AJ and I managed to squeeze in inaugural hour at the pool yesterday in between his naps and the turbulent thunderstorms that began to roll in on our trek home. AJ kept saying how excited he was to be there � this from the boy who has required intense cajoling to get anywhere near the water in the past. He wouldn�t leave the shallowest area, but he sprinted back and forth across the pool, windmilling his arms in a fair imitation of swimming � feet firmly on the ground, of course.

Yesterday being the first day of the pool season, there were not yet any abandoned toys to play with. And while the pool was packed with kids, they were all much older than AJ, who watched with interest as the middle-schoolers tried to outstyle each other on the diving board. After we�d been there for about a half an hour, however, another small boy, shorter but a little stockier than AJ with a mop of brown hair flopping over his eyes, appeared in the pool. I recognized C. from playgroup a couple of years ago. He�s another member of the mammoth class of kindergartners our neighborhood is sending to the local public school this fall.

�Hi!� he said to us with a gap-toothed grin, not, I think, because he recognized us but because he likes to talk.

�Hi. Hey, you lost a tooth!� I said. AJ was watching solemnly to see what would happen next.

He shrugged. �My sister knocked it out when I was three.�

�How old are you now?� I asked.

�I�m five years old. Well, actually I�m five and a half almost. My birthday�s January 19th. That�s Benjamin Franklin�s birthday. He�s on the $100 bill. Benjamin Franklin invented the Constitution. I read about it in my Presidents book. I think the Presidents are very interesting.�

C.�s dad, who had just jumped in the water himself, rolled his eyes and said, �He doesn�t see any bills like that in our house.�

AJ still eyed the boy suspiciously. I, on the other hand, wonder if AJ�s just met a slightly more gregarious kindred spirit. AJ was feeling cautious, however. He played silently next to C. until it was time to go.

On the walk home along the stream, AJ proclaimed, �I�m glad the pool is open. Can we go tomorrow, too?�

And we will. It is supposed to hit the mid-nineties today. At 9:00 it�s already in the eighties. There is a poolside breakfast scheduled this morning to celebrate the pool�s opening. Donuts and cool blue water. What could be better?

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