The Tail of Emily Windsnap - Liz Kessler [2]
“Now THAT is more like it!” Bob shouted when I came up for air. “You’re a natural!”
Then he turned back to the others, who were squinting and staring at me with open mouths. Mandy’s eyes fired hatred at me as Bob said, “That’s what I’d like to see you all doing by the end of the term.”
But then it happened.
One minute, I was skimming along like a flying fish. The next, my legs suddenly seized up. It felt as though somebody had glued my thighs together and strapped a splint on my shins! I tried to smile up at the teacher as I paddled to the side, but my legs had turned to a block of stone. I couldn’t feel my knees, my feet, my toes. What was happening?
A second later, and I almost went under completely. I screamed, getting a mouthful of water. Bob shouted to everyone to stay put and dove in, in his shorts and T-shirt, and swam over to me.
“It’s my legs,” I gasped. “I can’t feel them!”
He cupped my chin in his big hand and began a powerful backstroke to bring us back over to the side. “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s just a cramp. Happens to everyone.”
We reached the big steps at the side of the pool and climbed onto the top one. As soon as I was halfway out of the water, the weird feeling started to go away.
“Let’s have a look at those legs.” Bob lifted me up onto the side of the pool. “Can you lift your left one?” I did.
“And your right?” Easy.
“Any pain?”
“It’s gone now,” I said.
“Just a cramp, then. Why don’t you rest here for a few minutes? Get in again when you’re ready?”
I nodded, and he went back to the others.
But the truth was, I’d felt something that he hadn’t seen. And I’d seen something he hadn’t felt. And I didn’t have a clue what it was, but I knew one thing for sure — you wouldn’t get me back in that pool for a million dollars.
I sat by the side for a long time. Eventually the whole rest of the class got in and started splashing around. Even Mandy was allowed back in. But I didn’t want to sit too near those guys in case I got splashed and it happened again. I was even nervous when I went home after school — what if I fell off the pier and into the sea?
The boat docks are all along one side of the pier. There are three other boats besides King tied up at ours: one seriously done-up white speedboat and a couple of bigger yachts. None of the other boats has people living on it, though.
An old plank of wood stretches across to get you from the dock to the boat. Mom used to carry me over it when I was little, but I’ve been doing it on my own for ages now. Only just then I somehow couldn’t. I called out to Mom.
“I can’t get across,” I shouted when she came up from below deck.
She had a towel wrapped around her head and a satin robe on. “I’m getting ready for book group.”
I stood frozen on the dock. Around me, the boats melted into a wobbly mass of masts and tackle. I stared at King. The mast rocked with the boat, the wooden deck shiny with sea spray. My eyes blurred as I focused on the row of portholes along the side of the boat, the thin metal bar running around the edge. “I’m scared,” I said.
So Mom pulled the dressing-gown cord tighter around her waist and reached her skinny arm out to me. “Come on, sweetie, let’s go.”
When I had made it across, she grabbed me and gave me a hug. “Dingbat,” she said, ruffling my hair. Then she went back inside to finish up.
Mom’s always going to some group or another. Last year it was yoga; now it’s book group. She works at the secondhand bookstore on the promenade, and that’s where the group meets. It’s pretty cool, actually. At the store, they just opened a café bar where you can get thick milk shakes with pieces of real fruit or big chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough in them. I imagine the book group is just her latest excuse to meet up and gossip with her friends — but at least it keeps her focused on something other than me.
Mystic Millie, who does Palms on the Pier, comes to stay with me when Mom’s out. Not that I need a baby-sitter at my age, but Millie’s okay. Sometimes she’ll practice her reiki or shiatsu massage on me. She even brought