Danielle Karrigan (brokencladdagh) wrote in themoderngods, @ 2012-02-26 12:52:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !thread, ♥ danielle karrigan : dropped, ♥ reed jensen, ♦ neptune |
Who: Danielle and Reed (Neptune)
What: First meetings and Swimming Lessons
When: Sunday afternoon
Where: Columbia University Rec Center (pool)
Rating: Mild
The smell of chlorine always triggered fond memories for Dani; though the public pool in her old neighborhood in Chicago wasn't exactly in a high tax bracket, it was a great way to escape the oppressive Midwestern summers in a community where air conditioners were more a luxury or necessity for food storage than anything. She still happily weathered the lead paint chips peeling from the bottom of the pool and the chalky taste of the generic popcicles they sold at the snack stand.
Columbia's Rec Center pool was nothing like that. Indoors, the humidity and heat held onto the sense of clean that came with a top-notch aquatic center, which played host to the university's swim and dive meets, as well as free swim, exercise, and - the reason why Danielle was currently there - community swimming lessons. Her boy was in the water with a group of about ten other scrappy 7-to-8 year olds, enjoying the free-play portion of his lessons by participating in a (loud) cannonball contest. Dani quietly bounced her nine month old, Opal, on her knee, who was having a ball playing with her mother's pony tail with one hand, while the other squeezed the buttons of a PlaySkool cell phone.
Until it suddenly slipped the infant's grasp and clattered to the first bleacher in front of them, despite Danielle's quick-shot grab for the toy. It bounced further, pulled with momentum and gravity and did it's best getting under-foot of an unlucky passerby.
"Sorry! Sorry..." Dani winced, flashing him a sheepish grin. "She's got great aim..."