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It was good to be back home in Oklahoma. The family settled into a normal routine within days. Diana filed all the papers she needed with the county and the state to allow her to continue home schooling her children. They discovered a whole association of dedicated parents that wanted a different kind of education for their children. They also discovered that they were organized. If one parent was weak in certain subjects, another parent would pick up the slack. There were organized group outings so the children wouldn’t feel isolated and field trips and group study sessions. Walker soon found himself giving tutoring in science and Diana was soon giving lessons in music composition. In turn, their boys were being exposed to art classes and sports of all kinds.
Zac had a birthday and he had to learn to hold up another finger. The party was a huge family affair. The relatives took advantage of the his birthday to make up for all the missed birthdays and holidays over the past year. Ike and Taylor received as many presents as Zac did, but it was still Zac’s day. There was a huge birthday cake. Zac managed to blow all four candles with one breath. He even managed to blow out the fifth candle to grow on before he fell into the edge of the cake.
After his fourth birthday, Zac joined his brothers at the school room table. His hours were filled with more preschool activities like coloring and discerning shapes and learning the alphabet but he had to start somewhere. Diana enjoyed teaching her children and teaching them together worked to her benefit. Because they were hearing each others lessons they were absorbing the information together. It was just like their music, each one learned the same skills but at slightly different absorption levels.
One of their first major purchases for the new house was a piano. It was a small one, but now the little keyboard could be relegated to toy status where it belonged. The boys were enthusiastic about their schooling every day, but more because they wanted to get it out of the way so they could spent time on what they really liked--music. After the books were put away, it was time for lessons and practice and that’s what they enjoyed the most. Ike was writing more lyrics, Taylor was showing a gift for composition and even young Zac was putting his stamp of approval on the pieces of music that they were writing. They collaborated on everything, too new at their talents to want to keep them singular.
If left to their own choices, the boys would have spent all their spare time on music. Their parents had different ideas. They wanted their children to be exposed to many different activities. Walker actively worked with Ike and Taylor every afternoon to teach them soccer skills. He even installed a soccer net in the back yard for their practice sessions. Ike’s coordination was improving rapidly and Taylor was developing a competitive spirit because he really didn’t like his brother to be ahead of him on anything.
Winter was coming and with the cold weather came the head colds. The boys had not been exposed to the cold germs for over a year and now they were constantly running around with runny noses. Their deep tans faded and began to look like everyone in the mid-west that was bundled up against the winter cold.
* * * *
“Ike don’t shout,” Diana admonished. “I thought you went to the Y with Brian.”
“I did, but they won’t let me swim,” Ike complained.
“Why not?”
“The guy says I have to come back and be tested and they only do that on Saturday mornings. No one is allowed in the pool until they’re tested. They give you a colored band and that tells them how good a swimmer you are, and how deep of water that you can swim in.”
“That sounds like a safe system,” Diana commented wondering
how she was going to find time in her schedule on a Saturday morning for
swimming testing.
So Diana found herself at a deserted pool at 8:00 on a Saturday
morning. She found the man in charge of the pool and he agreed to
test her boys. Mr. Wayne was an older man, with white curly hair
and a deep sun weathered and wrinkled skin from years of working out in
the sun.
“You guys go change into your trunks,” Mr. Wayne explained. “Then I want you to come back and I’ll have you jump into the pool and try to swim the width of it.”
The boys took off to the changing rooms and Diana stood talking
to the instructor. He handed her copies of schedules on the swimming
events available for children.
“Do the swim teams get involved in diving?” Diana asked noting
the three diving boards at different heights.
“Not unless they show a tremendous amount of talent.” Mr. Wayne explained. “Mostly the little kids are just swimming laps against each other.”
“All three of my boys are excellent swimmers,” Diana explained.
They turned as they heard the dressing room door slam open
against the wall. Mr. Wayne waved at the boys to get their attention
and yelled, “Come on over here.”
Ike, Taylor and Zac all three dived into the deep end of the
pool, surfaced and began swimming towards them.
“No!” Mr. Wayne shouted, but Diana put her hand on his arm.
“It’s okay, I told you, they are good swimmers.”
“It’s eighteen feet deep on that end!” he worried.
“They’re fine, they’ve practically lived in a pool for the past three months and it was 12 feet deep on one end,” Diana explained softly and watched her sons stay together crossing the pool. Ike and Taylor had to stop and tread water a few times to wait on their brother. Zac was a determined little guy and he was determined that he was going to swim the full length. The pool was five times the size of the pool at their house in Trinidad. Diana knew that little Zac could do it. She and Walker had had Zac swimming laps just to try to use up some of his excessive energy.
When they finally reached the end of the pool Mr. Wayne offered
each of them a hand out of the water. “Hey guys, you were supposed
to come down here and swim across the pool in the shallow end, not the
length of the pool from the deep end.”
“But you said to come on in,” Ike said. “I thought that’s
what you wanted us to do. Prove that we can swim.”
“Well, you proved that, even this little guy here,” Mr. Wayne
said grinning. “Let me give you the other three tests and then I’ll
give you your colored bands.”
Mr. Wayne put the boys through three more underwater skill
tests and then he had them line up at the pool edge. He went into
his office and came out with the colored bands.
“I’m giving you a Blue Band,” Mr. Wayne said handing Ike a
royal blue arm band. That means you can swim all the way up to the
ten foot area. Taylor, you get a red band, that means you can go
up to the eight foot area. I’m pretty sure I’ll be upgrading those
in no time, but that’s where you start. See those markers on the
pool sides. Those are your limits. If you get caught going
past the markers that match your bands, you will be timed out of the pool.”
“What I get?” Zac demanded.
“You’re too little for a red band, I don’t care how well you swim.” Mr. Wayne explained. “You’re getting a yellow band and that means you don’t go past the five-foot level right there with the yellow marker on it.”
“I want a blue band, I can swim good!” Zac gripped.
“Yellow,” Mr. Wayne repeated.
“Blue!” Zac said stubbornly.
“Yellow, or you don’t swim at all,” Mr. Wayne said.
“Mommy!” Zac exclaimed looking to his mother to fix the injustice.
“Sorry honey, it’s not my pool and Mr. Wayne makes the rules. You’d better take the yellow band.” Diana suggested.
Zac took the yellow band but he wasn’t happy with it. As Mr. Wayne walked away he sputtered, “I can too swim good!”
Swimming at the Y became another activity that the boys loved
and excelled at. They were split up because of their different colored
bands. Ike and Taylor joined the swim teams. Before the month was
up, Taylor was upgraded to a blue band. Ike didn’t particularly want
to be upgraded because most of the kids in his group level were exactly
his age and he was making new friends. There was no swim team for four
year olds so Zac had to settle for swimming in the open sessions with the
younger kids.
What Zac did best was pester the lifeguards and instructors.
He was supposed to stay with the children of his own age, but he was constantly
ducking under the ropes and swimming out of his color group. He also
liked to cannon-ball into the pool, splashing everything that got in the
path of his water spikes. The lifeguards and Mr. Wayne, liked Zac
and they teased him and played with him trying to get him to explode with
his infectious giggle. They knew he was good swimmer, but they were
diligent about trying to keep him in his own group. Each time he
would slip away, they would make him leave the water and have a forced
time-out. No sooner was he back in the water than he would pull another
stunt that would cause him another time-out. Zac thought this was
a great game.
After every swim session, Zac would go up to Mr. Wayne and ask him “I get my blue band today?” and Mr. Wayne would respond back “Not today, Zac.” and Zac would stomp off in a huff. At first, Diana tried to curb her sons obstinate ways but she soon realized that Mr. Wayne for all his gruffness really liked her son and he was getting a kick out of his stubbornness. Mr. Wayne was short on words but long on patience with the children. Zac was just plain short and had a long four-year history of being stubborn.
Zac really liked going to the pool on Thursdays best. That was because Marilee was the lifeguard on Thursdays. Ike and Taylor teased their youngest brother endlessly because he had developed a crush on her. Marilee was a pretty sixteen year old with a long ponytail of red hair that seemed to intrigue Zac.
One Thursday, Zac was sitting in the time-out chair again, waiting his time out for cannon-balling into the pool, when he saw little boy walking around the parameter of the pool. He was Zac’s size and Zac was always looking for new friends. The little boy was wearing a white band. White bands, meant that you couldn’t swim at all. The boy was supposed to be at the separate wading pool area. Marilee was talking to one of the parents. The pool was almost empty because the open swim was over. The next session was for the older swimmers, the 14-17 year old swim team, and some of them were walking around. Tay and Ike were at the other end of the pool talking to Mr. Wayne and Mommy. The little boy sat down on the edge of the pool and dangled his legs in the water.
Zac pulled on Marilee’s arm. “Marilee.”
“Not now Zac,” the girl exclaimed not even looking down.
Zac tugged again. “Marilee.”
“What?” the girl exclaimed and then Zac had her attention because he was running to the edge of the deep end of the pool. “Zac, No!” she yelled but the little boy jumped feet first into the deep end.
One of the teenagers looked up and yelled, “Hey! That little
kid just jumped in!”
Then suddenly, looking through the water everyone realized
that there were two children in the deep end of pool. Marilee and
two of the teenagers dove into the water simultaneously. But, it
was Zac who reached the little boy first. He had just grabbed him
and started to kick upward when he felt someone grabbing him around the
waist and the other boy was wrenched from his grasp.
Marilee broke the surface with the little boy and handed him
to Mr. Wayne who had run from the other end of the pool when he saw the
commotion. He laid the little boy down and immediately began resuscitation,
and in a few breaths he was spitting up water and crying. He wasn’t
hurt, he had just sucked in some water in his panic. The teenager
that held Zac felt an elbow in his ribs as Zac punched him to make him
let go, and he swam over the ladder and hauled himself out of the water.
“Sorry kid, I thought you were drowning,” the teenager mumbled.
“Not me, him!” Zac sputtered in disgust pointing to the little boy of his own age lying on the pool edge.
Diana reached her son and grabbed him up in a safe hug.
Marilee took him out of her arms and hugged him. “Are you okay?”
“I tried to tell you,” Zac explained.
“I know, I’m so sorry,” Marilee said.
“Zac! How many times have I told you stay out of this end of the pool?” Mr. Wayne exclaimed. “Now, you’ve got the other little kids jumping in.”
“No,” Marilee interrupted defending her young friend. “Zac jumped in to save him. He tried to tell me something was wrong but I was talking to Cindy’s mother. I wasn’t paying attention to him. Zac actually got to him first in the water and was heading back to the surface when we reached them.”
“You were?” Mr. Wayne asked somewhat surprised.
“Uh huh,” Zac said.
“Hey kid, that makes you a hero,” one of teenagers exclaimed.
“Yeah, we got a little guy for a hero!’ another exclaimed and everyone around the pool began to clap.
“Hey Zac, you did real good,” Ike exclaimed coming up behind
his brother.
“Yeah, real good,” Taylor echoed.
Mr. Wayne handed the white banded boy over to his upset mother and issued a warning to both of them about staying in the wading pool area until he completed his lessons.
Zac waited until she had carried her son off to the dressing room and Mr. Wayne was issuing orders to restore order at his pool. He marched over to Mr. Wayne, tugged on his arm, and asked “I get my Blue Band today?”
Mr. Wayne bent down and shook his head, but he smiled. ‘No Blue Band today, but how about I upgrade you a Red Band?”
“Want a Blue Band,” Zac exclaimed stubbornly.
“Red Band.” Mr. Wayne repeated.
“Blue Band!’ Zac said stubbornly.
“Red Band or nothing,” Mr. Wayne warned.
“Mommy!’ Zac yelled annoyed that no one ever listened to him.
“Zac, take the Red Band,” Diana exclaimed in exasperation.
“Okay,” Zac grumbled. “But, I still want my Blue Band!”
Mr. Wayne put both hands in his hair at the sides of his head and pretended to pull at it and made a face at Zac.
Ike and Taylor were smiling at the man’s antics. They already knew how annoying their brother could be when he got in one of his stubborn moods.
Diana directed her youngsters out of the pool area before Mr. Wayne could change his mind.
Once dressed and dried, she bundled them up in their coats and headed for the van.
“Won’t Daddy be surprised when we tell him that Zac is a hero!’
Taylor exclaimed.
Diana hugged her boys to her. “Somehow I don’t think
he’ll be surprised,” she said. ‘Proud, but not surprised.”