The Swimmer

Jammy Doggs stepped into sea and waded out, the pull of the waves sweet against his legs.

He bent to feel the water between his fingers, test the temperature against the eighty years of sea wisdom he held in his heart.

The gentle fog rolled across the waves, cool and lovely.

The white sand shone below the clear water, a school of minnows darting this way and that, moving as one.

He walked on, his feet raising clouds of sand smoke trailing behind him.

The cool water lapped against his waist and started the three shocks: first to the groin, second to the chest, and finally to the head.

Then he was swimming, free as any fish or dolphin, though not as skilled.

He drifted down to the bottom, turned to look up through the water at the moment the sun burned through the fog.

This beauty caused his soul to sing as it always had.

What Pegman Saw: Florida

inlinkz frog

14 comments

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  1. Prior...

    Hi – at first I thought our man was going to die.
    Goodness I am sad that my mind went there – but maybe because he was 80 and maybe because sometimes these fiction pieces have such drama.
    Instead, you allowed us to feel the beauty of a swim
    not just any swim.
    But one in the clear and wonderful water found in the keys.
    and seriously – to think of the Florida keys is to think water and beauty.
    and then you allowed us in on this soul-singing experience with your descriptions –
    and then little key words let us know this is familiar to this man – “as he always had” which does add a lot.
    lastly, reminds us that the most contented people know that most of the best things to experience are free – and to feel the indulgence in ocean swimming demos this…

  2. crimsonprose

    Years since I swam in the sea, but your words brought back the memory. Only one difference. I swam in the North Sea. The cold shocks start as soon as out of the shallows

Don't just stand there.