‘You got any idea how ridiculous two black people in a pool look? You know how the joke goes.’
‘Not so crazy when one of them used to be a lifeguard. Who cares anyway? There’s not a soul here to see us.’
‘I bet you love that.’
Laughter. ‘Yeah, I do actually.’ Titus paddled up behind Vee and gently spanned her waist. The heating hadn’t kicked in yet, so his hands felt warm compared to the tepid water. They always stayed warm, no matter how long they stayed in. He pressed close and ran his cheek past hers to her neck. Vee shivered and pressed her back to his chest.
‘I’m never going to learn anything like this. You go round molesting all your students like this?’
‘Only the very, very special ones.’ His palms came to rest at the small of her back. Slowly, he began to guide her body forwards. ‘Before you learn to swim, you gotta learn to float. Once you can stay afloat, you can start to move through the water. Remember what I showed you last time?’
The floor started to disappear from underfoot.
‘Titus …’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t get your hair wet.’
‘It’s not my hair I’m wo– whoo! Aaay mah pipo, don’t let me drown. Don’t let this crazy man kill me today.’
‘Don’t worry, I got you. Now move your legs. Slooowly, don’t thrash. Make circles, and concentrate on keeping the circles in one direction. Good, that’s great. Now use your arms … get your arms and legs to move together. I’m just gonna back off a little bit now. I’m not leaving you …’
He let go. She didn’t sink.
‘Ha! I’m doing it! I can do it, I can swim!’
Titus chuckled. ‘Yeah, you can swim. You’re a natural.’
Voinjama circled around a small area, paddling her limbs like a joyful frog. Swimming was easy. Why had she been scared? ‘When will you show me how to save somebody from drowning?’
‘Let’s get you from one end of the pool to the other without dying. Then we can talk about saving other people’s lives.’