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During the long hot summers, my father would pay the yearly fees for his children to get into the community pool. There was seven of us and the bill must have been enormous, but it was a two mile walk back and forth and because we all had to go together, or no-one could go, we would give mom and dad free afternoons without the children. For him, it was well worth the price.

Monday through Friday, seven children would walk the two miles to the pool with towels on our arms and I, being the oldest, had to keep the rest "in line".
The pool was an "L" shaped pool with a smaller kiddie pool set near the locker rooms. I was seventeen and the youngest was only two. Most of the children at the pool were just that, children. I would sit by the kiddie pool and keep an eye on the youngest while the others splashed in the deeper five foot area with their friends. I worked on my tan. At the end of the "L", there were two diving boards. One low and one twenty feet high. The water below was marked, "twelve feet". I would lay there in the sun and watch the kids diving into the pool and noticed few used the high board. Every once in a while, I could con a life guard into watching the two year old while I ran up the steps on the high dive and plunge, feet first into the cool water. I'd swim back and sit again while the "baby" splashed the day away.
One day, I asked the life guard to watch my sister, and she said she would and climbed down from her perch. I ran over to the ladder and started my assent. When I reached the top and stepped out onto the board, I could faintly hear my name being called out from below. I looked around and then down. The life guard had taken her eyes off my sister for a second and that was all it took for her to get away! At the edge of the low board, my little sister had toddled out and was waving up to me. She was shouting at me that she was going to jump. "Just like Susan!" she said and then, she did just that! I didn't have time to yell for the life guards or anything. I just held my nose and jumped in after her.
I went down, down, down and when my feet hit the bottom, I looked up and saw her swim suit floating slowly downward. I came up under her and pushed her to the surface. As we broke the water, she was giggling and flailing her arms. The kid was so excited, I couldn't help but laugh at her. Then, we swam to the ladder and out of the pool. I wanted so badly to smack her and tell her how she almost gave me a heart attack but her excitement was amazing.

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