Twisting By The Pool

Twisting By The Pool

Last week was the Fourth of July.  Normally on that day Christina and I just lay low…no plans at all, just the 3 of us…with Max of course.  This year was different.  The family on my Grandfather’s side usually gathers at their Mom’s house for a 4^th of July pool party.  Only one thing.  Their Mom decided to fill in the pool one final time, not with water, but with dirt.  The pool became a little too much to handle and a little too expensive to maintain.  I would offer up my pool as a proxy.

As a child, I spent many a summer swimming in the suddenly earth filled pool.  It was my Mom’s first cousin’s house and they grew up like siblings.  He had four offspring, all daughters.  When I went over he would always try and be an influence on me.  He knew my Mom was raising me on her own.  It was on one these trips that it almost became my last.  I was 5 years old but I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was a fish.  Pool, beach…sewer, you name it, I swam in it.  That day the pool was filled with kids ranging from ages 5 to10.  There was a Styrofoam board and we played “king of the hill" for it.  I had worked my way to the top, holding firmly with both hands.  My mouth must have been wide-open proclaiming victory…when someone flipped me.  As the others fought for position atop, no one noticed me swallow the water below…. except my Mom.  As I struggled to regain the surface my Mom dove in fully clothed.  Before anyone new what was happening I was pulled to the surface and removed from the pool.  My lungs expunged the chlorine water and I drew a long awaited breath.  Good thing Mom was looking over me.  From that day on I have stayed away from any type of pool toys to remain buoyant.  I'll never use a flotation device again.

The gathering on July 4^th consisted of several generations.  The dirt filled pool was a topic of several conversations.  We talked of the parties, the memories and the time I almost drowned.   Some 40 years later, it was now my pool with the 5 year old swimming in it.  I kept a watchful eye thinking back to that day when my life was almost cut short.  As I treaded water in the deep end, I thought of what might have been had my Mom not been watching over me.  She would have liked to have been here with the family today.  What happened later that night makes me think she was.  I have always thought that Max sees something that I don’t…staring over me on the couch and into the distance.  The house is new so most people feel its young history does not lend to a haunting.  Perhaps it is not the house but the tenant that has filled it with a spirit.

Later that night, Max took his staring to a new level.  It started with him being restless, but not in a bad way.  He did have an irritation under his right ear…but a lack of scratching led me to think that was not the cause.  He wanted to go out, yet he had just been so.  Never one to deny a dog’s call of nature, I let him out again.  Instead of going to his usual place he trotted off to the fence by the pool…and stared out.  Max has a familiar pitter-patter trot when he is up to something.  Ok, maybe there was some sort of animal down there.  He has never been one to chase them, but he is always curious.  After a while he wanted back in.  A quick treat and he hopped up on the couch.  Again restless his head sprang up.  He popped up off the couch and “trotted” off into the living room as if someone called him.  He NEVER goes into the living room by himself.  After what sounded like playing, he “trotted” up the stairs.  It is hard enough to get him upstairs when we go to sleep, and now he ventured up there alone.  He soon bolted down the stairs and came running, tongue hanging out and tail wagging furiously.  He gave us that look like he had just found a new friend.  Mom always did love dogs.

Now, I am not a big believer in the afterlife so I have no explanation…but maybe once again my Mom is watching over me.  Christina, on the other hand, is fully convinced of it.

Seems her Mother-in-Law has moved in.