Keeping my Head above Water

Nov 27, 2024

We raced up the stairs, and I emerged in the middle of a group of boys, all stripping and wrestling. I started on my buttons, and suddenly felt half a dozen hands ‘helping’ me. I looked and saw half a dozen Fisherboys, and one Farmer boy I had met, all helping me with them.

“Hey,” I said, batting at them, but there were too many of them and every time I batted one away the other five kept going.

“How much do you wear?” Seamus asked. “I think we are eight layers deep so far!”

“We are not!” I said, rescuing a vulnerable button holding my underwear together from a boy and undoing it myself, “I am only wearing three layers right now. Or, I was,” I said, as my underwear dropped to the ground. It did look to be a large pile of clothes.

I looked around. I was actually finished before some of the Elves. Elves are funny, very, very modest; they didn’t even look at each other while they changed.

As I walked to the railing, I noticed all of the other Dwarves staring at me from the railing or the deck. The men seemed very interested, but not surprised; the boys all stared in shock, and began talking animatedly to each other.

I did not jump down into the water like most of the others. My gang had me climb carefully down a rope ladder. I could see the Captain himself watching me carefully, and a couple of the Fishermen in the water seemed to be hovering around the bottom of the ladder. I suppose they weren’t at all used to people that couldn’t swim. A Fisher baby can swim as soon as it is born… indeed some are born in the water. They can hold their breath practically forever, too, clinging to their Mother while she dives.

Not Dwarves--we avoided water except for drinking and, occasionally, bathing.

The water was cold as it washed over me while I climbed the last few feet. I envied the Fisherboys’ fat layer and protective skin. The Farmer lads were less solidly built than I was, though, and they enjoyed it, so I figured I would learn to get over the cold.

The cold wasn’t as much of a problem, I soon decided, as the banging of the waves. I clung to the ladder, and the waves kept bumping me against the boat. Once I could swim, I thought, I would have to jump off the edge like everyone else. This was annoying.

The Fisherboys saw my difficulty. Prying my fingers loose, they towed me by brute force away from the boat. There they formed a ring around me and let me go, obviously figuring that I would swim naturally.

I didn’t. I sank.

They pulled me up quickly. They knew that people of other races couldn’t hold their breath well, and had no idea how long a Dwarf could do so. We can actually hold our breath rather well, as we sometimes had to do so in the caves. Nevertheless, I was glad to be pulled up.

They repeated this exercise several times in amazement before finally concluding that I wouldn’t learn to swim naturally. Finally they got an Elf boy to come over.

“Hi, I’m Tollentri. I understand you are having a hard time learning to swim?”

“They haven’t taught me anything--they have just let go!” These were the first words I had managed since getting in the water. I hadn’t learned the trick of how to speak without getting water in my mouth.

“Ah, well, that is very natural for Fisherboys. Indeed most of the races do swim naturally. But the Farmer boys need to be taught, and I imagine a Horseboy would too.”

With those words he proceeded to teach me to swim. The teaching went well, except for one thing. I could perform all of the actions well enough, but as soon as my gang let go of me, I sank. By sheer force and action, I could keep myself up for several seconds, but then I sank. As I got better the seconds stretched into a minute or two, but I still sank.

This was frustrating. I was enjoying being in the water. I wasn’t cold anymore, and could talk without getting a mouthful of salt water. I couldn’t expect the boys to tow me around the whole time, though. I could see all of my Dwarf boy friends watching me from the railing, and they looked as disappointed as I felt.

“I guess you’re too heavy!” Seamus said, after watching me try again. He had been watching me off and on, taking turns with his friends, and had just recently come up from a dive.

“Yes. Now I know why Dwarves don’t swim. I suppose from now on I will just watch from on deck, like I did before.”

“Hey!” he responded. “We’re not done yet.”

At this he turned and spoke to one of his friends in Fisherman, a language I spoke not at all. Then turning to me, he said, “Come here, we have something else to try.”

“OK,” I said, and began splashing after him. Two of his friends, laughing, grabbed me by the arms and pulled me along.

“I’ll teach you some more when you come back,” was Tollentri’s farewell.

“OK,” I said spluttering as I got a mouthful of water for my pains.

We reached the ladder, and I gratefully grabbed the rungs, holding on for a minute before starting to climb up. Near the top, I watched Seamus duck into a porthole. Seconds later, I was clambering in myself. Climbing through small spaces was nothing to a Dwarf boy, but as I wasn’t used to doing it soaking wet and on something that rocked back and forth, I tumbled to the floor.

“You all right?” Seamus asked, picking me up.

“Oh, sure. I just wish these boats stayed still. Just then a Fisherwife came in through another door, a door which I knew came up from below where the women were busy with their fish; hauling them up from the men and boys below, and gutting and salting them. She too was dripping wet, but came over quickly to where we were. She and Seamus held an animated conversation in Fisherman and she went over to a footlocker under one of the tables.

The Fisherwife returned and measured me as for a suit of clothes. I stood, exhausted, hardly bothering to even wonder what it was about. About the time she was done, I heard the Captain and First Mate calling swimmers out of the water, and Seamus and I went back to the deck via a flight of stairs instead of the rope ladder. Several times while I was being measured Dwarf girls came into the room, saw Seamus and I, and ducked hurriedly out. Before we were done the room was filling with girls from other races, who stared at us curiously but who were otherwise unconcerned.

“What was that about?” I asked Seamus.

“You’ll see later,” he assured me, grinning.

As I dressed I worried about how I was going to face the other Dwarves, but I had only gotten my underwear on when Father came over to me, “Well, my Son, how did it go?”

I could tell from the look on his face that he knew it had not gone well.

“My Father, it was difficult. But Seamus has asked his Mother to do something for me.”

He continued debriefing me for quite a while after that, especially as to why we had gone inside. Apparently he passed the word because, for the rest of that day, I got many appalled looks, many more admiring looks, but no questions.

The gang didn’t leave me alone either, so I went to bed that night exhausted but eager for the next noon and finding out what the great plan was.

In the event it was before noon that I found out what Seamus and his Mother had planned. About ten o’clock one of the gang, by name of George, came running up to me. “Lisa wants you down in the common room.”

I had learned yesterday that ‘Lisa’ was Seamus’ Mother’s name, so I went eagerly. When I got there she was standing where we had stood yesterday with one of her daughters, holding something. When I came up she said, “Take your clothes off.”

I did so, much to the distress of several Dwarf females who hurried out, and to the interest of various others in the room. I was curious. What did she have in her hand?

When I had undressed I found out. The daughter, who had apparently made the object, started fitting it on me. It fit reasonably well, but what was it? It was made out of some smooth leather, and had a whole series of bladders sewn onto it.

The women ignored me, running their hand over the garment, and making comments about taking this in here, and letting that out there, and so I had time to think about it. This was good because when they took it off to make the adjustments, George, who had stood by, asked, “Well, what do you think?”

“I hope it will work.”

And work it did. Lisa and Gayle, her daughter, fitted it nicely and came up on deck (to the consternation of several of the others) to help me get it on for swimming. Encouraged by my gang, I went to the rail and jumped into the water. I plunged beneath, saw several eyes watching me from there, and then sprang again to the surface like a cork out of a bottle. The gang crowded round and Tollentri came back, “Well, maybe my lessons will bear more fruit today.”

They did: in no time I was splashing back and forth. I was the slowest swimmer but by far the happiest.

Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!

Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.

If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!

If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.

Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books include:

The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid

The Bobtails and the Cousins

The Bobtails go to France

and

No Ordinary School

Arthur also has a substack, and a website.

Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,

Von

Links

Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.

The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.

Book 3: Dwarves and Dragons

Dwarves and Dragons Intro

Looking Down on Happiness

Appeal

Gang of Helpers

Pre-immersion

Keeping my Head above Water

Links

Book 2: Come the day

Book 3: Dwarves and Dragons

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