BRUNO
“What are the rules?” Bruno quizzed Gil as he came around the car to intercept the boy.
“DON’T SHIFT.”
“What else?” Bruno had to repeat the question, because Gil stopped and stooped to pick up an acorn from on top of a snowbank. “Please don’t put that in your nose,” he added with a sigh.
“It would fit,” Gil said, looking quizzically up at Bruno as if that was a sensible reason to do it. He dropped it anyway. “Be NICE to the teacher.”
“She’s doing this as a huge favor,” Bruno reminded him. “Don’t make her regret it.”
The YMCA was technically closed, but the side door was unlocked, as Vivian had promised. Bruno and Gil slipped in with a swirl of the cold outdoor air that turned visible in the warm moisture of the activity center.
“Hang on!” Bruno said; Gil was already stripping out of his clothing. “We do that in the locker room.”
“The LOCKED room?”
“Locker room!” Bruno found the marked door and ledGil in. There was a gawky teenaged boy putting a toddler into a swim diaper who looked up in alarm at their entrance.
“HI JACKSON!” Gil said cheerily. “It’s JACKSON. And DELIRIOUS!”
“Darius,” the boy said with a groan. “It’sDarius.” He frowned at Bruno. “Hi.” Bruno had heard a fair amount about Darius, but had only met him in a few times in passing; Jackson attended Tiny Paws, and Theo, their dad, was one of his clients.
Bruno picked a locker and stuffed the swim bag into it, then remembered that he needed the swimsuits from the bottom. He hung up the towels while he was unpacking the bag, and handed Gil his trunks.
It had been a long time since he’d been to a pool, and Bruno dressed awkwardly, while Gil gleefully shed his clothing all over the wet floor and pulled on his swim shorts. “Could we do this without making a giant mess for me to pick up?” Bruno asked in exasperation.
“YES,” Gil said unhelpfully.
They all rinsed off in the shower room, Jackson shrieking in glee and clapping.
“No running,” Darius said, holding the little boy’s hand firmly when he would have toddled to the pool door at full speed. He had a good grip on the boy and Jackson protested being held back shrilly.
“Jackson wants to go SWIMMING!” Gil observed, bolting for the door himself.
“No running!” Bruno said. “Do I have to hold your hand, too?”
“I’m not a BABY!” Gil snorted, but it didn’t slow him down any, and Bruno had to sprint to catch him and take him by the hand after all.
The poolside was already busy and Bruno recognizedmost of them. Lucy was as far away from the water as she could get, her stepmother, Olivia, trying in vain to coax her closer. Tara and Franzi were sitting together at the edge of the pool with their feet dangling in, whispering together. A Black woman that Bruno didn’t know was there with Gabby. She was one of only a few who didn’t have a distinctive shifter tingle and she was clearly trying not to stare at everyone. A big blond man was bouncing a struggling penguin in his arms.
A woman in a racing suit with no child of her own was standing at the edge of the pool. “Hi. I’m Betsy. I hope that you have all gone over the facility rules that we’re breaking here. I’m going to go around and get a quick assessment of everyone’s skill level and shift form before we get started. Can you tell me your name, sweetheart?”
Lucy only glared, clearly not cooperative.
“This is Lucy,” Olivia said for her. “She’s a squirrel, and she’s never been swimming. She’s a little scared.”
“I’M NOT SCARED,” Lucy shouted.
Not to be left out, Gil volunteered, “I’M NOT SCARED, EITHER.”
“It’s not our turn yet,” Bruno reminded him.
“I was scared,” Betsy said kindly, ignoring Gil. “The first time I went swimming, I thought water was very scary.”
“WATER ISN’T SCARY!” Gil shouted.
“I’m not scared,” Lucy said, near tears.
