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air go when she saw me do it first. Her little blond head came up out of the water and as I drew in fresh air beside her, we were surrounded with the greatest applause I had ever heard. Nancy paddled to the edge and waited for me. We climbed out of the pool and she clapped her hands.
For three days, we practiced and practiced. The kid was a natural. I walked her out to the edge of the board and just after she jumped, on her own, I would jump sideways and race her to the bottom and then to the surface.

It was a Friday that mom and dad came up to the pool. For some strange reason, they decided to come up and see what their kids were up to. As mom would later tell me,
"I sat in the car and watched through the fence and the kids were splashing and having a good time. I could find my own kids by the color of their swimsuits and towels. Then, I looked up at the high diving board." She said she pointed to the kid on the board and remarked to dad how some stupid mother could let a small kid go up there. As she watched, she recognized the swimsuit and fainted. Dad stared in disbelief as his baby daughter jumped off the board with her older sister right behind her and again as the two broke the surface of the water with grins. Dad drove mom home and let her rest on the sofa until we came back home. Dad missed work that day. The secret was out. Mom was laying on the sofa with a cold compress on her head and dad stood in the doorway when the seven of us came marching in the door. The look on his face told me someone should run and hide. As the kids dispersed into their room to change, my dad asked me to sit down in the kitchen. Nancy came too. I knew then I was the one who should have run but decided to take my lumps.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked.
I told him everything and when I was done, he shook his head. Then he grinned.
"She really can swim, can't she?" he asked and I nodded. Dad thought it was wonderful and said he wished he had been there for her first jump. I told him all about how she followed me and how she learned to swim on her own. He was amazed and as he held her in his lap, mom came in the kitchen and promptly whopped me on the back of the head.
I pretended it hurt and apologized and then mom took Nancy into her arms and held her tight.
"You know she is almost blind" mom said. "What ever possessed you to let her go up that high?"
I shrugged my shoulders. I really didn't know. Nancy was in fact legally blind since birth but could see shadows. I didn't think it mattered. Mom thought otherwise. Then, Nancy had her say.
"I can do lots of stuff" she said. "Now, I can swim too." She slid down off moms lap and promptly hit her head on the edge of the table.
"I hate when I do that." she said rubbing her head and then ran off down the hall to change her clothes.
For the next three years, Nancy and the rest of the kids went to the pool, with or without me and swam all summer. Mom and dad would drive them and as Nancy proudly climbed the high dive, she would feel her way to the edge and wave before she jumped. Mom always closed her eyes.

Learn more about this author, Susan Thrower.
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