Meredith sat on a torn faux leather chair in the small bullet-proof staff office of the youth development center. She tapped her toe on the floor and propelled herself around in slow circles, clutching her swimsuit and taking time to look out the large clear wall-like windows into the corridors beyond. She caught spinning glimpses of staff rushing about, pausing to share a word or read a posted notice.  Colorful posters with big, bright words, “Respect!” and “Believe in You!” whirled like vertical rainbows over the painted pale yellow brick walls. Blurs of color spin, spinning by.
Sharp rapid knocking reverberated through the room and startled Meredith from her colorful observations. She dragged her heels around the chair and came to rest facing the small window cut into the top third of the heavy door. Her grandfather stood, peering through the window, stooped and grinning. He tapped his watch and held up his open hand, mouthing, “five minutes” before pointing toward the stairs. Meredith nodded her understanding and waved enthusiastically. When her grandfather withdrew from the door, she stuck her head through the shoulder straps of her swimsuit, letting it hang to her lap, before resuming her spinning. She saw a blur of her grandfather’s tall figure springing up the industrial stairs two at a time.
Meredith counted to sixty. She counted again and once more before halting the chair and tap, tap, tapped her toes on the floor. A line of teenage girls bounded down the stairs and lined up outside the office door. Meredith recognized Dawna, a friend of her grandfather who, like he, was one of the counselors at the center. As she called out the girl’s names she walked along the line, marking the paper on her clipboard as she did so. When she completed her list, Dawna glanced into the office and smiled before walking to the door.
“Hello, sweet girl. I heard a rumor you’re joining us today.” She said as she opened the door. Dawna laughed as she nodded toward the swimsuit. “It is swim day after all.” She laughed again.  “I see you’re ready to go?” Meredith nodded and stood up, reaching for her duffel bag as she did so. “Well, you’re growin’ like a weed.” Dawna said as she bent toward the small girl, holding out a solitary arm provide a quick half-hug while keeping her eyes on the line of teenagers shuffling in the hall.
Meredith followed her out of the office and wiggled her fingers in greeting to the girls she recognized as she took her assigned spot on the blue plastic chair near the door. Dawna stood at an angle facing the line and began to recite the rules. Meredith had memorized the rules and she tapped her toes together in unison with Dawna’s words. “You have all earned the privilege to swim today.” With each emphasized word Meredith held her big toes together and flexed her ankles to the sky like she did while stretching in ballet class. “You will walk to the recreation building in an orderly fashion with Frank and Tanya. You will have one hour in the pool. I will meet you at the end of one hour to escort you to the locker room where you will have fifteenminutes to shower and change.” Meredith could never understand why Dawna thought it was important to specify shower. What else would those silly teenager do after their swim time?
Meredith did not join the girls in the locker room when their swim time was over and that was perfectly fine with her. Though she enjoyed swimming with them, they taught her how to do flips and took turns throwing her high into the sky over their shoulders where she’d splash to the water at all sorts of angles, she liked most the time spent in the pool after they left. When Dawna and Tanya brought the girls to change, Meredith and her grandfather had the pool to themselves. He was the lifeguard and did not swim while everyone was in the pool, but as soon as the last girl walked out of the pool room, he would race Meredith to the diving board. If he won, an event that rarely happened since Meredith began waiting at the ladder closest to the board as the girls exited the pool, he would bound down the board with his long-legged stride and dive, high and arched into the depths of the pool where Meredith would meet him as he surfaced. When she won, however, he would use his same long-legged stride to jump high off the board, but these times launching Meredith from his shoulders. Together they would plunge deep through the water and meet face to face as they kicked to the surface. Then they would swim and dive and float. He would time how long she could tread water and after she practiced her crawl he would let her use his mask and snorkel. Oh, his mask and snorkel were her favorites.
It was her grandfather’s mask and snorkel she thought of as Meredith pulled the body of her swimsuit over her mouth and nose as she sat in her blue plastic chair and waited. She pretended to spit into the mask and rub it around with water to help keep the fog out. She peered up as the girls shifted where they stood, some mumbling to others, some grinning and giggling. Dawna, who missed very little, walked briskly to the offending girls. “Miss Grant, Miss Williams, have you decided to pass on today’s activity?”
Meredith paused in her imaginary preparation and leaned over in her chair to watch the reaction of the two girls, who lowered and shook their heads. Meredith did not like it when the girls got in trouble right before they were ready to leave. Sometimes she would whisper to them to behave so they wouldn’t have time out and could go swim. Sometimes they wouldn’t listen but usually they would smile at her and they would behave.
A rage-filled angry screech sounded overhead and was followed by a collection of the swear words Meredith knew but wasn’t allowed to say. The yelling and screeching was followed by a thud and a clang and a stinging, scraping sound. “Help here.” Meredith recognized her grandfather’s calm deep voice. She heard pounding footsteps above and the line of girls before her shifted like anxious horses as three more staff members bounded passed and up the stairs.
 “Girls to the dining room.” Dawna stated firmly. “Now, please.” She added when her original request received no response. Dawna followed the small crowd down the hall to the left of the foyer. “Terry,” she called as she disappeared from Meredith’s view. “Terry, take the girls into the dining room. Frank has an incident upstairs.”
The last of the girls disappeared around the corner, each taking time to crane their necks in an attempt to glimpse the action occurring above. The shuffling sound of their feet was drowned out by the continued screams and raised voices above. The sounds of the commotion intensified. Meredith inched her chair in quick short bursts closer to the base of the stairs. She could hear her grandfather’s voice. It did not sound quite the same as she was accustomed to.
Meredith held the yellow duffle bag to her chest but something hard made it difficult to hold tightly. She opened the bag to reveal her grandfather’s mask and snorkel. Another loud call accompanied by quick footsteps sounded from above. Dawna appeared and charged up the stairs without pausing to address the five-year-old girl sitting on a plastic chair, clutching a yellow duffle bag and wearing a large black dive mask and snorkel with a blue swimsuit around her neck.