week.
But today, it comes quite easily to me and I am quite willing to follow Milo's instructions as he asks us to turn onto our stomachs and try floating on the water with our hands still holding onto the pool's edge.
I suddenly realise my chin is now actually touching the water and that the only thing keeping my mouth from going under is my neck muscles. Despite this being just a pool, I can feel subtle currents in the water constantly pushing me towards and pulling me away from the edge.
Whoa, relax, Meredith, you can do this, I tell myself as we stretch out in a Superman pose, my hands never losing their firm grip. I can feel the sun's warmth on the back of my legs, reassuring me that they aren't fully submerged. At the back of my mind, I still have this jumpy feeling that someone's gonna grab onto my leg and drag me under.
"Good. You guys are doing great. Now, start kicking your legs like we practised earlier on the floor," Milo says after watching us float for five minutes.
I start my frog kicks, extremely ungracefully, I can tell, because droplets of water start flying into the air and landing all around me, including on my head. My face starts burning with embarassment and I turn to check out Grant's progress.
To my consolation, he isn't doing much better either, although at least he isn't creating artificial rainfall like me.
"Meredith, lower your butt down into the water and kick under the water, not on the surface," Milo shouts, demonstrating for me to see. However, he is doing it correctly, I gather, as the water all around him remains smooth and calm.
I suppress a semi-hysterical giggle. How am I supposed to check out his kicks then? However, I merely nod and wonder what he means by lowering my butt into the water. How does one do that?
What happens next happens so quickly that I only piece it together much later.
We suddenly hear a scream of distress from the middle of the pool and Milo heads off so swiftly towards the commotion that I barely register him swimming away.
Grant immediately starts looking around for his daughter, calling her name frantically. Since I'm still floating facing away from the pool, I suddenly spot her sitting down on one of the pool chairs, slurping thirstily from her purple waterbottle.
Relieved, I twist towards Grant, who is surveying the pool with wide eyes, and start to tell him where Ginny is.
Only, my body reacts quicker than my brain as my hands let go of the pool edge to point at her.
" Grant ," is as far as I get before I realise I'm actually floating without anything to anchor me to the edge of the pool. And I'm floating away from the safety of the edge of the pool.
All thoughts of frog kicks fly out of my mind as sheer panic sets in and sends me thrashing. As my limbs flail in underwater slow motion, I don't realise that I'm actually propelling myself towards the deeper end. Then, the inevitable happens. My head goes under several times and my vision suddenly turns into a sea of blue with white bubbles fizzing frantically around like a popped soda can.
My temples are pounding. I had forgotten the unique silence being underwater gives you, as though the whole water is a giant cotton plug. All these thoughts flash through my panicked brain in the space of seconds when I feel something seize onto my wrist. I instinctively flinch away but I feel a tremendous yank and I suddenly shoot forward like a cork flying out of a champagne bottle.
Helpless to resist my momentum, I suddenly crash into something soft and yet hard. Even in my frightened animal state, I realise it's got to be a human body. Then
But today, it comes quite easily to me and I am quite willing to follow Milo's instructions as he asks us to turn onto our stomachs and try floating on the water with our hands still holding onto the pool's edge.
I suddenly realise my chin is now actually touching the water and that the only thing keeping my mouth from going under is my neck muscles. Despite this being just a pool, I can feel subtle currents in the water constantly pushing me towards and pulling me away from the edge.
Whoa, relax, Meredith, you can do this, I tell myself as we stretch out in a Superman pose, my hands never losing their firm grip. I can feel the sun's warmth on the back of my legs, reassuring me that they aren't fully submerged. At the back of my mind, I still have this jumpy feeling that someone's gonna grab onto my leg and drag me under.
"Good. You guys are doing great. Now, start kicking your legs like we practised earlier on the floor," Milo says after watching us float for five minutes.
I start my frog kicks, extremely ungracefully, I can tell, because droplets of water start flying into the air and landing all around me, including on my head. My face starts burning with embarassment and I turn to check out Grant's progress.
To my consolation, he isn't doing much better either, although at least he isn't creating artificial rainfall like me.
"Meredith, lower your butt down into the water and kick under the water, not on the surface," Milo shouts, demonstrating for me to see. However, he is doing it correctly, I gather, as the water all around him remains smooth and calm.
I suppress a semi-hysterical giggle. How am I supposed to check out his kicks then? However, I merely nod and wonder what he means by lowering my butt into the water. How does one do that?
What happens next happens so quickly that I only piece it together much later.
We suddenly hear a scream of distress from the middle of the pool and Milo heads off so swiftly towards the commotion that I barely register him swimming away.
Grant immediately starts looking around for his daughter, calling her name frantically. Since I'm still floating facing away from the pool, I suddenly spot her sitting down on one of the pool chairs, slurping thirstily from her purple waterbottle.
Relieved, I twist towards Grant, who is surveying the pool with wide eyes, and start to tell him where Ginny is.
Only, my body reacts quicker than my brain as my hands let go of the pool edge to point at her.
" Grant ," is as far as I get before I realise I'm actually floating without anything to anchor me to the edge of the pool. And I'm floating away from the safety of the edge of the pool.
All thoughts of frog kicks fly out of my mind as sheer panic sets in and sends me thrashing. As my limbs flail in underwater slow motion, I don't realise that I'm actually propelling myself towards the deeper end. Then, the inevitable happens. My head goes under several times and my vision suddenly turns into a sea of blue with white bubbles fizzing frantically around like a popped soda can.
My temples are pounding. I had forgotten the unique silence being underwater gives you, as though the whole water is a giant cotton plug. All these thoughts flash through my panicked brain in the space of seconds when I feel something seize onto my wrist. I instinctively flinch away but I feel a tremendous yank and I suddenly shoot forward like a cork flying out of a champagne bottle.
Helpless to resist my momentum, I suddenly crash into something soft and yet hard. Even in my frightened animal state, I realise it's got to be a human body. Then
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