When I look back on my joyous days of childhood and remember jumping into the pool, my heart fills with warmth. Of course, at the time, I guess nothing could be further from the truth. I was terrified of swimming in any sort of a pool, let alone the big and deep pool at my local junior high school. All of that changed when I met Mr. Startsky.
Mr. Startsky was an unassuming gentleman. He was a lifelong bachelor, never having been married before (at least not that I am aware). By day, he was a janitor at my school and an assistant coach on the high school football team. But, when he wasn't being just an ordinary guy, he was busy being my pool savior!
Before Mr. Startsky's tutelage, I was a terrible swimmer, and the pool chemicals burned my eyes. I remember many afternoons when I would hang back after gym class to practice swimming, and I would find Mr. Startsky there, just watching me as I made my pathetic attempts to swim in the pool. He would watch me off and on for literally hours while he went about his duties, always with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, never saying a word. This went on for weeks, until one day Mr. Startsky finally broke the silence. It was at the end of the day, when nearly everyone else had left the pool.
"Say, young man, do you want to learn how to swim properly?" Mr. Startsky called out to me.
"Do I mister?" I replied, "Sure thing!"
"Well boy, just stay there then, right where you are. Don't move a muscle till I come back." With that, he left for almost fifteen minutes. When he returned, to my surprise, he was in an old pair of swimming trunks! Without a word, he jumped into the water next to me.
"Come over here boy!" he called out. I swam over to him as best I could. Suddenly, he grabbed me and turned me over on my back. "This is how you swim boy," he instructed as he gently put his arm under me and moved my arms back and forth. "Exactly like this."
I can't even begin to describe the fun times we had together, frolicking together in the pool, swimming together for hours on end, and then relaxing in the hot tub. You know the best part? I really learned how to swim from old Mr. Startsky, even considering his crazy obsession with pool accessories!
