The Hot Guy I Met at the Pool
I attract a lot of attention when I don a swimsuit. A lot of unwanted attention. From guys. My trip to the pool last Saturday was no exception.
I was down at Orange Beach last weekend. My family and I. Getting a little r & r. I had taken my son to the condo’s pool early that Saturday morning. My hair was a briny, drown-rat mess from a dip in the gulf, and my skin, thanks to a thick coat of SPF 50 (and unfortunate genes), was the pale iridescent lavender-white of a low-grade opal.
(50 shades of beige)
See? And you thought I was exaggerating. You’d think the invisibility cloak of middle-aged mediocrity would shield me from the attention of strange guys, but that is simply not the case.
The fella that started it up with me last week… he was hot. He told me so himself. He said, “I’m hot. Can I have some a your drink?”
And I said, “No you can’t, because it’s coffee, and it’s mine.”
The source of the voice, the guy asking for a sip of my beverage, was standing in the pool. And he was cute. I’ll admit that. But he was a dopey sort of cute, and he was unabashedly desperate for my attention. I’d put him at about seven years old. Or a husky six. Classic. Just the sort of freckled head I always turn.
He scrunched up his nose when I said coffee, then pushed off the floor of the shallow end and started floating on his back like a little otter. “Ya’ll on vacation?”
“Yes,” I answered. And I knew then that I’d not get to read my book in peace. Or enjoy any one-on-one time with my own boy. No nodding off to sleep. There’d be me and this chubby little Alabamian for the duration of the morning.
I’m irresistible to kindergarteners. Kids at this age, they love a mom. They love their own mothers, obviously, but by the time they get a year of grade school under belts, their eyes start to wander. Take offense if you’d like, moms, but it is the truth. They all do it. Start checking out other mothers. How do you suppose she cuts the crust off the toast, they wonder. Natural curiosity. The seven year itch.
So this kid – let’s call him “Travis.” (He never told me his name, but he looked like a Travis to me.) Travis wore red swim trunks that were covered in spiky blue blow fish. He had a fuchsia band of sunburn across the bridge of his nose, and he loved me instantly. I don’t know if it was the splotched melasma spanning my forehead, the contrast it created against the natural skim-milk tone of my skin. Maybe it was the ruching across the midsection of my dark, modest one-piece. Perhaps it was the fact that I was drinking coffee outdoors a week before the forth of July. Whatever it was, this guy, he just knew I was a mom.
Travis was confident that I wanted to see him do a cannonball. And another cannonball. And a handstand in the shallow end.
“Watch me! Watch this! Look. Look!”
After several rounds of this, I said, “Listen, honey, I’ve got to watch my own little boy.” I pointed to William, who was cautiously entering the steps of the pool. White-knuckling the rail. Wearing a life jacket. “He can’t swim yet. I need to keep my eyes on him all the time. I’m sure your own mom will watch you.”
“How come he can’t swim?” Travis asked. In Travis’s dialect, can’t rhymes with paint. I felt a secret shame that this little knuckle-dragger was so at ease in the water while my clever William could not even doggie paddle.
“He is still learning,” I said. “I have to watch him.”
“Want me to teach him?” Travis asked. He stood in the water, mouth agape, and waited for me to accept his offer. He pronounced “him” in such a way that it rhymed with “team.” I was suddenly fearful that Travis’s lesson would do more harm than good.
“Where is your mother?”
“She’s off yunder.” he said. “So you want me to teach him to swim?”
My mind jumped to Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men – to the gentle, slow-witted character Lenny, who accidentally broke that woman’s neck while stroking her soft hair with a heavy hand. And I said, “I guess, but do not hold him underwater. Do you understand? Not for a second.”
Travis nodded, darted out of the water like a Sea World dolphin, went under for a moment, and surfaced next to my land-loving son. He said, “Go like this,” and then swam around in a circle for ten seconds. That was the extent of his swimming lesson.
I closed my eyes for a moment while the boys played. And I mean, just for a moment. Then I heard, “Watch this! Hey, watch! Watch what I’ma do!”
The urge was to keep my eyes closed. To pretend I had not heard him. To feign sleep. The source of Travis’s voice was moving and changing, though, and curiosity got the best of me. I opened my eyes to find him at the top of the bridge. This bridge (pictured), with waterfall, which is quite high and above a mere three feet of water:
“I’ma jump off the waterfall.” Travis said. And with that proclamation, he began trying to hoist his thick little leg over the top of the bridge.
“Stop!” I shouted. “You aren’t allowed to do that.”
“There ain’t no sign, is there?” Still climbing.
“Yes there is a sign. Look down there. Can you read what it says?” He shrugged. So no, he could not read what it said. And then I felt better about my non-swimming son, who can read like a mad man.
“It says, ‘Do not climb on fountain.'” I said.
“I’ma jump off it!” He clarified.
“No you’re not, kid. I won’t let you.”
“How come?” He was shouting at this point. We both were. Between the distance and the noise from the waterfall, there was no way to communicate without shouting.
“Because you’re going to give yourself a spinal cord injury!”
“Do what?”
“A SPINAL. CORD. IN-JUR-Y!”
“Watch me!”
“Please come down! I want to see you do a handstand instead!”
“You do?”
“Yes! Come do a handstand in the water.”
So Travis came down and did a handstand. And another. And I put my book underneath my chair, such was my certainty that I’d not get to read a page of it. And when Travis heard a jack hammer from off somewhere in the distance and wanted to know if someone was fixing popcorn, I told him no. And when he asked me if I thought there might be a shark in the pool, again, I answered in the negative.
Later that morning, a large, doughy man and two thick-necked boys, ages 10 and 13 from the looks of them, came to fetch Travis. They walked down the boardwalk to the beach in ascending order: Travis, his brothers, and their father. They looked like a set of Russian dolls. Heavy-set, slack-jawed Russian dolls.
I decided not to speak to the father. Not to sarcastically ask if he’d enjoyed sleeping in or ask him where he had been earlier that morning when I was saving his son’s life. Because who knows how many other parents out there have worked, unbeknownst to me, to protect my children’s central nervous systems. Sometimes I’m off yunder. It happens. Raising kids is tough, and we as parents have to look out for each other. That being the case, perhaps looking matronly in your swimwear isn’t such a bad thing after all. Maybe it is life-saving attention that we are attracting in our dark, modest one-pieces.
“It takes a village to raise a child.”
-African Proverb
Ginger's Grocery 
Very interesting post. I like your style of writing, and I like how the story took an unexpected twist. I thought I was going to read something about hot middle aged men flirting with you, but here it was a story of young boys seeing a mother in you. Funny!
I seem to attract this type of attention, too. Somehow kids always want to show me their skills, or ask me questions, or follow me around. I guess they see a mother figure in me, which is funny because I don’t have kids myself. Does this mean I’m ready? :p
It think that’s what if means, yes. Be on the look out for babies staring at you in the grocery store. Another indication that your time has come.
That happens a lot, too. Oh dear.
i reall y like this description.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback!
where are you from
US
where in this us.
and is it your blog
Georgia and yes
usa . what do you do
I LOVE THIS! Thanks.
Thanks so much!
You are hilarious and I could not stop reading for a second! This is exactly the type of writing I enjoy! First of all, reading trumps swimming any day in my book (pun) 🙂 and second of all, nice save with the handstand idea! I cannot wait to read more! Check out my blog sometime too!
Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be sure and check out your blog.
I enjoyed reading this, had me take a walk down memory lane for a while theree. boy these Travis’ are everywhere 🙂
They really are. It’s the same all over, I guess.
Beautifully observed and written. Thank you.
Thank YOU!
I was cracking up the whole time! Young children are similarly attracted to me. I recently awkwardly navigated a situation in an elevator where a stranger’s toddler initiated a hug and I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to accept it, especially because the mom looked rather angry. I am convinced they think I am one of their own because I’m short.
What an honor to get an unsolicited hug, though, huh? 🙂
I thoroughly enjoy your writing. You paint a very c9mplete picture with your word choices. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much – very kind of you to say.
After reading your post, I was a bit sad that you live on the other side of the world and we can’t sit down over a coffee and discuss this unnatural attraction we mothers hold for small boys. What baffles me is that I have no sons, only daughters, and yet I still seem to be a magnet for young masculine explorers.
It’s got to mean something if they seek you out! Hmmm… Maybe you’re meant to be a teacher?
Gosh. I hope not! I haven’t enough time to write as it is. I suspect they know I tell the best stories about dragons, by some secret underground network.
Enjoyed reading your post, thank you!
Thanks for reading!
Hahaha that’s some kid. At least, he wasn’t a spoiled one. Trust me, they re the worst. Travis seems like an energetic kid who wants attention. That he’s clearly not getting from his parents thereby thinking of you as a substitute mom 🙂
Btw, so disappointed you didn’t actually meet a hot guy 😦
Haha! If it makes you feel better, a good-looking 20-something also approached me. He said, “hey, will you watch my phone and keys for a minute?” And then he went for a swim.
That…counts. Sorta 🙂
I loved this story!
I loved that you read it!
Great post! Please check out my blog queenzey.wordpress.com
Thanks, sure will
entertaining! I wish I could remember things as detailed as you do and write a story about it. loved this post!
That is cool of you to day, thanks for checking out the post
Love this!
Thanks!
So funny! This little Travis fella sounds like a cutie though. You’re a great writer.
He really was. Thanks for reading!
Reblogged this on Apps Lotus's Blog.
Thanks for reblogging!
Ah! Stopping by to congratulate you on being Freshly Pressed!
Thank you! Nice to see a familiar face!
Very entertaining and cute. Smiled all the way through.
I love hearing that – thanks for reading!
I’ve been in your shoes before at the pool, at Walmart when a kid climbed a display for me to get him off of, and so many other places! Well done!
These little guys are everywhere.
Very cute! “Just the sort of freckled head I always turn”.
Aw, thanks so much! I’m glad you checked out the post.
catchy title, great read
Wow, thanks!
Haha, I really enjoyed reading this!
Great, love hearing that!
You’re a great writer. I really enjoyed this.
Wow, thank you!
WOW what an amazing post. Great job!
Thanks so much!
Very good.
That is nice of you to say, many thanks!
I hope nobody’s laugh about my comment.
I do understand parts of it. And I think your son is very brave. Now what’s it the main point of this post? I read couple of comments but I don’t understand. ( English as a second language).
No one will laugh, and it is admirable that you’re reading in a second language. This post is meant to be a humorous telling of a morning in which an unsupervised young boy kept demanding my attention while I was trying to play with my own son. The boy ended up attempting something dangerous, and I stopped him. The beginning of the story was meant to lead the reader to think that I’d met an attractive man, but really I met a attention-starved little boy. The point of the story is that it is okay to look like an aging mother instead of a beautiful young woman, because the world is full of children who need to be looked after and mothered. Thanks for reading, and I hope that helped.
Cute.
http://www.jewelryelegance.com the vie selection is really you..
Very funny. I agree 100% it is like kids have a mommy radar and they are instantly attracted to us. However I don’t know that I wouldn’t have commented to the father about his sons behavior. Just because you saved the kid doesn’t mean another person will. However I am incredibly outspoken, and yes it does take a village to raise a kid.
You have a point.
Haha. A very light-hearted entertaining post. Loved reading it.. 😉
I’m so glad you checked out the post!
Loved it! 🙂
Thank you!
Very Entertaining. Moms Unite!
Right on!
beauty of world
Warm and funny. I could spend all day here, but alas must return to my own blog:)
I completely forgot to say thank you for your respond.;)