Pool Hopping

Pool Hopping

1973

The car rocked because they were dancing around. They searched in the debris and scattered tapes in the back of the car but by the time they found the Carol King tape we were driving up to the house.  Annie had pointed it out as we came up the hill on the last turn before the school.  It was a kind of farmhouse across from Tilden Lane by the junior high school.

“Oh yeah, yeah this is it,” she said.  Pull up down past the house.”

“Kill the lights, man.”

“This is all their property. Keep going down the hill aways, away from the house.”

“OK.”

“Oh shit.  Are we really going to do this?”

“Moe, you been pool hopping before, right?”

“Yeah.  But not co-ed I haven’t.”

“Quiet now man.  Got to be quiet now.”

The car moved slowly along the side of the road and then rolled to a stop.  We  eased out of the car and into the night. 

“It’s kind of cooled down,”  Rosen said.

“WHISPER!”  Annie whispered.

Rosen closed his door with a click.  Sammie was the last one out.  She swung the door closed behind her and it banged shut.

“Holy shit Sammie.”

“Whoops.”

We were across the street from the junior high, a big brick building up above us on a hill with a few square windows lit here and there.  Down the street a little ways was the suburbs.  It was like this old farmhouse had been left from another time.

“Come on,” Annie said. 

She was ahead of us at a gate in the hedge.  She disappeared into the field.

“Hurry up,” Sammie said.

She skipped softly to the gate.  She didn’t want to be apart from her friend.  Then we were all walking through the tall grass of the field.  We were kind of high stepping, walking carefully on the clumps and uneven ground.  You could smell cow manure, or horse manure, or something.

“Watch your step.”

“Where the fuck is the pool.”

“Up this way.  By the house.”

“Oh shit, man.”

Up ahead were a few black silhouettes of tall trees and past them the roof of the house.  We were getting closer, walking up a little hill.  Sammie lit a joint and passed it to Annie.  They both giggled.  I watched Annie take a hit and the red end of the joint brighten up.  I could have used a beer, but I’d had enough pot, man.  It made me too nervous. But then of course I had to at least fake a small hit, just to be part of what was happening.

I was wondering if I should put my arm around Sammie, or hold her hand or anything after what she’d told me. We stood shoulder to shoulder, almost touching, then very gently touching, leaning against each other in out little pot smoking circle in the night field. I wanted to kiss her all the same.  I didn’t want to think about her and Tim fucking Grey.  A horse whinnied off in the distance and we froze for a second, listening.

“It’s OK. Here.”

“There’s a little left. Finish it.

“Dig it.”

“Don’t bogart.”

“No man.”

The pool was just past the tall trees.  It was a beautiful blue circle glowing with light from within.  You could hear the pump humming and water circulating.  Annie was stepping out of her skirt by the trunk of one of the trees.  Then Sammie joined her, bending to pull off a sneaker, holding herself up with one hand on the tree.

Rosen and I looked at each other and then kind of nodded and started getting undressed.  And then they there were, the two naked girls, holding hands, shivering a little in the moonlight.  They tippy-toed on the stone patio and then sat down on the edge of the pool.  I thought I probably shouldn’t look at Annie, but I did.  Shit she did have pretty big breasts.  The two girls eased down into the water.  We were right behind them.  We sat on the edge and then dropped into the water.  You knew you couldn’t dawdle and decide if the water was too cold or not. 

The water was about waist deep at this end.  At first I just walked around with my hands up.  The water was pretty cool. But after a minute the water seemed warmer than the air.

“Come on you big sissy,” Sammy said to me.

She was whispering but her voice still seemed loud.  I dropped all the way under water, out of the sounds of the night, and swam over toward her bare legs.  I popped up right in front of her and she gave a little cry. 

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” she said.

Her wet hair was plastered to her head and it made her smile look bigger. Annie had swum to the deep end of the pool and Rosen was moving that way, too, stroking gently along the surface down by the diving board.

“I have something to say to you,” I told Sammie.

“What’s that?”

“It’s very important.”

“Oh, I bet.”

 We were holding hands now, circling, treading water.

“You bummed me out Sammie.  What you said before.  About you hanging out with Tim Grey.”

“It’s only once in a while,” she goes. “I’m sorry.”

“Really.  I mean it.”

“I know.  I’m really sorry, too.  I don’t know why I do the things I do sometimes.”

“Ok.  Then you have to do this one thing for me.”

“Oh I could guess what that would be.”

“Really.  Just one small favor.”

We hugged a bit.  Our bodies moved against each other in the water.”

“What is it honey?”

“Don’t let Rosen see you naked.”

“What?!”

“Really.”

“Are you kidding, Moe? It’s a little late.”

“I am kidding,” I said. “But I’m not kidding.”

She swam away from me, kicking up white bubbles.  For a minute there we started forgetting where we were.  I floated on my back looking up at the stars while everyone paddled around and giggled like little kids or disappeared under water with a plop.  Rosen was doing that thing where you make a fist and water squirts out.  He shot a spurt at Annie and she splashed him back.

“I’m going to call you Ragtime Annie from now on,” Rosen said.

“Whatever turns you on,” she said.

We were all just floating around smiling.  It was one of those times you know something pretty cool is happening and you even have a vague idea that you should make an extra effort to try to remember.  But you don’t, man, do you?  It fades into everything else that happens. All the day to day shit that crowds in, all the hours of work and school and boredom.  Although sometimes it surprises you and comes back, on its own, when you’re thinking about something else.

The traditional way to end a pool hop is with a cannon ball.  At least that’s the traditional way in Centerport, New York.  I thought we could have stayed a little longer.  All the other shit that had happened that night was being washed out of my head. But I could see Annie and Sammie were conspiring down by the diving board and then I watched as their two white asses climbed the ladder and then came running, one right after the other, off the board.

“GERONIMO!”

“GERONIMO!”

They both held their knees cannon ball style and came splashing in sending water up into the air and onto the patio.

“Fuck,” Rosen said. “Now we’re done.”

We waited, listening.  All you heard was the waves moving around, sloshing against the sides of the pool, and the hum of the pump.  A breeze was moving the leaves and branches above us.

“Well, what the fuck,” Rosen said.

So we followed suit, running with our hands over our dicks, I’m not sure why, since they’d already had a good look, then bouncing hard on the diving board, springing up, one after the other, and then coming down into the water.  Under water was all white bubbles.  When I surfaced I could hear screaming from the house.

“TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY!”

It was an older man shouting and man was he pissed. Lights went on in the house.  You could hear a dog barking. Well, we were all moving and moving fast, pretty much instantly, man. We all just had to stop long enough to grab our clothes on the fly.  Then we were bounding across the field with our shirts and pants rolled under our arms or waving in the air like scarves behind. I was basically scared shit, stumbling, trying to run faster than I could. In front of me were the naked bodies of my friends, running and falling. I was last in line. Any thought of being quiet was pretty much out.  It was all pretty much just nervous laughter and panic, man.

“Shit, hurry up!”

“Are they coming?”

“Don’t turn around.”

Then Sammie my darling turned and grabbed me. I kind of slammed into her and she had to go on one foot off balance, holding me up.  We were almost to the gate.  She held my two arms, shaking them.

“I dropped my shoe,”

“You’re kidding?”

“No. You have to go back for it.”

“Fuck Sammie!”

“It’s my peace shoe.  Please! You have to go get it.  My peace sneaker.”

She was really desperate for that fucking shoe.  I ran back and just out of dumb luck found the white sneaker sitting in the grass in the moonlight.  Then I booked it back to the car. We stood in a circle with our backs to each other as the dog howled in the distance and got our clothes back on quick. Then we flew out of there safe and sound.  We’d made it.

I was in the back seat with Sammie and we cuddled and kissed.  It was something that was going to happen weather we thought about it or not.  Know what I mean?  We moved together.  It was the most normal thing in the world.  We came together without thinking about it.  We both were sort of humming or moaning as we kissed.  Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Sounds we didn’t mean to make came out of us on their own.  We were just kissing and hugging, that was all. I even started crying a little as we were kissing and she whispered, “poor boy.”  It was because I really liked her a lot and it seemed like we could do stuff together and see what would happen, except she really didn’t like me as much as I liked her.

                                   

                                                            *

                                                           

After that we got them dropped off OK.  Annie was staying at Sammie’s house since Sammie’s dad was basically out of it and wouldn’t have any idea where they were or how late they stayed out.  His big thing was Sammie, don’t have sex with kids in my bed.  To me that seemed a fair enough request.  Other than that, it was like, see you around.  You’re on your own.  He had his own problems, I guess.

Annie and Sammie waved to us and then turned and walked up the driveway talking and comparing notes and laughing.  We watched them as they went up the steps and into the house.  Then the light went on inside and we drove off.

“Holy shit,” Rosen said.  “Annie really does have some major serious bazooms.”

“You know what, man,” I said.  “She really does.”

“I was on those things in the pool, man.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes.  I’m a very happy individual right now.”

“Rosen, I’m happy for you,” I said.  I really meant it, too.  When it’s all said and done that was something to be happy about out of the whole fucking long night, wasn’t it?

“She’s going to hang out with me tomorrow night maybe.”

“Cool.”

“Hey Moe, man.  Want to do a bun run up at the stores?  I think they delivered the morning rolls and bread by now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. They leave those big paper bags of rolls and shit against the door at the deli.  We could just go grab a few rolls or something.”

“Yeah I know, but I’m just beat, man.  I got to work tomorrow. In a few hours, actually.  I’m just wasted.’

“I’ll drop you home my main man,” Rosen said.

When he pulled the Corvair up in front of my house he reached over and patted me on the shoulder.  I reached over and patted him back.

                                                            *

I stood out on the lawn for a minute after he drove off.  My clothes were a little sticky from being wet.  My head hurt, kind of, from being punched.  And my soul, man, you know, what can you say.  The moon was gone from the sky, but the stars were really clear. The train whistle blew up in Greenlawn. Some kind of bugs were whizzing up in the trees.  They’d whizz and buzz and then stop. Under the stars, at the end of the night, I stood looking up into space thinking about Sammie.  I felt a chill come to me from across the universe, from outer space, it spiraled all the way down to our little patch of grass on Buchanan Street.  I knew what it was, too, man.  It was the Sand City Blues.

            My mother kind of popped up when I walked into the kitchen.  She’d had her head down on the table next to the open Bible and an ashtray with cigarette butts and an empty glass.  She looked up with droopy eyelids.  At first she stared, getting her bearings, trying to wake up.  She needed a minute to remember who she was and who I was.

“Oh, finally,” she said.

“Hey Ma.”

“It’s so late Kevin.”

“No it’s Jack, Ma.”

“Oh, I know.”

“Why don’t you go on up to bed?”

“I am.  I’m just finishing this one passage from the Bible.  It’s the word of God. Truly.  Really.  Isn’t that wonderful, Jack?”

Her voice was pretty thick and slow from drinking. Her head waved a bit, like a flower that was too heavy for the stem.  She had to catch herself from nodding off again.

“Come on, Ma,” I said.  I held out my hand.

“I’m coming.”

She got up and held the back of the chair.  She fixed her eyes on me.

“Do you kids have any idea how much we love you?  You don’t. Because you can’t possibly know.”

“Time for bed Ma.”

“You kids are so wonderful.  You kids are our lives.  Do you understand that?”

I got hold of her hand and tried to lead her to the stairs, but she pulled her hand free.

“I’m fine,” she said, slurring the words.  “Your father’s home from that rotten night job.  He likes night jobs so he doesn’t have to be home.  Didn’t you know that?”

“OK. OK.”

“It’s always make due, though, Jack.  Jack, I’m worried sick about Kevin.  They won’t send him to that war, will they?”

“No, Ma.  They won’t send him.  Don’t worry.”

“Tell me they won’t send him over there to Viet Nam.”

“I just told you.  They won’t send him.”

She steadied herself on the counter and started making her way to the stairs.  She stopped at the sink and started cleaning glasses the kids had left.  She couldn’t help herself, it was instinctual, man,  she could wash dishes in her sleep.

“Ma,” I said.  “Go up.”

“I am.  I am Jack.  I was waiting up for you.”

“I know.”

“Jack, what’s on your shirt?”

“Just catsup got spilled.”

“Honey?”

“Yeah, Ma?”

“Promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“That you won’t ever move into the city?”

“What?  What are you talking about?”

“Don’t ever move into New York. OK?  Terrible things happen there.”

She made her way toward the stairs, using the walls for balance.

“OK. Sure Ma.  Now good night.”

“Good night honey.”