A Ghost or a Goose

Barton Springs Early Morning Swim Report 9/19 and 9/21

Barton Springs reopened at 5AM on Thursday; I was there at 5:30AM for a solo swim, and again at 4PM with one of my kids for a quick after-school dip. In the morning as I arrived I heard this exchange between one man getting out and another sitting on the wall by the deck.

“How is it?”

“Wet.”

“Just the same, then.”

“Better. A bit better.”

That is the moon in the upper left, believe it or not.

It’s fair to say that I’ve been in a funk, these weeks the pool’s been closed. Austin without it is hard to love in the heat. I tried Deep Eddy, then the downtown Y’s indoor pool, but I’m terrible at sharing anything, including lanes. When I swim, as when I write, I don’t like to take other people’s feelings into account more than is entirely necessary. Alone in a lane, I can think deep thoughts; splitting one, I mostly think, Oh, it’s you again. The East Side Y has a nice outdoor pool, and for the past two weeks, I’ve swum with a high school swim team. OK, not really with; adjacent to. They took up four lanes—a great youthful churning!—and I had one to myself.

Did I say my Thursday morning swim was solo? I tell a lie: I had company.

The day before Barton Springs closed, there were reports of thefts on the Facebook page. One person had her bag and then her car stolen in daylight; another, his bag in the dark. A nightmare: marooned at the pool in my bathing suit. So I did some ineffective research. These new-fangled car keys: you need to keep them dry, and as far as I could tell, a two-chambered float like the above was the best way. You blow up one side and stow your valuables in the other, and you fasten it around your waist and tow it behind you upon the water.

I didn’t make it snug enough and kept nearly swimming out of the belt. Moreover the float was mobile, tapping me alternately upon my fundament then traveling to my feet then, emboldened, nudging my shoulders and even my head. The last time I was so interfered with it was by attacking geese.

This morning I tried a different product, an entirely too-expensive submersible belt pack (fanny pack US, bum bag UK, two awful terms, and yes I am aware what “fanny” means in the UK, thanks). What is watertight is also buoyant; I left too much air in it and felt lifted and hindered.

But happy! So happy! Both mornings as I swam I looked up and saw stars swimming around their own floatation device, a lovely moon on the wane, losing air, gorgeous.

I am myself again.