Three Fish, Four Fish
He paced the edge of the seemingly large pool several times, watching the water shift almost imperceptibly, the light in the shallow end enhancing the motion. He searched in earnest for any change happening to the ground beneath the water. The world around was asleep, the only sound that of the filter pump humming away behind him, and the consequent shift of the water as the submerged jets moved the liquid around.
He stopped occasionally above the tiles that read 3ft, silently telling himself to jump, toes gripping the edge above the water. Being only six years old, he knew what three feet of water meant to him as a person who stood only slightly taller than three feet. He didn’t dare dangle his toes above the 6ft white and black tile signs, and when he rounded that edge of the pool he kept a safe distance, undoubtedly sure that the ground would give way and he would fall into the deep water.
He glanced knowingly at the steps that led into the water on the shallow side of the pool, with a slight furrow in his brow. A brow containing a surprisingly deep crease for a six-year-old. His pale skin shone only slightly darker than that of his white underwear and t-shirt.
He had braved the first two of five steps that led into the pool only twice, and even then, only with the encouragement and coaxing of his mother and father. Both times it was daylight and…
