Week-end with Nathan

Chapiter 4

As the lifeguard searched behind him, Sarah entered the office.

- SARAH: Ah, Lucas, there you are! Yes Sir, you wanted to see me?

- LIFEGUARD: Oh yes, hello, your Lucas has just fallen into the water and I saw that he seemed to be having some difficulty swimming.

I then protested:

- No, I'm a very good swimmer, but I was just surprised, that's all.

- LIFEGUARD: Yes, yes, probably, but from what I could see it's a good thing I helped you up anyway. Madam, do you have a life jacket or a swimming belt with floats for this boy?

- SARAH: Uh, no, no, I thought he did better in the water, honestly...

As I protested feebly, no one seemed to pay the slightest attention to what I was saying.

- LIFEGUARD: Well then, I'm sure I can find something in my wardrobe. Ah! that's it. Lucas, give me your left arm.

The lifeguard then took my arm and slipped a kind of large orange plastic over my arm, up to my shoulder. Then he took the other bar and did the same.

- LIFEGUARD: Here, if you'd like to help me inflate using the little valve there, madam: each one.

As Sarah and the lifeguard each blew into a little valve, the things the lifeguard had put on me began to swell and swell until they compressed my arms! Armbands! They were putting orange armbands on me! How big are they? They're gigantic too! No, it's not possible! Still in shock, I heard the lifeguard giving Sarah some instructions.

- LIFEGUARD: Well, I want him to keep his armbands on while you're here, so you can take them off in the changing rooms and leave them at reception.

- Even when I'm not in the water? Did I beg?

- LIFEGUARD: Yes, of course, it's because you slipped earlier that you fell. So even out of the water, I want you to keep them on. As for his diaper, I'd like to remind you to check it regularly, and please don't delay in changing it as soon as he's used it, for reasons of hygiene in the pool.

Shame was growing in me and I was turning red as I retorted, almost grumbling:

- No, it's because I forgot my bathing suit, I don't normally wear a diaper!

- LIFEGUARD: Yes, yes I'm sure, but don't worry, you know, there's nothing wrong with needing a diaper, look in the paddling pool there are other children wearing diapers too, it's allowed of course! I'd rather that than have an accident anyway.

Looking towards the paddling pool, I noticed that the only children wearing a diaper like mine were no older than 3 or 4. Great comparison, thanks for the reassurance, really! The lifeguard added, addressing Sarah:

- LIFEGUARD : In any case, I'd ask you to make sure you change him as soon as he's used his diaper, and not to wait too long.

- SARAH: Yes, I'll take care of it, thank you. Have a nice day!

And that's how I found myself in the most humiliating situation I'd ever experienced, Sarah dragging a 15-year-old by the hand wearing a completely visible swim diaper and orange arm bands visible from the other end of the pool. But how could it have come to this?

Nathan was lying on his towel outside when we arrived. Releasing my hand, she added:

- SARAH: Well, it's time to eat a little, I've got some sandwiches.

- NATHAN: Whaa ah ah Lucas you have armbands now?

- The lifeguard put them on me because he thought I couldn't swim, what an idiot! Look how big they are, I can't even close my arms in front of me, it's so swollen, shame on me! Well, I'm going to take it off anyway, there's no way I'm keeping it on!

Oh no, it's too tight, I can't even get them off my arms.

- NATHAN: Yeah, silly, that's what they're for. If your armbands slipped off your arms when you were in the water, they wouldn't be very useful, would they?

- But they're NO use to me - I can swim!

- NATHAN: Well, if you want to remove them, you have to deflate them first.

- Han, the valve is on the other side, and these dirty cuffs are in the way. Han, I can't get them off by myself. Give me a hand.

But just as Nathan was about to help me deflate my armbands, his mom intervened:

- SARAH: What are you doing?

- NATHAN: I'm helping Lucas take off his armbands, Mom.

- SARAH: Oh no, certainly not! The lifeguard has his eye on us and he's asked me to make sure you keep them on until we leave, so you keep them on and I won't take them off until the changing rooms later.

Oh no, it's not true, so what Sarah is telling me is that I'm going to have to spend the rest of the afternoon not only in a swim diaper but also with these huge orange armbands on my arms! It's definitely a total disgrace!

As I ate my sandwich and dried off in the sun, I noticed a new sensation. Even though it's a swim diaper and is supposed to swell less than a normal diaper, I imagine, it still swelled in the water and, above all, retained the water in its absorbent part! So even though I'm dry now, I still have this feeling of moisture stuck to my skin in my diaper, which doesn't dry out inside. I imagine it must be the same sensation as if I'd peed in it. Oh noooo but why am I thinking about that now! And it was with these thoughts that we ended our picnic.