Pee Wee Pool Party (4 page)

Molly felt better right away. She wouldn’t be alone! Instead of just staring at her bumblebee suit, the Pee Wees would stare at Lisa too!

“I keep trying, but I just can’t stay up,” said Lisa. “No matter what I do.”

The girls watched Rachel stand on her head in the water. That didn’t matter to Molly now! She had a friend who understood! A friend who could not swim or float or stand on her head! She felt like hugging Lisa.

“I don’t mind not getting my badge, if you don’t get one too,” said Lisa.

“Me too!” shrieked Molly.

Just then Mr. White came over to the girls.

“Let’s see if we can turn you into a water sprite,” he said to Lisa.

There it was again, that word that was like
elf
!

Lisa did not look happy, but she let Mr. White pull her to her feet and take her into the water.

“I can’t swim,” she told him. “I keep sinking.”

Molly watched them as they stood there. Mr. White was telling her the same things he had told Molly about relaxing. About not
being tense. About how she could not sink. Lisa was listening. But Molly knew his advice did not work. She knew it would not help Lisa swim. She wanted to tell Mr. White to just skip it. It was a waste of time.

Mary Beth and Tracy and Kevin came and sat down with Molly.

“I can’t believe that guy is Roger’s father,” said Tracy. “How could a nice guy like him have a son like Roger?”

All the Pee Wees agreed. They shook their heads in wonder.

“Well, it’s good his dad likes him,” said Mary Beth. “I’ll bet his mother took one look at Roger and left home.”

That sounded cruel to Molly, but she had to admit it would be hard to love Roger. He was lucky he had a patient dad.

The Pee Wees watched as Mr. White guided Lisa, encouraging her to relax and paddle. Lisa paddled back and forth, back and forth. And then, all of a sudden, Molly noticed that Mr. White’s arms were not holding Lisa up anymore! She was on her own, and she wasn’t sinking! She was moving alone on the water! She was
swimming
!

All the Pee Wees burst into applause! They clapped and whistled and shouted. They yelled, “Good for you, Lisa!”

All except Molly. To Molly, Lisa was a traitor. She had lied! Lisa
could
swim. And now Molly had lost her only nonswimming, nonbadge partner, just as fast as she’d found her. Rat’s knees, she was back to being the only one without a badge.

L
isa came walking out of the pool dripping wet with a big grin on her face. “It’s easy!” she said. “It’s so easy!”

“That’s because my dad is such a good teacher,” boasted Roger.

Everyone made a big fuss over Lisa. Mrs. Peters put her arm around her and said, “Well done, Lisa. That’s what happens when you hang in there, when you don’t give up.”

Mrs. Peters looked at Molly when she said that. She seemed to be giving her a message.

“I know you can do it,” Lisa said to Molly. “If I can learn, you can learn. Let me show you.”

Now Lisa not only was a traitor, she was trying to be a teacher to Molly! Molly hated having everyone feeling sorry for her, even someone who hadn’t been able to swim herself ten minutes ago!

“Now just relax,” said Lisa. “It’s true, it really works.”

But Molly was not relaxed. She was mad. She wanted to get out of that pool and go home where she could take her bumblebees off and throw them in a corner.

“Thanks anyway,” she muttered to Lisa.

“Well, at least you got wet this time,” Sonny said to Molly when they went to the dressing rooms.

That sounded nasty to Molly, but maybe Sonny meant it to be encouraging.

As everyone got dressed and ready to leave, Molly remembered something. Plan B. All was not lost. She would have to think of an artificial way of staying on top of the water.

On the way home, the Pee Wees were kind to Molly. Patty put her arm around her and said, “Next week you’ll do it.”

Sonny said, “Remember those deep breaths so you get air in you.”

And Jody said she could practice in his pool, as soon as it was open.

But that would be too late. Too late for her badge.

When they got to Mary Beth’s house, she and Molly sat on the front steps.

“I can’t do it,” said Molly. “That’s all there is to it. I need something to hold me up.” She told Mary Beth about Plan B.

“What could we find to hold you up?” asked Mary Beth. “If you wore a safety vest, everyone would see it. It has to be something invisible.”

The girls thought and thought.

“Sonny says you need to be full of air to float,” said Molly. “I guess I have to swallow an inner tube!”

Mary Beth laughed and waddled along as if she had an inner tube inside her.

“Wait a minute!” she said. “I know something smaller that holds air! Balloons! Balloons float!”

“I can’t swallow a balloon!” said Molly.

“You don’t swallow it, silly,” said Mary Beth. “You put it inside your suit!”

“A balloon won’t hold me up,” said Molly.

“No, but lots of balloons will,” said her friend.

Mary Beth examined Molly’s bumblebee swimsuit. “See, it’s elastic,” she said. “It
stretches! We could tuck lots of balloons under it! No one would see them, and they’d keep you afloat! All you’d have to do is kick your legs and arms!”

“Really?” said Molly. It made sense. And it seemed easy.

“Let’s go to the toystore and get some,” said Mary Beth, jumping up.

Molly ran home and got some of her allowance out of her bank. Then she and Mary Beth got out their bikes and rode to the toystore.

The store had balloons of all colors. The girls picked out ten bright yellow ones.

“In case they show, people will just think they’re part of your swimsuit,” said Mary Beth.

On the way home, she added, “We’ll blow them up on Tuesday. That way they won’t get flat before we go.”

Mary Beth was so smart! Molly was glad to have her for a best friend. It looked as if
there was hope after all that she could get her badge with the others. Molly put the balloons under her pillow, so that they would bring her good dreams.

But they didn’t do that. Instead, that night, Molly dreamed that on the way to the pool, the balloons got away from them and flew high over the treetops. No matter how she and Mary Beth chased them, they couldn’t catch them. And when she woke up in the morning, Molly was all tired out as if she really had been running.

“It was just a dream,” she said to herself. “It won’t really happen.” And it didn’t.

On Tuesday Mary Beth came over and they blew up the balloons.

“Not too big,” said Mary Beth. “We don’t want them to pop.”

When they all were blown up, Molly and Mary Beth squeezed them under the bumblebees. The suit held them in place firmly.

“Wow, this was a good idea,” said Mary
Beth. “No way will you sink now! Why didn’t we think of this before?”

Molly felt lumpy, but good. “Even if Roger tries to pull me under, I won’t sink!” she said.

“Even if every single one of the Pee Wees tries to pull you under, you won’t sink!” said Mary Beth.

It wasn’t easy to walk with all the lumps around her, but it was a small price to pay for a badge!

When Mary Beth saw Molly’s waddly walk, she said, “I think we should meet the others at the pool, instead of riding in Mrs. Peters’s van.”

“Why?” demanded Molly.

Mary Beth frowned. “If we go over bumps, you might pop. Then everyone would ask questions. You know how nosy Roger and Sonny are.”

Molly knew. Mary Beth called Mrs. Peters and said they would meet them at the pool.

“She said okay, but to be on time.”

“Let’s go,” said Molly.

She and Mary Beth started off toward the pool. Molly could not walk very fast. And she couldn’t see her feet. She tried to keep up with Mary Beth, but it wasn’t easy.

“Don’t fall now,” said Mary Beth. “You’ll lose all your air and we’ll really be in trouble.”

When they finally got to the pool, the Pee Wees were just getting out of the van. Mrs. Peters was busy counting noses and didn’t notice Molly’s waddly walk.

But the Pee Wees stared.

“Hey!” shouted Roger. “Look at Molly! Hey, what did you feed those bumblebees that made them so fat?”

“Don’t you know it’s not polite to call someone fat?” said Mary Beth to him crossly.

“How fat do I look?” cried Molly to her friend.

Mary Beth frowned. “Not very,” she said. “Anyway, you can’t have everything! You want to get your badge, don’t you?”

Molly did. None of the other Pee Wees said anything. But they looked as if they wanted to.

Baby Nick was splashing in the shallow water. He began to paddle with his little arms and legs.

“Look! Nick can swim!” shouted Jody. The Pee Wees all gathered around him and clapped.

“Even a baby can swim,” said Molly. “And he hasn’t got balloons under his suit.”

“Babies learn easily,” said Mary Beth.

Mrs. Peters raised her hand for attention.

The time had come. It was time for the Pee Wees to sink or swim.

“
W
ho wants to be first?” asked Mrs. Peters.

All the hands went up. Even Molly’s. She didn’t want to be first. But she wanted to get it over with.

But Rachel went first, swimming across the pool gracefully with almost no splashing. There was no doubt about it, Rachel seemed to be good at everything she tried.

Jody swam next, then Patty and Kenny. When Tim swam, he sank.

“Ho ho, no badge for Noon!” shouted Roger.

But Mrs. Peters gave Tim another start, and eventually he paddled across the pool on his own with a lot of splashing.

When it was Roger’s turn, he shouted, “Watch this!” He jumped into the pool, holding his nose. The Pee Wees watched, but no Roger came to the top of the pool!

Mrs. Peters looked alarmed, and the lifeguard jumped in to rescue him.

“I didn’t need help,” said Roger after he had been dragged, dripping and sputtering, to the side of the pool. “I was just staying down there on purpose.”

“Sure, he wanted to drown on purpose,” joked Rachel.

“This pool is too little,” Roger said. “I can dive from that high board. This is baby stuff.”

“He’s the baby,” said Mary Beth. “He wants to dive and he can’t even swim.”

“It’s because he’s nervous,” said Molly. “He swam before. His dad taught him a long time ago.”

Roger turned bright red when Mrs. Peters helped him. Finally he made it, but he looked cross.

“Pride goes before a fall,” said Tracy. “That’s what my mom says. When you want to show off, things happen.”

When it was Sonny’s turn, he swam across the pool better than Roger.

“I practiced a lot,” he said. “At the lake. My mom made me.”

“Molly Duff is next,” said Mrs. Peters.

Molly waddled toward the water. Mrs. Peters squinted across the pool at her, and looked as if she was going to say something. But before she could, Molly was in the water. She began to paddle, and wonder of wonders, she did not sink! She rode very high on the water, like a canoe! Her face did not even get wet!