swimming (free writing)

(9th March 2017)I remember the day I learnt how to swim so clearly, how not to be afraid of the water engulfing me and taking my life away, I see the wobbly legs of everyone close by and hear the muffled yelps of enjoyment as my feet keep slipping from under me, and then suddenly I am buoyant and overjoyed, minutes of terror transformed into hours of pure joy, my thoughts stop there as I relive this experience, everything in technicolour like all the films we watched on saturday afternoons, the bright blue of the water, the red of my polka dot costume with the white pleated frill, the slime green at the back of the tank that was home to all the frogs moving like the liquidity of the water, (I cannot bear frogs and I am sure it is connected), the curve of the cloudy dome above our heads bending the sun through corrugated ripples, the door open at the top of the stairs allowing the building opposite and the summer grass to peek in