Idlebones

Learning to swim

November 15, 2006 – 0:28

 

 

 

Dogs love water!” dog was panting excitedly. His long pink tongue lolled lazily from his wet mouth, dribbles of saliva dripped into the edge of the water.

Duck looked at him, sashaying herself in small semicircular sweeps in the cool river water. She smirked, and spun herself in a tight circle, displaying her bright yellow backside to dog, holding her head in an aloof manner.

“That may be. But they swim with no elegance. No Finesse. All splashes and pants” She said in a condescending tone, as she kicked her legs and ferry-glided herself elegantly across a small current at the
waters edge.

Dog cocked and ear. He had no idea what ‘elegance’ meant. Or ‘fineness’. He thought they must be friends of duck.

“My dad loves to go in the river” he said, ducking his snout to test the water, his paws becoming submerged as the soft river bank gave way to his weight. “He does it all the time in that big river called the ocean. I remember ‘cos he always comes back full of water and shakes it
all over his master. He loves it, he does”

Dogs shining black fur was clean and smooth, thanks to Bobby, who had dunked him in the bath the night before and played with him with warm foamy water. Bobby would have loved to have had another play in the water if he was here he thought. The water looked so cool on this warm summers day. And there was someone to play with. Oh, it looked like so much fun.

Dog padded the riverbanks soft mushy edge and sniffed the water. It smelled cool and clean to his big black nostrils. It’s so hot, and I must cool down, he thought to himself. Edging himself in, paw after paw into the waters edge, dog felt the chill of the river rise up around his front legs until it almost touched his chin. Duck was bobbing up and down on the little ripples his edging movements made.

“Are you sure you can swim?” said Duck, eyeing Dog with a worried look as he clumsily made his way down from the riverbank. The ripples were making her a little woozy.

Dog looked at her with a wide lolloping grin.

“I dunno. What’s Swim?”

Duck stopped and looked at Dog, forgetting to paddle for a moment. A big ripple caught her unaware as Dog dunked his hairy snout into the water and lapped at the water with a schlooping slap of his long pink tongue.

“What’s swimming!?” Duck cried in surprise as she twisted away from on oncoming wave. Dipping into the gurgling water she righted herself once more with a flick of her yellow tail. “What’s SWIMMING?!” She cried again. “You daft dog. You have to be able to swim to come in here. Else you might sink to the bottom!”

Dog closed his mouth with a soft slap and looked down into the water.

“What’s down at the bottom then?” he said, staring down at his own reflection.

Duck looked puzzled. She’d never actually thought about it. All she knew was that there were fishes that nibbled at her ankles occasionally, making her kick out as they tickled. Below the fishes, she really didn’t know what was down there.

“Fishes” she said eventually. “and they like to nibble on Dogs”

Dog looked a little confused. He liked fish. Especially those tuna chunks Bobby would give him on Saturdays. He couldn’t remember any of those nibbling on him though.

“So how do you stay up on top then?” he asked, sniffing the water and spluttering as it sucked up into his nostrils.

Duck gave a little laugh and span in a circle as Dog coughed and spluttered on the riverbank.

“It’s really quite easy” she said. You just kick your legs and keep you head above the water. Like this” She kicked her legs and propelled herself through the water towards Dog, turning at the last minute before his sniffing snout and with a quick flick of her hips she was back into the open river leaving dog staring at her with his wide open brown eyes.

“That looks easy!” he said gleefully, before recoiling himself into his back legs, ready to throw himself forward into the river.

“Yes, but it takes…..”

Too late. Dog flung himself headlong into the water. His big back legs pushed him forwards while his forepaws pointed out to receive the waters thin film, a big black clumsy belly flop landed Dog into the middle of the river with a loud splash and an upturning wake that spun Duck into the reeds that grew in tall sleeping arcs by the riverbank.
The river water heaved apart to receive Dog as he hit the surface at full stretch, before rolling back in on top of the hole he had created. Dog saw with suprise a big grey bored looking fish looking back at him as he sank slowly down towards the riverbed. The fish looked on as one of his sons darted quickly to his side.

“What’s that Dad!?” the son asked, tucking into his Fathers fin for protection. The big fish blew through his gills and went back to nibbling his root.

“Just a Dog son” the big fish said, throwing his eyes up with a tut. ”He’ll be gone in a minute”

Dog sunk lower. He could see the grey-green floor of the river coming up to meet him. He could feel rock under his paws. Green, slippery rocks that made him slip and slide as he kicked his feet beneath him.
“This is funny” he thought as everything seemed to slow down aroundhim. The water in his ears made him feel funny, as if he had been locked inside a big damp room. What was it Duck had said? Kick with your legs. Oh yes.

Dog began kicking furiously with his legs. He felt himself lifting away from the green rocks and up passed the bored looking fish that watched him from one eye on the side of his head. He remembered the other thing Duck had told him. “Keep your head up above the water”Dog pointed his head up and kicked. Breaking the surface Dog felt a
cool breeze on his head and blinked at the bright sunlight that shone down through the trees that lined the river. After a moment he felt he could slow his legs into a steady rhythm, as if he was running across the field behind were he lived. His head stayed above the water and he panted a wide, open mouthed grin as he saw his new friend Duck, bobbing in the reeds in front of him.

“Is this swimming?” he panted excitedly

Duck looked slightly flustered and appeared to be clinging on to a reed with one wing.

“In a manner of speaking, yes” she said with a sigh.