OCEAN
2t
"Come on, kids," Daddy said, putting his anns around the
shoulders of both his sons. "Let's go in. It's getting late."
"Wait a second, Daddy," Stephen said, storing the emerald
inside his bathing suit for safe-keeping.
"No one criticizes
my
boys and gets away with it," Daddy went
on. "Not while
I'm
alive, they don't ... careful now, it's kind of
rough. Come on,
kleine,
take my hand ... that-a-boy. Roggie, don't
go out too far; better stick near us."
"I'm okay, Dad. It's not
that
rough," Roggie said, strokmg
and kicking with all his might, trying for Daddy's sake to demon–
strate his best form. "Watch me! Watch me!"
"That's very good, Rog. Very good. Just be careful," Daddy
said, lifting Stephen in his hands and holding him for one thrilling
moment above the crest of a wave.
'~Yipeeee!"
Stephen screamed. When they got beyond the
breakers, Daddy let go of Stephen. With
his
water wings on, Stephen
floated like a bob, and Daddy'S head and shoulders broke the
urface like a bust resting on a mantel. "Is
it
over my head?"
"Sure it is."
"Is it over yours?"
"No, sweetheart. I can still touch bottom here. Let's see how
well you swim." ·Stephen lay back lackadaisically, kicked
his
left
leg and flung his right arm out perpendicular to his body. "Come on
now, you can do better than that. That's not the way you were
taught. Look at Roggie. You remember," Daddy coached. "Stroke,
kick, breathe. Stroke, kick, breathe. Just like in the swimming pool."
... But the ocean
wasn't
like the swimming pool--everyone knew
thatl- What made Daddy always say it was? The swimming pool was
nothing but a great big box--eight feet deep at one end, two feet
at the other- whose water was piped in through a spout and drained
off at the sides, whose only sign of life was what you, the swimmer,
brought to it.
That
was the all-important difference! In the ocean
you didn't need to bother swimming, the ocean did
it
fOT
you. The
ocean was alive! ... "Daddy."
"What,
kleine?"
"Let's play zeppelin."
"Zeppelin?"
"You know, instead of playing boat."
