Day Ten: Evening

While looking around yesterday I discovered him swimming. Well okay so calling it swimming might be overly kind. He was flopping around like a five year old in the deep end. In fact I watched him for a while thinking that he might actually be drowning…alright I was hoping.

I’m actually a pretty good swimmer. Going down to the Y on weekends is better exercise than running from your drunk and hung-over parent and I came close to getting my life guard certification.

We were working on our shelter when I asked him about it. He said that he felt that he needed the exercise and he had nearly drowned in the storm. The calmness of the little bay encouraged him to try and rectify that. I made the offer to help him learn, mentioning my experience and he agreed.

This morning we had our first lesson. I showed him the basic techniques and he seemed to be a most eager student. I know that if I let him live more than a couple of weeks that he would soon be very able in the water. His strength and coordination are excellent so if I am to move ahead with my newest plan it will need to be very soon.

I’m much smaller than him, but in the water I can move faster and might be able to turn that to my advantage. The undertow off our little beach is considerable and the possibility of a rip current might do my dirty work for me. In any event I need to seize any chance that comes up in the next few days. Returning to the solitude that I had before this man showed up would be welcome. He’s not a talker, but his very presence puts me on edge.