Mason is on the junior high swim team, and he wants to get more competitive. He’s decent at sprints, now trying to improve his endurance to do the longer races. Especially because an older boy on the team is egging him on. He decides to put in extra practice hours by swimming on a local lake, with his best friend accompanying him in a kayak, for safety reasons. He promises his buddy that he’ll help him learn his lines in return- the friend is a “drama geek”, practicing for an upcoming play. But as Mason starts to see some success from his extra practice work, he keeps wanting to do more and more, and doesn’t really hold up to the bargain to his friend. He shrugs it off, assuming his friend will do fine without rehearsing extra, and when they have a fight about it, Mason goes out to swim on the lake alone. That’s when the wind and rain come up, and he gets into trouble.
This was another well-written one. I liked it, particularly because I could relate so well. I used to be on swim team myself, in high school. So all the details about how Mason was trying to get perfect form, with the way and shape his arms moved through the water, close timing of the flip turns, and so on- I knew exactly what that was about. It brought up a lot of memories, cutting through the water. (I was never a distance swimmer though!)
Borrowed from the public library.
