My name is Flo and I have a little sister called Iggy.
Iggy was learning to swim. Dad said she was taking her time about it. This was because Iggy pretended to swim by walking about in the shallow end and doing all the right things with her arms.
âThe top half has got it,â said Dad, âbut somebody forgot to tell the legs.â
Iggy didnât think her legs needed to be told.
âLook,â she said. âSwimming is easy.â And she hopped from one foot to the other and flapped her arms about.
Dad said she looked like a duck coming in to land.
Mum said, âIggy, that isnât swimming.â
âYes it is,â Iggy said.
I was keeping out of it.
On the way home on the bus, Iggy was falling asleep. Dad said she was tired from all her underwater running.
âIâm not tired,â Iggy said, opening one eye and then closing it again. âAnd I wasnât running.â
âWhat are we going to do with you?â said Mum. âHow are we going to teach you to swim?â
âI can swim,â Iggy said.
âHalf of you can,â Dad said. Iggy folded her arms and turned away.
âHow did I learn to swim?â I said.
âWe dropped you in the water when you were a baby,â Dad said.
Iggy sniggered and then pretended it was a snore.
âDad!â I said. âThatâs not very nice!â
âWe didnât drop you,â Mum said, elbowing Dad. âWe were in the pool with you and we let you go.â
âIs that allowed?â I said.
Mum said, âWe went to special classes. We didnât just throw you in.â
Dad said that all babies knew how to swim if you just dunked them in and helped them to remember.
Mum said, âBabies are surrounded by water when theyâre in the womb.â
I looked at Mumâs tummy. Iggy opened her eyes again.
âWhy didnât you do that to Iggy?â I said.
âWe tried,â said Mum. âBut she didnât like it.â
âYou didnât like it,â said Dad.
âShe was crying,â Mum said.
âScreaming,â said Dad.
âIggy didnât take to it like you, Flo,â said Mum. âYou were a little fish.â
Iggy sat up straight on the bus seat. She said, âI donât want to be a fish. Whoâd want to be a fish?â
âExactly,â said Dad. âWho wants to be a fish when they can be a piglet?â And he tickled her until she snorted.
Later that week, Iggy had her first swimming lesson. I went with Mum to watch while Dad was at work.
It was in a secret, special pool that was hidden from all the other pools. You wouldnât know it was there. It was small and there was no deep end â you could stand anywhere in it. And the water was warm, nearly hot, like a bath.
There were four other people in Iggyâs class:
a boy with Spider-man goggles and Incredible Hulk trunks;
a girl with orange hair and an orange bikini, who cried and wouldnât look at the water;
a girl with a special float-suit on that meant she couldnât sink, and which was probably cheating;
and a boy from school called James, who was wearing pink armbands and looked even crosser than Iggy.
âI want to go home,â Iggy said. âI donât like swimming lessons.â
âYouâve never had one before,â Mum said. âYou might like it.â
Iggy frowned and put her towel over her head. âI donât want one,â she said.
âToo late,â said Mum. âI just paid for six.â
It was really hot in there with all our clothes on, and a bit funny-smelling, of pool water and other things. I took my coat off. The floor was wet so I had to keep it on my knee which was just as hot as wearing it. Everyoneâs mums and dads and brothers and sisters were sitting on a bench at the side of the room. We were waiting for the teacher.
The orange haired girl still wasnât looking at the water. The boy in the goggles was fiddling with his trunk;
Jamesâs mum was blowing up his armbands till they were too tight for him to take off. Iggy was hiding under her towel.
When the teacher came in she looked a bit like a mermaid. She had long wavy hair like mermaids do. She was wearing flip-flops and a red T-shirt that said LITTLE SPLASHERS on it in yellow writing. She got in the water with her T-shirt on.
Iggy appeared from under her towel at the sound of flip-flops. âIs she allowed to do that?â she said.
âI suppose so,â said Mum.
The teacherâs name was Sasha. She called the class over to sit on the edge of the pool. The orange girlâs mum had to go with her. You could see she was worried about her clothes getting wet.
âLetâs see what you can do,â Sasha said.
The orange girl did crying on dry land.
The floating girl did floating.
The boy with the goggles did splashing his brother.
James did doggy paddle and swallowing too much water.
And Iggy did running on the spot and flapping her arms.
âVery good,â said Sasha.
Iggy looked at us and pulled a face that said, âSee? I told you I could swim.â