Friday, May 16, 2003
Friday, May 16, 2003 |
| The
Double-Jump Cannonball Dive
By Rick Ryckeley The Wife ran to the kitchen yesterday morning. No it wasn't for another cup of coffee. She was running to get me. Excitedly, she said, "Rick, you've got to see this; we have a bat on our front porch!" "What's he doing?" I answered. "Well, right now, he's just hanging out." Funny Wife I have. She showed me the little brown bat about two inches long, which had taken up residence under the cover of our front porch roof. I found this to also be some exciting news: finally something desirable has moved into our neighborhood. Bats are cool; they'll eat ten times their body's weight in bugs every night. I knew a kid once that could do that, but it took him six months. One reason I liked Neighbor Thomas so much was that he had a pool in the back yard. That, and Thomas was a little bit bigger than me, a good thing when Down-the- Street Bully Brad came around, which he did most everyday. Thomas' pool had a sliding board in place of a diving board. The diving board had been broken the first summer by Bubba Hanks with his now famous double-jump-cannonball dive. Bubba was the biggest kid on Flamingo Street; he was even bigger than Big Brother James, and that was big. Bubba Hanks had been held back in the third grade for a year due to a kidney infection. For six months, he stayed at home and didn't do anything. Well, he did do one thing. He ate. We all liked Bubba, and around the pool he was the best at cannonballs and belly flops. Let's just say that when Bubba Hanks entered the pool, he displaced a great amount of water. With Bubba, we had our very own wave pool, and that's how we found the little brown bat. In all the years of playing, no one ever got hurt in Neighbor Thomas' pool 'cause his parents knew a lot about water safety. They wouldn't let anyone run in the pool area because someone could slip and fall down. Mrs. Thomas always had a phone next to the pool in case of emergency. Bubba Hanks thought it was so he could call for pizza. Mrs. Thomas said no. They always had a cooler of cold drinks and popcicles on a table just outside the pool area. Mrs. Thomas said that even though we were in the water all day, we still needed water inside of us. Bubba said he'd just drink the pool water. Mrs. Thomas said no. Mrs. Thomas taught us the "feet-first-first-time" rule. The first time you jump into water, you don't know how deep it is. So don't dive in - jump in, feet first the first time. Bubba came up with his own rule, "belly first all the time." Mrs. Thomas said that was okay. It was Mrs. Thomas who told us that no one could go swimming unless they had a buddy. I chose Bubba Hanks to be my swimming buddy. I figured a certain someone wouldn't come after me with him around. The last swim buddy through the pool gate had to make sure it was closed. Mrs. Thomas said that this was so no small children could get inside the pool area and fall in, but I knew the real reason. She wanted the gate closed to keep Down-The-Street Bully Brad out, and I didn't blame her. Mrs. Thomas always made us wear sunblock while we were around the pool, and when we were playing in the water she made us reapply it every hour. She said that playing in the water washed the sunblock off. Bubba Hanks washed all of his off by doing cannonballs. The first summer Neighbor Thomas had a pool, Bubba Hanks did a double-jump-cannon-ball dive with a splash so big it blew the cap off the strainer, and the strainer basket was washed out of the pool! When the basket strainer washed out, so too did the little brown bat that was caught in it. Seems the pool light at night not only attracted bugs, but also bats. The little brown bat survived the double-jump-cannonball dive and returned each night to eat its fill of swimming pool bugs. A might crack was heard when Bubba Hanks did his now famous double-jump-cannonball dive, but unlike the little brown bat, the diving board did not survive. The next week the broken diving board was taken out, Neighbor Thomas got a new sliding board for his pool, and Mrs. Thomas gave us a new safety rule: No double-jump-cannonball dives allowed in the pool. Pool safety tips: Always swim with a buddy, wear and re-apply sun block every hour, no running in pool area, drink lots of liquids when you're swimming, feet first the first time you jump in, and always have a phone by the pool in case of an emergency. (Like if someone tries a double-jump-cannonball dive off your diving board or if you leave the gate open and a certain someone comes lurking around.) [Rick Ryckeley is employed by the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. He can be reached at firemanr@bellsouth.net.] |