literature

Charon's Youth

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Literature Text

A youth's life is one of one of discovery.  Everything around the youth is something new to discover, to put in one's mouth and taste.  To pick up and touch, to feel the different textures; whether it be rough, smooth, or silky.  To watch and see what others are doing, wanting to experience what they are all experiencing.  Emotions begin to form of seeing other's laughter and enjoyment of an activity.  In my case, I jumped in with both feet with a slight push from behind.

Did I mention that was fully clothed at the time with no inkling that felines were supposed to be afraid of the thing called water?  It's something ingrained into the psyche of a cat, even neo ones, that water is supposed to be a dangerous thing and only once in a while supposed to be something to be tolerated, even in the briefest of times.  That means having a mother that forced me to be in a bath or shower every day.  Something that is dreaded by all youth, to clean one's body for the next day's adventures.  Baths were terrifying; water that covered the entire body with only one way out, using soap and a wash cloth.

Finally becoming old enough to wash one's body by myself, showers were a bit better and I had to admit, warm water on one's back, even fur covered one's was a great  and relaxing sensation.  Thankfully humans made health care products for the neos that were beginning to come more into the public's eye.  Shampoo was a new thing for me and well, squeaky clean was something to be experienced but combing out a fur covered body was a human woman's nightmare, but I digress.

Going to the pool was certainly a new experience for me.  Sure, I've seen the Olympics and the crazy otters, seals, and yes a few humans dive into the water wearing very little, swimming briefs is what I learned later and having swimming competitions between themselves.  I though this quite odd that these people and neos would actually go into water willingly, but I was thoroughly intrigued; they seemed to be having a fun time.  My mother saw this and though she herself shivered at the thought as well, thought it would be a great time to go to a pool, this was a mistake.

The smell of chlorine and chemicals to humans was said to be not the most pleasant of smells.  Imagine this 'minor' annoyance and multiply that by one hundred for a neo that relies on smell.  I couldn't imagine what the canine species go through if they ever wanted to come to a pool; nose plugs perhaps?  Mother was experiencing the same thing but I could tell she was more used to it than I was at that time; the sights of other humans and neos having fun, splashing each other and generally having a good time.

I was more interested in seeing the otters and other aquatics zipping in and out of the water and general horseplay that was frowned upon by some of the lifeguards that were watching over them from their white post chairs.  At first I was just sitting down near the concession stand and more and more, I was curious in what it would be like playing in the water like the others were.  I wandered over to a place where I thought was devoid of the 'otter' chaos that was going on around me.  I looked around and then looked down to see the otters zipping around each other, holding their breath in which seemed like hours but merely five to ten minutes; all in the same attire I saw on the television, fur tight swimming briefs.

As with the old saying, 'Curiosity killed the cat'; it almost killed me.  As I peered down into the depths, I was accidently bumped from behind from someone and well, I fell in.  To say that it was the most terrifying experience in my life was an understatement.  Fully clothed and sinking faster than a rock with weights tied to it, I tried to get to the surface with little luck with the extra clothing on me.  Luckily for me, a full breath of air was in my lungs as I gasped as I was falling into the water.  I looked around me, fighting to make it back to the surface.  Otters immediately converged to me and helped me back to the life giving air.  The first to me was my mother and she was frightful right out of her mind.  She was pushing those that genuinely wanted to help me back up; at the time I thought it was funny.

Finally, back on dry land and with a huge towel around me, my mother screaming at anyone that was near us and others trying to calm her down, I was shaking uncontrollably from the water with a huge grin to my face.  My mother asked how I was doing and apologizing profusely on allowing me come to the pool.  I thanked my otter rescuers and in typical otter fashion they kept saying that if I wanted to swim, why I wasn't wearing swimming attire.  I kept the joking going on and saying that next time, I would be wearing what they were wearing.  They churred and smiled, apparently enjoying my levity of the previous situation that was caught in just moments before.  

Finally with some normality came to the sanity of my mother, she asked how I was doing and I remember the first thing that came to my mouth, "When are we coming back so I can swim as good as they do?"

I, of course, was pointing to the otters that were still hovering around us.  They took the compliment by churring and laughing at my statement.  I knew that was the wrong thing to say at that moment because my mother's voice reached a new octave in screaming.  She said things about how felines aren't supposed to be swimming and never should like water even in the best of times.  On the way home, my mother still fuming and scared for almost losing her cub, she was calm enough to say, "Whenever you want."

I was confused to why she said that only until after I realized she answered my question from before.  "But only if you learn how to swim properly and I buy you a suit like those otters were wearing."

A huge smile reached my muzzle and leaned back in the back seat of the car.  I imagined myself on a podium with a gold medal around my neck at the swimming pool; something that the realization could and would never happen especially with otters and seals nearly dominating the swimming competitions. "Thanks mom and well, I'm sorry for scaring you so much."

A shuddering sigh escaped her mouth and I saw from the mirror she smiled.  "Tell me, when you fell in, you really didn't panic did you?"

"No, I mean, I did at first," I started out.  "But when the otters came to me, I relaxed and I saw how much they enjoyed themselves in the water and I knew they wouldn't let me drown.  It was relaxing."

She only nodded her head and continued driving home.  She certainly had a story to tell my dad when he came home from work.
A story of Charon's first experience with the pool. Later stories will hopefully follow. Please review and critiques are appreicated.
© 2011 - 2024 charonbond
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shoxxe's avatar
Shame about the chlorine thing. I actually enjoy the smell quite nicely... after all, it often signals "swimsuit ladies" around... :P