Page 60 of Rest In Pink

She kept her eyes on the pool. “First grade through third. Six to eight years old.”

“You’re very good at this. How long have you been teaching?”

“Five years. Since I was fourteen.Elliot, you’re fine, strokeforward.”

Elliot looked pretty small to me. “Elliot is a first grader?”

“Elliot can swim, but he’s terrified of the water. I’ve been standing beside him, and all he does is hold onto me, so I told him to stay at that end and swim along the shallow end. Sometimes once they do it on their own, they realize it’s okay.”

“How deep is the shallow end?”

“Two feet.”

“How tall is Elliot?”

Crystal grinned and her face opened, pretty as a poppy. “About thirty-six inches. If he stands up, his head is well above the water.Good job, Bethany!”

A little Black girl in the center of the pool beamed back and gave Crystal a thumbs up, and then dove back under the water again.

“This is a really intense hour,” I said. “And you have a class after this one, too?”

Crystal nodded. “Fourth through sixth graders. The one before this is four and five-year-olds, but their moms stay with them, so I don’t have to be so much of a hawk.Jason, we do not duck people in this pool. You do that again, you’re beached, you hear me? Now apologize to Emily. Right NOW.”

“And after this you get to lie in the sun?”

She shot an annoyed look at me and then went back to staring at the pool. “No, after this, I go down and help my aunt at my step-father’s store until closing.”

“Two jobs,” I said, appalled. “Saving for college?”

“No,” she said, definitely sharpish now, which I could understand since I was prying, but this is what I do, figure people out, and then sometimes write their autobiographies for them. But mostly because I like knowing about people.

I waited, and she said, “My older brother is a junior at UC. He’s got so much tuition debt that even if he gets a great job, he’s going to be paying it off for years. I don’t want that.”

“What do you want?”

“Good job, Peri!”Crystal yelled. “Jason, I warned you, get out of the pool right now!”

Jason smacked the water, but he got out of the pool.

“That’s not fair!” he yelled from the other side.

“Life isn’t fair,” Crystal said. “And you were warned. Go get dressed. You’re done.”

Jason stomped off, and I reevaluated Crystal.

“What do you want?” I said.

“I want Elliott to at leasttryto put his face in the water,” Crystal said, sighing.

“Future want,” I said.

She looked at me then. “I want to work at the fire department. I just have to go in and see Captain Olson, but . . .” She looked unsure for the first time, and then she said, “Dang it, Elliott,”and dove into the pool, beautifully, and swam to where the little boy was flailing.

She grabbed him and held him up out of the water. “I have you, Elliott, stop it.”

Elliott stopped flailing and Crystal set him on his feet, his head above the water.

“See? All you have to do is stand up.”

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