “He’s probably down by that God-awful river.”
When they got to the river, they found a cluster of children, fresh from lunch, huddled around something. They walked over to investigate. Then Jenine let out a horrible scream.
