Jake by Audrey Couloumbis

a lot of people don’t go into pools,” I said. Okay, I yelled. A little. “I wouldn’t want to learn in the deep end, that’s for sure.”
    He looked at me as if I was one of Mrs. Buttermark’s jigsaw puzzles. “Let’s go,” he said, and put out his arms for the dog to jump into them.
    “You’re not going to do one of those stupid throw-me-in-the-pool things, are you?” I asked him. “I don’t have to go with you.” It had been a rough weekend. I didn’t want to top it all off by drowning.
    “I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said. For a moment I thought maybe I hurt his feelings. He made his voice real hearty to say, “You don’t have to get in the pool. Good thing about not being a swimmer, you’ll never be a navy man.”
    I guess that was a joke.

CHAPTER TEN
    We brought in
the frozen groceries. Some of it went into the freezer. Lettuce and bananas had to be thrown away. A cracked jar of applesauce, that had to go too. Otherwise, everything could be eaten.
    I took the cookies with us. I figured it was like the things we left in the sink, they’d defrost.
    The dog stayed with Mrs. Buttermark. She’d suggested it and Granddad agreed. This would be easier on Max than being alone for hours at a time.
    We also put most of her sandwiches in my backpack. Frankly, after four pancakes, I didn’t think I’d ever eat again. Mrs. Buttermark had eaten three. And Granddad ate the rest. It surprised me he could think about sandwiches. If he got in the pool, he might not even float.
    When we got to the Y, Granddad checked his watchagainst the clock on the wall. “I’m going swimming,” he said, in the tone of,
if you want to change your mind …
    I didn’t say a word. The rubber swim cap was in my jacket pocket, stiff from the cold. I didn’t even look at Granddad, so maybe he’d think my eardrums were frozen.
    He said, “Want to meet back here in ninety minutes?”
    I nodded.
    “Just so I don’t have to worry, you won’t leave the building?”
    “I’ll go jump on the trampoline,” I said, trying to sound like I had regular stuff I did at the Y. Instead of coming to a birthday party here once.
    The party would’ve been great except there was always a long line at the trampoline. Nobody could jump for more than one minute at a time, in case they’d eaten too much cake and ice cream. And after cake and ice cream there was nothing else they’d let us do.
    Granddad and I nodded little nods at each other like we were each going out on separate missions. Then we climbed the stairs together.
    It was probably two minutes before we got to a place to turn in different directions. We didn’t say aword the whole time, like we were already in different hallways.
    It turned out the trampoline room is locked if there aren’t a few kids around. I was the only kid. The guy wouldn’t unlock the door.
    I wandered around for a while. Some old guys were taking a yoga class. Some other people were studying or something, all sitting quietly in a classroom, reading. Nothing too interesting.
    There were plenty of guys using the gym. Kids weren’t allowed in there. I put on my shorts and ran around the track twice, until I found out kids weren’t allowed in there either. At least not by themselves.
    I didn’t mind. I hadn’t paced myself, like the rest of them were doing. I was getting ragged by that time. This last guy who chased me off said, “Why don’t you go down to the pool?”
    So I headed for the pool.
    Granddad was not the only swimmer. He
was
the only one who swam like he was cutting through the water, using his arms for scissors. He went from one end of the pool to the other three times while I watched and didn’t look like he’d be stopping anytime soon.
    He was too busy to notice me.
    I pulled the swim cap on and took my sneakers off.
    A swimmer heaved himself up on the edge of the pool, a little breathless. “Can I go in to swim in my track shorts?”
    “Sure. Leave your other stuff in one of the