Chapter 6: Dudley Gets a Surprise Offer

Monday night Dudley and Lewis arrived for his seventh visit. Mike left for home after a quick chat with Dudley.

Once Lewis and Dudley were settled in the back room, they had a coffee whilst Dudley explained his weeks finances. ‘I put half my pocket money in the building society,’ he explained, ‘Plus the twenty that my mum was looking after for me from last week. But I used my card on Saturday to pay for meals at McDonalds for twelve pounds forty pence. So, I now have sixty-seven pounds sixty in there.’

‘McDonalds,’ Lewis exclaimed sounding horrified. Dudley grinned, ‘There was a very good reason,’ he said, ‘And I only had a Big Mac and an orange juice. I didn’t have anything else for lunch. I’ll tell you all about it in a moment.’

‘With the other five pounds of my pocket money,’ he continued, ‘I paid four pounds for two magazines so with what I had left from last week I have seven pounds twenty in my pocket.’

‘With reservations about McDonalds, that’s excellent Dudley,’ Lewis told him. ‘That’s your first point.’ Then as they finished their coffee Dudley said, ‘I have some more news too.’ He looked very excited so Lewis told him to strip off and lie down on the settee. Once settled in just his underpants with his head on Lewis’s lap, he told him all about it.

‘I had arrived at the swimming pool at my usual early time on Saturday morning,’ Dudley said. ‘I was now managing to do ten lengths in the time between getting in the water and having to get out in time for school. Even though on Saturday I had more time, I put the same effort into it. I got into the water at the shallow end, then lately I have got into the routine of doing six lengths then taking a few minutes break before doing my last four.’

‘Last Saturday I did the same and was about to start off again, when the swimmer in the next lane drew near. Standing up he said, ‘Hi Dudley, how are you.’ To my amazement it was Michael from school. ‘I came for a swim about fifteen minutes ago,’ he said. ‘I spotted you swimming and recognised you, so I stood and watched. You seemed to be tearing along. So, I timed you for a length, you’ve got a powerful stroke and a good speed. I reckon you’re not much different to my speed.’

‘I was really chuffed,’ Dudley said, then Michael said, ‘How about we do a lap and see.’ ‘What! have a race?’ I said, ‘I’ve never done that before.’ Michael grinned at me, ‘It’s no different to what you’ve just been doing,’ he said. ‘We dive in together, then swim a length as fast as we can.’

‘I had been getting really excited at the idea, then I felt miserable. ‘I can’t dive,’ I said. ‘Can’t or just never been taught?’ he asked. ‘Both, probably,’ I said. ‘With my weight I’d probably just do a massive belly flop.’ ‘I meant to ask you about your weight,’ he said, ‘You don’t seem as big as I remember you from school. Although I suppose I’ve never seen you undressed before.’

‘I got a funny feeling in my stomach when he said that, and it felt so good that he had noticed. ‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I’ve lost nearly two stone over the last six weeks. Coming swimming was one of Lewis’s instructions to give me more exercise.’ ‘Lewis at school?’ he asked. ‘Yes, I said, ‘He met me one day when I was really upset about my weight. He’s been helping me ever since, telling me what to do.’

‘Well, it’s clearly working.’ Michael said, ‘Let’s go to the deep end and see what we can do.’ We stood on the edge of the pool with our toes over the edge. He showed me how to hold my hands out and what to do. ‘Let me demonstrate,’ he said, ‘But don’t follow until my head is out of the water so I can watch you.’

‘He took up the position he’d just described and just sort of fell forward until his chest was almost parallel to the water, then he thrust off with his legs and went into the water. When he came up, I tried to follow and did as I expected, an almighty belly flop.’

As we got out, Michael said, ‘I bet that hurt.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘Can we try again?’ ‘Where you went wrong,’ he told me, ‘Is when you got to the point where you should have pushed off with your feet, you just froze and dropped flat on the water. This time I’ll stay on the side,’ he said, ‘Then when I shout push, push down as hard as you can with your feet.’

‘I tried again and this time I entered the water quite cleanly with hardly a splash. When I came back up, he said I’d done well. I did it two more times then he said I should be able to do a proper one now. ‘Instead of letting yourself fall forward,’ he told me, ‘Which takes time, throw yourself straight into it. Watch me, then copy me when I surface.’ He showed me how to do it and I watched intently.’

‘Then when his head appeared I copied him. It was great, I sailed through the air, entered the water fairly cleanly and surfaced quickly. When we were standing at the edge of the pool again, Michael said I’d learned quick and with more practice I’d soon be diving off the boards.’

‘I wasn’t too sure about that.’ ‘Ok we’ll try a race now,’ he said, ‘As soon as you’re ready, you say go. then we’ll dive in and swim as fast as we can to the far end. As soon as you’re close enough, reach out and touch the wall,’ he instructed. He said, ‘Whenever you’re ready,’ so a few seconds later I said, ‘Go.’ I ran to the edge, dived in and swam as fast as I could. As I got to the other end, I reached out and touched the wall.’

‘Looking up I found Michael standing alongside me. ‘Six seconds behind me,’ he said. ‘Well done, that’s amazing for someone who’s never raced before. When are you seeing Lewis next?’ he asked. ‘When I told him today. he said to tell you he wants to give me some extra training on a Wednesday evening with a view to joining the school swimming team in the future. He told me he was the captain of the swimming team. But he said he didn’t want to interfere with any of our arrangements.’

‘How do you feel about swimming for the school?’ Lewis asked. ‘I’m not sure if I could cope with that,’ Dudley said, ‘Yet I would like to.’ ‘Well, the extra training would be good for losing weight,’ Lewis said. ‘It will also boost your confidence. And you’ll enjoy training with Michael.’ he added with a grin.

‘Why don’t you give it a try and tell Michael how you feel about swimming in public and why. Then he’ll know where he stands. You never know he might come up with a solution. Will your lessons be at the pool?’ ‘No,’ Dudley told him, ‘His uncle has a swimming pool at his home. He’s always away Wednesday night with work so Michael is allowed to use it on his own.’

‘He’s going to ask his uncle if he can bring me with him to train.’ ‘Then as long as you feel ok with the idea, I’d go for it.’ Lewis told him. ‘You see you’re collecting new friends already. What did you do after your race?’ ‘I finished my remaining three lengths,’ Dudley said, ‘But each one I dived in at the deep end, swam a length, walked back to the deep end and dived in again.’

‘You mean you not only walked the length of the pool, from choice, in nothing but your swimming costume. But you did it three times.’ Lewis said with a grin, ‘Wow you are getting confident.’ ‘I never gave it a thought,’ Dudley said. ‘So, did you see everyone else at the pool stop what they were doing and point at you?’ Lewis asked.

‘I didn’t notice anyone,’ Dudley said looking puzzled. ‘That’s because no one did,’ Lewis said. ‘If anyone noticed you at all, they would have just seen a swimmer looking the same as everyone else.’

Dudley beamed at the thought, then continued, When I’d finished, I waited until Michael reached me, he had just been doing lengths. I thanked him for teaching me to dive and told him I was going.’ ‘I’ll come with you,’ he said, ‘I’ve done enough for today.’ ‘We went into the changing area and Michael was clearly going to get changed in the communal area. I didn’t feel I could just leave him and go to a cubicle after all he’d done for me, so I stayed too. As we dried ourselves Michael asked me where I was going next. I said I had to go to the building society, so he said, ‘How about going to McDonalds for lunch?’