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They decided to go to the swimming pool and learn breaststroke. Lydia hadn't learned to swim yet, so James dropped her off at Mrs. Allen's house across the street in the afternoons. For the past week, he'd been wanting to spend some father-son time with Nath. He even had an idea for how to start his swimming lesson: keep his arms under the water and kick his legs out, like this. Although James himself was a swimmer in high school, he never won a medal; while others got into the winners' cars to celebrate with burgers and milkshakes, he went home alone. Now, James thinks Ness may have the same swimming talent. Although he is short, he has a strong and strong body. In swimming lessons last summer, Ness learned to freestyle and float, and was able to swim through the pool from the bottom. James feels that by high school, Ness will become the star of the swimming team, the winner of medals, and the ace of swimming competitions. After winning a race, he would drive and treat everyone to a meal—or do what kids in the seventies loved to do to celebrate.
That Saturday, they came to the swimming pool. The shallow water area was full of children playing "Marco Polo"; there were two adults paddling in the deep water area. There is no place to practice breaststroke yet. James pushed his son: "Go in and play with everyone first, and wait for the pool to be empty."
"Do you have to go?" Nath fiddled with the edge of the towel. Among those kids, he knew Jack. It had only been a month since Jack's family had moved down the street. Although Nath had not yet begun to dislike Jack, he already felt that they would not be friends. Seven-year-old Jack is tall, thin, freckled, bold and arrogant. James was insensitive to the atmosphere among children. His son's shyness and hesitation irritated him. The confident young man in his mind suddenly shrank into a nervous little boy, thin, short, and shrinking like a hunchback. . As much as he hated to admit it, Nath—that little guy with his legs twisted and one foot in front of the other—reminded him of when he was that big.
"We're here to swim," James said. "Mrs. Allen is watching your sister so you can learn the breaststroke, Nass. Don't waste everyone's time." He yanked the towel from his son's hand and led him resolutely. He walked to the edge of the pool and pressed against his son until he slipped into the water. He then sat down on the open space by the pool and pushed aside the fins and goggles that others had thrown there. Good for him, James thought. He needs to learn how to make friends.
Ness and other children swam around a girl who was playing tag with her eyes closed. He tiptoed in the water to keep his head above water. It took James a few minutes to recognize Jack, and he was suddenly filled with jealous envy. Jack swam very well, with calm and confident posture and graceful movements, making him very conspicuous among the children. He must have come here on his own, James thought; in the spring Vivian Allen had been gossiping about little things about Janet Woolf, like her going to work in the hospital and leaving Jack alone at home. Maybe we could drive him home, James thought, and he could play at our house before his mother got off work. He will become a good friend and an ideal role model for Ness. He even imagined Nath and Jack being inseparable, playing on the tire swing in the backyard and riding their bikes in the street. When James was in school, he was too embarrassed to invite his classmates to play at home, for fear that they would recognize his mother as a kitchen helper in the cafeteria, or find out that his father was a cleaner cleaning the corridors. Moreover, their house does not have a yard. Maybe they could pretend to be pirates, with Jack as captain and Nath as first mate. You can also play as the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff, Batman and Robin, and so on.
When James came to his senses, he found that Nath had become a "catcher". But something was wrong. The other children all swam to the edge of the pool. They emerged from the water one after another holding back their laughter and climbed to the shore. Nass closed his eyes, floating in the middle of the pool and turning in small circles, his hands exploring the water. James heard him say, "Marco. Marco."
"Polo!" cried the other children, and they circled the shallow water, dipping their hands into the water, and following the sound of the water, Nath moved from one side to the other. "Marco. Marco." There was a plaintive tone in his voice.
This was nothing personal, James told himself. That's how they've always played; they were just playing games. Just messing around. It's none of Nath's business.
Then, an older girl—perhaps eleven or twelve years old—shouted, "The Chinamen can't find China!" The other children laughed. James' heart sank suddenly. Ness stopped moving in the pool, his arms floating on the water, and he didn't know whether to continue. He opened a hand and then silently squeezed it.
At the pool, his father didn't know what to do: drive the children back into the water? Expose their conspiracy? Or tell your son it’s time to go home? Then Ness would open his eyes and find he was alone in the water. The smell of chlorine in the swimming pool eroded James's nasal passages, which was very uncomfortable. At this time, he saw a vague figure sliding silently into the water at the other end of the pool, swimming towards Ness, and a light brown head emerged from the water: Jack.
"Poirot," Jack called. His voice echoed on the tiled walls: "Polo. Polo. Polo." Ness breathed a sigh of relief and swooped in the direction of the sound, a little dizzy. Jack did not move, treading water and waiting. Until Nath grabbed his shoulder. At that moment, James saw pure joy flash across his son's face, and the annoyed expression disappeared.
Nath opened his eyes, and his proud look disappeared immediately. He saw other children squatting by the pool and laughing at him. Only Jack was in front of him in the pool, grinning at him. Nath thought it was a sarcastic smile: just teasing you. He pushed Jack aside, dived into the water, swam to the edge of the pool in one breath, and walked straight to the shore toward the door. He didn't shake off the water on his body, and didn't even wipe the water from his eyes. He just let it flow down his cheeks. It flowed down, so James couldn't tell whether he was crying or not.
Ness said nothing in the locker room, refusing to put on clothes or shoes. The third time James handed over his pants, Ness kicked the locker so hard that a dent appeared in it. James glanced back and saw Jack peering in through the crack in the door from the pool area. He thought Jack might want to say something, maybe an apology, but the kid just stood there in silence and stared at them. Nath didn't see Jack at all and walked straight into the hall, James gathering their things and following behind, the door closing automatically behind them.
He wanted to take his son into his arms and tell him that he understood how he felt. Although nearly thirty years have passed, he still remembers Lloyd's gym class. One time when he was changing clothes, when he finished dealing with the shirt that was difficult to wear, he found that the pants on the bench were missing. Others had already dressed and stuffed their physical education uniforms and sneakers back into the cupboard. James had to tiptoe back to the gym, use his backpack to cover his exposed legs, and look for the physical education teacher, Mr. Child. At this time, the bell rang and there was no one in the locker room. Ten minutes later, in his underwear, he finally found Child. It turned out that his trousers had been knotted and tied to the water pipe under the sink, and there were a few balls of gray on the trousers. "Maybe it got mixed up with other people's things," Mr. Child said. "Go to class quickly, Lee, you're going to be late." James knew that this was no accident. Since then, he has developed the habit of putting on pants first and shirt second. He never mentioned this incident to anyone, but it was always vivid in his memory.
Therefore, he wanted to tell Nath that he understood his feelings: the humiliation of being teased, the frustration of not being able to fit in with others. At the same time, he wanted to shake his son, slap him, force him to become a different person. Later, when Ness was too thin to join the football team, too short to play basketball, and too stupid to play baseball, and could only rely on reading, studying maps, and playing with telescopes to make friends, James would Thinking back to what happened that afternoon at the swimming pool. This was the son's first disappointment and the first and most painful blow to his father's dream.
Still, that afternoon he allowed Nath to run back to his room and slam the door behind him. At dinner, he knocked on the door with Salisbury beef patties, but Nath didn't answer. After going downstairs, James agreed to sit on the sofa with Lydia in his arms and watch "The Jackie Gleason Show" with her. What could he say to comfort his son? "Things will get better?" He didn't want to lie. Just forget about it. On Sunday morning, Marilyn came home and found Nath sitting glumly at the breakfast table. James waved his hand and explained briefly: "A group of kids teased him in the swimming pool yesterday. He needs to learn to accept the jokes."
Nath stared at his father angrily, but James was so focused on recalling the taunt, "The Chinaman can't find China," that he didn't notice his son's gaze, nor did Marilyn, who was busy placing bowls and cereal boxes on the table. on the table. The indignant Ness finally broke the silence, "I want boiled eggs." He demanded forcefully. However, to everyone's surprise, Marilyn started crying after hearing this, and in the end, they had to accept the cereal obediently.
But the whole family understood that Marilyn had changed and she was in a bad mood all day. At dinner, while everyone wanted roast chicken, mincemeat, or stew—fed up with heated food and wanted real meals—Marilyn opened a can of chicken soup and a can of round pasta.
The next morning, after the children had gone to school, Marilyn took out a note from the dresser drawer. Tom Lawson's phone number was still on it. The black writing was dazzling against the pale blue college paper.
"Tom?" The other party answered the phone, and Marilyn said, "Dr. Lawson, this is Marilyn Lee." Seeing that the other party didn't respond, she added, "James Lee's wife, we met at the Christmas party , we talked about me going to your laboratory."
There was silence for a moment, and then Marilyn was surprised to hear laughter. "A few months ago, I hired an undergrad," Tom Lawson said with a smile. "I didn't know you were serious because you had kids and a husband to take care of."
Marilyn hung up the phone without asking any more questions. She stood by the phone for a long time, looking out the kitchen window. There is no longer a feeling of spring outside, the wind is dry and hard, and the rising temperature makes the daffodils in the yard lower their heads. The stems are broken and lying listlessly, and the yellow petals have withered. Marilyn wiped the table, got the newspaper and started doing the crossword puzzle, trying to forget Tom Lawson's amused tone. The newspaper was stuck to the damp wooden tabletop, and when she wrote the first answer, the tip of her pen penetrated the paper, leaving a blue "A" on the table.