Barbara woke up to a loud splash just below her window. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Six am. Monday morning.
"I am on my first day of holidays and I wake up at six in the morning!" She was pissed. She kicked off her covers and walked up to the window to see what caused the splash. Looking out of the window saw her neighbour Mr Kelly, doing laps in his backyard pool. He was a retired military person of some sorts and he kept himself in a great physical shape. He was a Major Sergeant or a Sergeant Major or something like that. She did not know and she did not really care. But this morning, there was something different. She was hypnotised by his powerful strokes as he quickly made his way up and down the lap pool in his backyard. At first Barbara though that he was swimming naked, but as she watched him straighten up and turn around, she saw that he was wearing very brief swimmers. The idea of seeing him naked turned her on. She wandered what he would look like down there, but he did not stop long enough for her to have a good look. Barbara never saw a naked man. Not one fully grown. Not one as well grown as this man was.
Barbara was not a very pretty girl. A little pudgy, with straight dirty brown hair and brown eyes she did not really turn heads. She was an only child of very conservative parents and she never found it easy making friends or meeting people. She managed to get through school. Not the greatest of students. Just one of the pack. Last week she finished her final year exams. On Saturday, her parents took her for a celebratory dinner in a fancy five star restaurant. She sipped some wine and really enjoyed the fancy food and the attention from her parents. On Sunday they all went to church and after had a special barbeque lunch at home.
Now it is Monday morning. Still three weeks to go for the school holidays to start for the rest of the younger kids and Barbara realised that she had nothing to do. She did not have many close friends. None so close that she would call the daily for a chat or to hang out with. They met at school, but now there was no school, and she realised she did not even know where some of them lived.
Also, some of the kids from school were rich and the parents send them on a holiday abroad. Some were poor and already organised summer work. Barbara did not have to work. Her parents made enough money, but not so much that they could send her for a holiday. So now she was at home, alone, with nothing to do.
Barbara headed for the bathroom, but when she returned she continued to stare at Mr Kelly swimming laps in his pool. For 30 minutes, she watched Mr Kelly swim laps in his pool. At exactly 6.30am, Mr Kelly stopped, walked out of the pool and dried himself. She could not see him properly, because he was now hidden by a tree growing on the fence line, but she still watched him towel his body vigorously through the leaves and then hang the towel to dry on the clothes line. He disappeared inside his house. The show was over.
Barbara dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and came out of her bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast. Her mother was already getting the lunches ready for herself and the father, while quickly trying to eat her breakfast. They exchanged good mornings as Barbara started foraging through the pantry looking for a suitable breakfast. She pulled out a cereal box and made herself a bowl of cereal with some fruit.
"Mum," Barbara started, carefully chewing on her cereal. "Can I go and buy myself a swimming costume?"
"But we do not have a pool," her mother answered, "And you know how dangerous the public pool is. And with all the poor children going there now. There is either too much chlorine in the water, or you end up catching some nasty virus." She finished her speech, totally ignoring the snobbery of her remark and the contradiction of her logic. She packed the lunch for her and her husband and disappeared to finish getting dressed.
In the meantime Barbara's father walked in, already fully dressed and ready for work. They exchanged their morning hellos and he sat down to eat his breakfast.
"Dad," Barbara started again, "Can I go and buy myself a swimming costume?"
"What did your mother say?" he replied cautiously.
"She said to ask you?" Barbara skilfully replied.
"Well, you know I do not approve of people parading themselves half naked in public. You can buy it, but only for the back yard. And you know we do not have a pool. And I definitely do not want you to go to that public pool. That place is a disgrace. I think the government is set to build a new Sodom and Gomorrah in our town."
Barbara fell silent. She knew the story. She heard it before. Lots of her friends went to the public pool, and they were fine. They did not catch some horrible disease, nor did they expose themselves in public, for the whole world to see. They had change rooms, and it was forbidden to swim naked in the pool. She knew, because last year she managed to talk her way onto the house swimming and learned how to swim. At the same public pool her parents were so adamantly against.
She managed to persuade her teacher how desperate she was to learn to swim and how her parents did not understand. Eventually she faked the permission slip signature and the teacher did not push the story too far to confirm that the signature was genuine. She even loaned Barbara a pair of swimmers, because she actually felt very sorry for her and was keen to teach Barbra to swim. In the end, Barbara's parents never found out. But now, she still did not have a costume to swim in.
She finished her breakfast in silence, watched her parents pack and leave for work, telling her to enjoy her break, because in three months, she will be back at university, studying again.
"Time to recharge you batteries dear. There are plenty of leftovers to eat in the fridge for you. See you tonight for dinner," her mother told her. They both kissed her goodbye and drove off in the one family car, leaving her alone in the empty house. It took Barbara three hours, to build up enough courage to walk out of the house and knock on the Mr Kelly's front door. It was the 11 o'clock chime, that finally made her decide to overcome her shyness, and give her the courage to go.
His front door were painted dark brown and looked extremely solid. She reached out and banged on the door using the heavy brass knocker. The noise frightened her and the knocker slid out of her hand and banged on the door again. She froze at the additional noise the knocker made as it slipped out of her hand. Will he get angry at her impatience? She was starting to worry, but after a while, she realised that he may not even be home. She banged again and again but there was no sound emanating from the house. The curtains were closed and the house was quiet.
She walked back out onto the street and looking down the street, she saw Mr Kelly getting onto a bus to the city. No swimming at his pool either. Dejected she walked back to her parent's house and up to her bedroom. Longingly she looked at the pool next door and then fell face first into bed. She was not sure how long she was there feeling sorry for herself and her loneliness, but suddenly an idea popped into her head. An idea, which changed her life forever.