High school swim teams are going full blast now, resulting in fewer lanes available, more hormones and excess water on the pool deck. It has gone from lifeguards telling lap swimmers, “Pick any lane; it’s lap swim” to “Share with the gentlemen in lane 6.”And if that wasn’t enough, much more water gets churned up during a swim practice than a water aerobics class. Think of the large volume of swimmers per lane and the idea that each swimmer tries to out-splash, out-do, and out-maneuver the competition in flip turns at the wall. The result is a slippery deck and wetter shoes.
Water, water everywhere and all the boards did creak,
Water, water everywhere, the lifeguard’s shoes do reek.
Word to the wise: Don’t put your slides in your backpack on Friday and leave them there until Monday morning. I did not exaggerate the facial expressions on my characters’ faces. My slides really smelled that bad! Thankfully, I did not have to deal with this odor for too long, as I eventually left them and lost them at the pool. It wasn’t a total loss. Who would want to claim shoes with such a foul stench? It appears that I will be running a deficit on lifeguard footwear. Score one for the lost and found, and good riddance!