DEEP WATERS

William Douglas

SUMMARY

Decided to Learn Swim

• Author decided to learn swimming when he was ten or eleven years old

• Swimming in Yakima river is quite dangerous and author’s mother had already warned him not to swim in that river

• She told him about the risks of being drowned in it

Y.M.C.A. Pool

• Author then decided to join the Y.M.C.A pool• It offered him a good opportunity to learn

swimming as it was safe• It was two to three feet deep at one end and it

was nine feet deep at the other end• The slope from one end to the other was

gradual in the pond

Experience when Author started fearing water

• The Author tells us about a previous experience when he started fearing water. He was three or four years

• Once he went to beach with his father in California. Author stood at the beach with his father

• Suddenly a powerful wave came and took the author away from his father. He was buried in water and his breath was almost gone

• Although his father was laughing at the incident, yet the fear for water had taken birth in author’s mind

Author learning to swim in Y.M.C.A. Pool

• Author bought pair of water wings to swim in Y.M.C.A. pool

• But then also for sometimes the old childhood fear comes in his mind

• The author did not want to show his thin legs to the boys swimming there in Y.M.C.A pool. But soon he overpowered that thought

Author trying to learn swimming

• Sometimes author gathered courage and saw other boys swimming there in the pool

• He also started paddling by copying them• He did it for two or three times everyday and

begins to feel swimming easy

Misadventure at Y.M.C.A Pool

• One day author was alone at the pool. He was afraid to go inside the water. The water was still and tiles at the bottom were clearly visible to him

• He then saw a boy of 18 with thick hair on his chest. He cried “Hi Skinny !” and spoke few words to the author

• He picked the author and threw him at the deep end of the pool

• Author went down to the bottom of the pool

Author at bottom of Pool

• Author decided to hit the bottom of the pool with great force to spring up at water’s surface

• Then he would lie flat on water and would paddle to the edge of the pool

• When he touched the bottom of the pool he tried to spring upwards with full force but pressure of the water downwards made him to come up slowly

Stuck under water

• Author could see only water everywhere• He cried for help but no sound came out of his

mouth because he was suffocating and he had almost lost his breath

• He swallowed water and his legs became paralysed

Stuck under water

• Then his nose came up, but not his mouth• He tried to bring his legs up to make jump

upwards, but a force was pulling him back towards the bottom of the pool again

• His lungs were paining and he was going downwards slowly

• Everything was dark before his eyes and a terror of death gripped his mind

Stuck under water

• But strangely he was coming up to the water’s surface. There was light and his nose and mouth were almost out of water

• Third time water took him down again. He took a long breath but water went in his stomach instead of oxygen

• He lost all strength to struggle and left everything to God. It was quiet and peaceful than struggle. There was no fear to death. He became unconscious and felt asleep

Author is Alive

• When author came to his senses, he found himself at the bank of the pool lying in his stomach. He was vomiting

• The boy who had thrown him was saying that he was fooling

• The author had nearly died

After that incident

• It took several hours for author to recover• He went home. He was weak and his legs were

shaking• He cried when he lay on bed• That night he could not eat anything• For many days terrible fear gripped his mind• He started fearing water and never went to

Y.M.C.A. pool again

Author started fearing water

• Author started fearing the water after that incident took place in Y.M.C.A. Pool

• Now he avoided the water whenever he could• When he went near water to put his foot in

warm lake of Goat Rocks, terror would seized him and same fear followed him

• Even during fishing, he felt same old fear• Fear stayed in his mind as the years rolled by

Author hires an Instructor

• In October, author decided to hire an instructor to learn swimming

• He went to the pool and practiced for one hour daily in a five days in a week

• The instructor used all security measures to make him swim

Instructor teaches author to swim

• Instructor tied a belt around the author. A rope attached to the belt went through the pulley

• Instructor would hold that rope. He sometimes relax that hold so that author could go deep into the water

• Author was able to practice swimming safely• Sometimes author felt the old fear, but slowly

he overcame that old feeling of fear

Author learnt swimming

• Author practiced to put his head down in water and exhale and remove his head outside the water to inhale

• Then the instructor told him how to use his legs while swimming

• Finally in April, the instructor’s job was finished and author could able to swim now

Author continued with his training

• Still, author lacked in confidence and would get filled with that old fear when he was alone at the pool

• But he did not give up• He continue to do exercises for four months• To test himself, he went to the Lake Wentworth

in New Hampshire

Author overpowered his Fear

• Author swam two miles across the lake• He put his face under water and saw nothing

but bottomless water• The fear came to his mind for short time but

he overpowered it very soon

Author learnt a Lesson

• The writer learnt a great lesson by his experience of swimming

• He came to know that there is great peace in death

• But there is a great terror in the fear of death• Once Roosewelt said, ”All we have to fear is

fear itself”

THANK YOU