A Quick Dip

It wasn’t just hot for October, it was hot, period. My first semester at the community college had been going well. I’d got in the habit of hitting the library to study between classes; sometimes I’d just hang out in the cafe with a few friends. This morning, though, I was uncomfortable. The week before had been normal October cool and I guess some genius in maintenance had decided to shut down the air conditioning system. I nearly fell asleep twice in Economics. My sweaty white blouse was giving everyone a pretty good view of my pink bra. Fortunately I had a two-hour break between Economics and American History. I’d never make it through Mr. Broughton’s droning lecture if I didn’t do something to wake myself. A quick dip in the pool seemed like the perfect thing.

I knew my mother hadn’t had our pool shut down yet. She was at work by now. I figured I had just enough time to grab the bus home, grab a quick dip, a change of clothes and get my sweaty little butt back to campus for some titillating words on the Treaty of Paris. Looking back, I was wrong on several counts.

The bus stopped several blocks from our house. With the heat and humidity, it felt like I’d walked several miles before I got to our driveway. When I saw the pool guy’s van parked out front and my mother’s car in the driveway I cursed. Of all the days to shut down the pool for the winter! I calmed down a bit when I realized she’d probably made this appointment weeks ago. She’d been pretty busy the past few years trying to raise my brother and me and work her real estate job. My dad, I guess, still managed to send her some money but it hadn’t been easy for her since he moved out.