BISMARK AND US

The swimming pool From the beginning I was afraid of the swimming pool. I did not like to get close to the edge. For some reason, it was different with Bismark and Tum Tum. They were not bothered at all. They would go right up to the edge and even drink the water. Not me! In the summer we would all sun bathe around the edge, me too, but not as near as them. Our eyes would be blinking away in the bright sun. None of us would go in the pool until one day Bismark lost his balance running round the corner and fell in. It was really lucky that Ken was around to jump in and fish him out. Ken would get up early before going to work to clean the pool. It was a daily job. There were always things to get out. Things like leaves, twigs, insects, frogs and once a snake. I liked it when Ken came to clean the pool. It became like action time for us. We went charging around all over the place, barking away, digging away, dog’s stuff, then when Ken went, it was back to sleeping. Dezi really loved the pool and used it a lot. Ken not so much, sometimes when he got home from work and then at weekends, when he was not golfing! I liked being out with them. Botswana is at its hottest between October and April, with the sun blazing down from a clear blue sky. At night it was still hot, and you could go in the pool at anytime. Ken and Dezi used to like sitting out at night by the pool, having a drink and their supper. After, they would sit on the sun loungers, and we would jump on with them. Big storms came usually in January and February and there would be lots of thunder, lightning and rain. These storms could be really fierce. There were even times when we got hailstones, big ones. When the weather was like that we did not bother with the pool, nobody did. The pool got really dirty with all the sand and dirt and leaves and stuff being blown in, and even branches from the overhanging trees. When Ken went swimming, Bismark and Tum Tum would chase him round the pool. Ken would swim from one end to the other and those two would race as fast as possible to get to the end before him, barking away. Then when Ken got there they licked his face, turned round and chased him up to the other end. After a little while they even ran along opposite sides of the pool so they wouldn’t get in each other’s way! They just loved doing that. Now I wanted to join in too. I really did. The problem was they thought it was their game so I was not allowed to. “Don’t you get in our way Min Pin,” they would shout. I just watched and did give little chases. Sometimes Ken would move slowly from side to side, then there was less excitement and I was able to get strokes as well. Then came the day that Bismark fell in the pool. Dezi was paranoid. “That’s it,” she cried out at us, “you lot are going to learn to swim!”