Let's Pretend

Pool days are my favorite days!
​I like to go to the public pool, where I can make new friends and play games in the water.

Another kid is wheeling towards to pool. Her mermaid tail looks very real! 

​She climbs down from her wheelchair and sits next to me. 

"Do you want to play together?" I ask her.

She smiles and shakes her head up and down. That means that she wants to play. 

​I take off my prosthesis and leave it at the side of the pool.

Later, another kid swims up to us. He wants to play too.

"Can we pretend that we are in the ocean?" he asks. 

The girl gives us a very big grin.

​"That sounds like fun!" I say.

The three of us swim to the bottom of the pool. We don't see the smooth, white concrete pool bottom.

We see the ocean floor, full of color and shapes.

After while, we decide to play a new game.
I kick my foot and hold my hands up, like a fin. The boy begins to pretend too. Now, we are not kids.

We are dolphins. The girl laughs as she swims. She looks very happy.

Time for a few game!
​We swim to the surface of the water. The girl pretends to hold a telescope. "Ahoy!" I say. 

We are ship captains, searching for far away land.

The girl points to her wheelchair. It is time for her to go home.

We all get out of the pool to say goodbye. I ask her if she needs help taking off her mermaid tail. 

She smiles and shakes her head from side to side, kindly telling me 'No' without words.

Maybe that mermaid tail was real.
Maybe some things today were not pretend!

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