Swimming Lessons

“Daddy, it’s time for you to take me to swimming lessons,” his son yelled as he ran into the room.  The dad was sitting on the couch half reading the newspaper and half napping.

The dad sighed and took one last look at the sports page.  “Okay,” he said.  “I wasn’t getting much read anyway.”

He took his son by the hand and they headed out to the car.

The son loved swimming lessons.  He had just moved up from the “minnow” class and now was in “dolphin” class with the big kids.  He was excited because today they were going to learn how to swim the backstroke.  He wanted to show that off the next time he went swimming with his mommy and sister.

They climbed into the car and started down the street.  The son knew the way to the pool:  four stop signs, turn right, past the giant flag pole, down the hill and turn left into the parking lot.

Just as they started to get out of the car at the pool, the son asked, “Daddy, where is my swim suit?”

“Oh no!” shouted the dad.  “Get back in the car!”

They drove home (much quicker than before) up the hill, past the giant flag pole, turn left, four stop signs (the son noticed they didn’t really stop at any of them) and into the driveway.

The dad ran into the house.  There, just inside the front door, was the bag with the swim suit, a towel and a pair of goggles.  He grabbed the bag and ran back to the car.

They sped off one more time toward the pool.

As they ran into the locker room, the dad looked at his watch.  “We’ve got three minutes until your lesson starts.  Get changed fast,”  he said to his son.

But when the dad opened a locker and sat down on the bench next to it, the son was not beside him as he should have been.

“Daddy, look at this!”  the son shouted from across the locker room.  He was over by the automatic hand dryers and had turned one so that it was pointing up and it was blowing into his face.

“That’s great,” the dad said, trying to be encouraging yet forceful.  “Now get over here and change!”

With one last push of the button to start the dryer, the son ran over to the locker.

Eventually, after stopping to tell his dad all about the worm he had discovered on the playground at school, he had his swim suit on and was ready for his lesson.

They walked out of the locker room just as the instructor was calling for the dolphin class.

Off the son ran to join his class, while the dad looked for a place to sit.  He thought maybe he could get some more of the newspaper read while he waited.

Just as the dad was getting out the paper, he heard a familiar voice yelling, “DADDY!  I NEED TO GO POTTY!”  The son was quickly trotting toward him from the pool.

“Oh my goodness,” sighed the dad.  “We should have gone before class.”  He took his son’s hand as they scurried back to the locker room.

A few seconds later they walked back out to the pool, finally ready for the lesson.

The dad sat back down, took out his paper and began to read.  As he read, he heard the teacher giving the class instructions, and the giggling and splashing of the students.  

Before he knew what had happened, the lesson was over and his wet, shivering son stood in front of him.  The dad wrapped the towel around him and they headed to the locker room.

After hearing more about the worm on the playground, and more playing with the automatic dryers, the son was eventually dry and changed and ready to go home.

“How was the backstroke?” the dad asked as they buckled themselves in the car.

“Awesome!” cheered the son.  “I can’t wait to show Mommy!”

The son chattered away as they drove home: up the hill, past the giant flag pole, turn left, four stop signs and into the driveway.  As soon as the car stopped he jumped out and ran into the house.

The dad slowly got out of the car and walked back into his office.  He took out his newspaper and sat down to read.  But his mind was filled with pictures of worms, dolphins, hairdryers, and stop signs.  

The dad decided to take a nap.