The Loves of a Summer Lifeguard

"What great news, babe?" she asked.

"I can get you on as a summer intern here in the lab. Isn't that great? You could be counting the same fish I'm counting. We could compare notes. It'll look great on your transcript."

"Dennis, you remember, don't you, that I've applied for a job for the summer. One that pays real money. How much does this internship pay, anyway?"

"Pay? We can't afford to pay interns. Plus, you can't imagine how many applicants we have for this position. I was lucky to be able to get them to offer the internship to you. Come on. What do you say?"

"Can I think about it, Dennis?"

"Well, not for very long. This is a big opportunity. We're working on exciting genetic coding of some of the species. We're making them only produce male offspring for three generations. Imagine that! Long enough to thin out the overpopulation where they are unwanted without killing them, but not enough to make them extinct. It gives me chills just thinking about it. Doesn't it give you chills?"

Brooke forced a smile.

"Yeah, chills."

Bubbles from the aerator popped on the surface of the tanks. Brooke felt swallowed up in the steady hum of the motors driving the equipment in the tank. The air was redolent with fish. She couldn't see the ceiling of the lab, because the lights were so dim. She couldn't imagine spending a summer locked up in this dark, smelly dungeon. But how to tell Dennis?

"Could we talk?" she said again.

"Sure. Any time. Could we do it later?"

"Dennis, I have a job back home this summer. I won't be able to take the internship. I appreciate the offer, I really, really do, but I need to get back home."

"But what about our summer?" Dennis said. "You're the bait that keeps me striking. You're the most beautiful lure I could imagine. Can you really stay out of the pond an entire summer?"

"I'm not leaving yet. I still have final exams. But then, yes. I'm going back to earn some money. I don't have a grant like you do, or teaching assistant positions. We'll be together this week, though. Okay?"

"This is kind of a bad week. Spawning season has been induced. That's the reason for the counts right now. But don't worry. I'll make time for you. Can you text me some times when you're free, and I'll choose as many of those times as I can to be with you?"

Brooke agreed, finally got a quick hug from Dennis before he scurried back to his clipboard. She trudged back to her dorm room, where her roommate Dolly was studying. Dolly had brought her some nachos from the cafeteria.

"You have to eat something," Dolly said. "Oh, and your study group called. They wondered if you'd be available to study at the lake before finals."

Brooke thanked her, then sat on the bed again, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"All right, come on, girl. It can't be that bad. You've got to get straight if you want to ace those finals. Did you see Dennis? How are you love birds?"

Dolly brought a small smile to Brooke's face. She thanked her again for the nachos and ate a few, thinking she knew why she'd gained a few pounds this school year.

"Now tell Dolly what's the matter. Get it off your mind, and we can both go back to studying."

"Well," Brooke began, "Dennis is so wrapped up in his studies that he hardly notices whether I'm here or gone. I'm crazy for the tall, skinny chump, but all he sees are fish. He wanted me to stay here for an unpaid internship. I told him I have the job as a lifeguard back home."

"You do?" Dolly clapped her hands. "That's what you wanted, right. Congrats, girl. No wonder you turned down that internship. I mean, there is love, and taking steps to pad your academic record, and then there is money. Right now, I can see why you choose the money."

Brooke also had Tyler's condition in mind. She needed to know what happened to him, and that he was alright. Once the summer was over, she was sure she would be able to return to college and to Dennis with no other distractions from back home.

"Uh, say, Brooke. I was thinking. Do you mind if I talk to Dennis about that fish job? I could use the padding on my resumé."

"Have you seen what a pit that lab is? Are you sure you could stand being shut up there all summer?"

Dolly shrugged her shoulders.

"That lab is doing ground-breaking work. Genetics and species husbandry to humanely control population. Dennis will probably win the Nobel prize."

"Yeah, but have you smelled that lab?"

Dolly and Brooke both starting laughing, and didn't stop until Brooke rolled off the side of her bed.

As one of the six new lifeguards, Brooke was assigned to show up a week before the opening of the pool for HR training and to help with maintenance work. The HR material seemed only common sense, but just to be sure there were no misunderstandings, the most basic interactions with the public, the patrons, and with other employees, were covered. At least everyone would be starting from a mutual understanding of boundaries.

Maintenance work around the pool was also necessary. It was not just to make everything look nice, but also to assure the safety of the area. The pool bottom was vacuumed again, the lounging boards were repainted, flags were strung along tall posts and the tops of the chain link fence, and safety equipment was checked and rechecked.

It made for a great way to meet all the other lifeguards. Brooke was surprised to learn that all six new lifeguards this year were female, until the new head lifeguard was announced. Rowan had finally gotten his wish. The place was his now, and he strutted like a king around his domain, or a barker at a carousel.

She hadn't seen Tyler around, and whenever she asked about him, she was told he was recuperating. Because of his injury and the cast he was wearing, he had to give up his position as head lifeguard, opening the way for smiling, preening Rowan. It was a tough break, but life is like that, she thought.

The day before the pool opened, which turned out to be an unseasonably cold day, the new guards would be receiving their official guard swimsuits, visors, sunglasses, and their silver whistles in a closed ceremony at the pool. But before they did, Rowan wanted the new guards to inflate around a hundred beach balls. They had to inflate them by blowing into them, which proved to be a more exhausting task than she had expected. It took most of the afternoon, but the result was a colorful, bouncy, cheerful bunch of plastic globes. Some floated on the pool surface, others tumbled slowly across the bone-white deck. The loud speaker for the place played appropriately up-beat music, including the old standbys, 99 Luftballons, and Up, Up, and Away. By the end, the guards were tired, chilled by the cool weather, but happy and expecting their new uniforms.

Rowan blew his whistle to get their attention. Then he held boxes of the stuff to be distributed.

"But first," he said. "Everybody into the showers. You don't want to wear new suits on sweaty bodies, do you?"

Brooke looked around. None of the other new lifeguards were perspiring either, but the showers would help her warm up today. Inside the blue cement block shower room, steam arose. It was a single large room, with only the rising steam separating the women one from the other. The hiss of the water and the slaps of lathered soap on thighs and torsos continued until the girls got the giggles. Brooke saw that the girls were all very pretty, and very curvaceous, with the exception of herself and one thin, wiry girl with auburn hair, who also wasn't giggling. It was Rue, who when she was not lifeguarding, was trying to land as a dancer with a stage company. Her body was slim, but each movement she made caused muscles to ripple beneath her veneer of skin.

The experienced women lifeguards crowded the shower entrance to the ladies' locker room. They wore their lifeguard swimsuit, with shiny silver whistle dangling between their breasts. They began to clap rhythmically. The newbies under the showers turned their attention to the clapping group.

Suddenly from the other shower room entrance that led to the pool, the rest of the lifeguards, all male, streamed in, cheering. Rowan, wearing a large wolfish grin, and pointing his cell phone to take pictures, forced himself to the front. The new women hires, all nude, turned away, covered themselves, and sounded an embarrassed scream. Rue, the dancer, crouched on the floor of the shower, her arms about her.

Rowan held up the suits, visors, sunglasses, and whistles for the new girls.

"Okay," Rowan said. "I'll call your name, and you can come up and get your new uniform."

Brooke was no prude, and had even been skinny-dipping at college for the first time just a few weeks earlier. Dennis hadn't been able to make it, but it had all been innocent fun in the sun. Somehow, today's antics didn't seem so innocent. The other girls seemed to be making the best of the matter, smiling through their embarrassment. Rue, though, still huddled on the floor.

"Brooke!" Rowan called. "Come get your whistle, Chubs."

Brooke, hunched over, sidled to Rowan, and grabbed the whistle.

"Give me my suit. Now, Rowan," she said.

"Not so fast, Chubs, keep your pants on. Oops, my bad. Just go back to the shower, Tubby."

Brooke seethed at the taunting. The male guards roared with laughter, although the women's contingent was not quite as amused. Rowan snapped a few more shots. Brooke draped the whistle around her neck, where it dangled between her freckled breasts.

"Rue!" Rowan called next. "Rue, come up here. Time to get your whistle."

Rue stayed hunched on the floor.

Rowan splashed through the running water, and grabbed her arm. He tried to pull her to a standing position while she hid her face in embarrassment.

"You want your whistle, don't you?" he said. He tried to loop it around her, but she shook her head.

The whistles for the other four women went more smoothly. They were comfortable with their nudity, and thought this was a prank in extremely bad taste. Still, they were young, fit, and used to being stared at. There wasn't much difference between being nude and wearing a bikini, anyway.

Then the clapping and cat-calls suddenly stopped. The only sound was the whisper hiss of the showers. All eyes turned to the exterior entry, where Tyler stood, his shoulders hunched in anger, a raven lock of hair over one eye. There was a large white cast on his right foot with a rubberized block on his heel and he leaned on a wooden cane.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"Initiation, dude," said Rowan. "It's not your crew any more, so you can leave at any time, Tyler."

"Out!" Tyler shouted to the experienced lifeguards. They hustled out until there was only the new guards left, wearing nothing but their silver whistles, and Rowan. He had the audacity to snap a few additional photos with his phone.

"Give me the camera, Rowan," Tyler said.

"That ain't going to happen. Private property. You aren't strong enough to take it from me, and no cop is going to help you take it from me."

"They will when they know you were taking lewd, lascivious, and inappropriate pictures, Rowan."

"Ha! Everybody gave permission! It was implied maybe, but it was permission."

"Let's see what the police say."

"Tell it to the judge," Rowan said, smirking. From the look on his face, Brooke knew he was thinking of his father, the chief judge.

"I never gave my permission. Wait until he hears you were taking nude photographs of me and some other young boys."

The color drained out of Rowan's face. "I didn't. I...I...I wouldn't."

"Maybe so, maybe not. The police would have to check to be sure. Just turn over the phone. I'll delete the photos and then you can have the phone back."

The six women were huddled, their backs to the two men, but looking over their shoulders. Brooke went to the far end of the room where towels had been hung, collected towels for the six women, and distributed them.

"Now, Rowan," Tyler said. He limped closer to Rowan, although he risked getting his cast wet from the misting showers.

Rowan shook his head, but gave the phone to Tyler. It took Tyler less than a minute to clear and delete all the photos, and to check that nothing had been uploaded to the cloud. He walked past Rowan to the shower room's pool side opening.

"My phone, dude. Give me my phone!" Rowan stretched out his arms, futilely scrambling for the phone.

Tyler hurled it into the deep end of the pool, under the three meter board. It bounced off a beach ball in the deep end, then sank with a "plop." The pool was more than twelve feet deep beneath that board.

"What are you doing, dude?"

"Oops," said Tyler.

The lifeguard suits were left in the shower room, and Brooke distributed them to the five other women. They all squirmed into them. They may have been uncomfortable because the suits seemed a bit too small, but less uncomfortable than being stared at because they were nude. Rue, a few inches taller and many pounds lighter than Brooke, approached Brooke and hugged her.

"Thank you," Rue told Brooke. "Let's find Tyler. He was the one we should thank."

"I'm surprised he is still here," Brooke said. "I didn't think he was still a guard."

"He's not," Rue said. "Archie, the manager, didn't want to lose him though, so he offered him another position. Head concessioner."

Brooke broke out laughing, because it seemed ludicrous that the best swim coach and lifeguard she knew was hawking candy bars, pop corn, and soda pop.

"He needed the job this summer. He teaches during the school year. Who else would hire a guy with a big old cast on his leg? It's only for this summer, after all. Oh, look. There he is. Tyler!"

Tyler was sweeping the rest area in front of the concession area. He leaned on the broom waiting for Rue and Brooke to approach.

"Hi, Rue. Brooke. Are you both alright?"

"We are now," Rue said. "Thanks for saving us from that pervert. Do you think we should report what happened to Archie Locke? It doesn't seem right."

Tyler shook his head. "Archie will listen sympathetically, then forget all about it. You'll have to file suit if you really want to change things, but you'll have to sue the entire Park District, Archie Locke, and probably dozens more, and who knows if you'll ever really make Rowan accountable."

"I suppose we could quit," Rue said.

"Oh, no. I need this job," Brooke said. "Otherwise, I have to spend the summer as an unpaid intern in a fish laboratory."

Tyler smiled. "So, how is Dennis?"

Brooke blushed. "He's dedicated. Unfortunately, it's to his fish, not to me. But I've never met the perfect man yet. Have you, Rue?"

She laughed in response. Then, she shrugged and hugged Tyler.

"Tyler comes close, but he's taken. I have to get going. See you tomorrow, Brooke. It's got to be a better day than today. When are you getting your cast off, Tyler?"

Tyler shrugged. "Well, I'm making them take it off tonight. I'm ready for physical therapy."

"What? Are you crazy?" Rue said.

"Physical therapy in the pool. I'm going to be here most of the time anyway. I might as well make things work for me."

Rue hugged him again, and even gave Brooke a short hug. Then she ran, with the grace of a gazelle, to the parking lot.

"She's my cousin," Tyler said. "On my mother's side."

"She seems nice." Brooke walked with him to the lot. There was no motorcycle. Instead, Tyler had a beat-up Honda even smaller than Brooke's car.

"It's a loaner," he said. "The bike is not quite totaled, but it needs some serious repairs."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, right? You'll be at the concession?"

"Well sure. But I'll be here very early for PT. You know, if you like, you can join me. I know it's probably unPC for me to say, but as your swim coach from last year, I can help you get back that seal-like body I remember from last summer. No offense."

"You're lucky you have a cast, or I'd bust you one. But I understand. You're right. Okay. I'll meet you tomorrow early for our first PT session. That assumes you do get that cast off, okay?"

"Oh, I'll get it off. I'll see you tomorrow."

Brooke paused before leaving. Then she gathered up the courage to ask, "How's Cat?"

Tyler grew silent, and his shoulders sagged a little. He pasted a small smile on his face before answering.

"She and I are taking a little break. It makes sense. I'm not much of a date right now anyway. She got some new tats on her arm that have to heal. I liked her better without them."

Brooke wanted to hug Tyler immediately and console him. Did he know what a bitch Cat was? Did he know what a slut she was? Why did the nice guys always choose the worst girlfriends? Probably because they were the easiest to get, but that's another story.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ty. I hope you guys work it out."

He shrugged again.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Brooke. Don't be late."

As he left, limping on the awkward cast with the rubberized block heel, Brooke couldn't help but smile after him.

It was still cold the next morning when Tyler and Brooke met for physical therapy. His cast was off, and his leg looked awful. The stitches were healed, but still purple, and the surrounding skin was alabaster. Scars from torn skin where bones had protruded showed hot pink and corrugated. Tyler pointed to the injury when he saw Brooke staring.

"I guess I'm not perfect any more." He shrugged his shoulders.

Brooke forced a smile onto her face.

"Are you sure you should be exposing that to the pool water? You don't need an infection."

"No problem. The water's chlorinated." Then he jumped straight up and entered the water feet first. He bobbed up sputtering and shivering. His teeth chattered.

"C-c-come on in," he said, his arms wrapped around his chest. "The w-w-water's f-f-fine."

Brooke doubted that the water was fine, but she sloughed off her jacket. She wore the black suit she had tested in, since it was big enough to hide her extra pounds. She clasped her hands over her head, arced her body forward and executed a smooth dive into the water.

"Oh, my God!" she screamed. "It's freezing!"

"Ten lengths, swimmer. Now!"

Brooke didn't question; she started swimming. Her activity warmed her, and after the fifth length, the water felt refreshingly comfortable. Tyler stayed at the shallower end of the bottom of the pool's L, doing his PT, batting away the colorful beach balls still floating on the water. He walked forward and back, he walked to the side. He did leg lifts, marching, and walking backward. He must have done one hundred squats in the water.

They both exercised for an hour. Brooke felt like going longer, but she could see that Tyler was tiring. Not bad effort for a first day, but time for a break.

"I need a break, Tyler," she said.

He nodded, and edged himself onto the lip of the pool. He was panting to regain his breath. Even now, he used his seated position to kick his knees straight alternatively.

"Slow down, killer," Brooke said. "Remember what you taught us: It's not the activity that improves you, it's the rest period following. I think I need a rest. Don't you?"

Tyler smiled. He knew what she was doing — taking the heat herself to help him recuperate.

"Yeah," he said. "We should rest."

Brooke swam to him, and edged out of the pool next to him. She lay on her back, her arms outstretched.

"Don't be afraid to wear your lifeguard suit tomorrow, Brooke. I won't mind."

"I don't want to wear it out. It has to last the entire summer, you know." Really, Brooke had the same problem with the suit that the other girls did. Rowan must have ordered them at least a size too small. The cut on the legs was very high, exposing the inner thigh and a good slice of each buttock. The front was scooped a little deeply. There was a constant display of cleavage, and the lifeguards had to be careful not to tip too far forward for fear of unleashing one or both breasts.