Aquaphobia

When Kelly was 12 years old,

she and her best friend, Mindy,

went to the high school pool on a free swim night.

Delighted shrieks bouncing from wall to wall

The eye-stinging smell of chlorine

Mindy found Christen and Tracy,

and they ran laughing to the lower diving board,

climbing to the top,

daring each other to leap.

Mindy was the first, screaming

until she splashed into the pool.

Her head bobbed to the surface,

and she brushed slick wet brown hair out of her face,

shouting her encouragement to the others.

But Kelly stood awkwardly at the edge of the pool

in her new blue bathing suit.

She didn’t know how to swim.

She wanted to wade in the shallow end,

but only babies and their parents lingered there.