Introduction

My name’s Mark and I am a lifeguard at a small swimming pool in a big city.

It’s an old eighty-year-old pool with peeling paint and a cracked concrete deck. It’s the standard twenty-five by twenty-five-yard pool with a shallow end that deepens to a fading red line where the bottom plunges to a 20-foot deep end. The small concrete deck is surrounded by deep green grass sitting areas. These are normally covered with towels and sunbathers.

Just like in a small town, in a small community pool, you get to know your regulars and they become like family.

Adventure

It was a Friday of daydreaming as I scanned the pool. I was looking forward to having the weekend off. Maybe I would go to a movie or visit some friends I had made in the city.

My dream was interrupted by some noisy teenagers arriving at our little pool. I knew that they would be trouble, five boys competing and showing off for two girls. Of course, the girls were encouraging and laughing at the boys.

Thank goodness I was done for the day. Ron had arrived and I didn’t have to worry about the group.

“Hey man, how was your day?” He asked as he arrived at the chair.

“Nice and boring but with lots of eye candy. Best kind of day.” I replied then added, “You will have your hands full though.” And nodded toward the teens as they set up shop near the back corner.

“Yeah, well enjoy the swim,” Ron commented as we switched positions.

“Fuck Off.” We heard from the teenagers.

We both looked over. Our resident new mom, Niome, had just screamed at them.

“I’ll stop by,” I told Ron, then started to walk over.

Arriving, I saw Niome turned away from them breastfeeding her new son. He was the cutest little thing.

“What’s happened?” I asked arriving between the group and her.

“They were saying nasty things about me breastfeeding.” She commented.

Niome is your typical young mom. Her breasts were large with milk but that was the only feature to draw your eye. The rest of her body looked like she was still a bit pregnant, with wide hips, a bit of belly, messy hair, and bags under her eyes. She likely used to be hot, and she might be again, but right now she just looked like she was spending her life feeding and raising a baby.

She is here daily and all of us guards have held her baby at one time or other. We all felt very protective of our resident new mom and infant.

“Right, I’ll talk to them,” I told her while turning to the unruly teenagers.

It was a short direct conversation about rules, getting banned from the pool, and of course, respect for other people.

I don’t know if they cared, they sure didn’t look like it.

“If you have any problems, come talk to us,” I told Niome and walked off for my swim.

One of the best things about working at the pool is getting to swim after your shift. The lanes were often empty and today I had a whole one to myself.

I started to do an easy practice but thinking about the teenagers bothered me. Why would they bug a new mother like that? She’s already tired and dealing with a baby. They all had mothers, why couldn’t they show respect? Fucking idiots.

I ended up swimming much harder and longer than I intended. It was 90 minutes before I got out and headed to the guard room to change.

I had wrapped a towel around me and had just pulled off my swimsuit when the door opened.

“Excuse me.” Niome peeked her head in.

“Sarah said I could use the room to feed in. Those kids are making me uncomfortable.” She said and walked in.

“Oh, I’ll give you space,” I told her and looked around for my bag with clothes in it.

“No need.” She said while sitting down in our only chair.

“Right.” I sat down on the cot.

“You look tired.” She commented while exposing her breast and putting the little tyke’s mouth to her nipple.

“Hard workout but likely not as tired as you,” I replied.

I was trying hard to look at her face and not down at her breastfeeding. I didn’t know how I felt about her feeding directly in front of me. I was uncomfortable but not for me, more for her having to do this in front of someone.