I’m the nosiest man in the world. The weather was crappy but the kids wanted to go to the pool anyway. When we got there, the lifeguards were about to close up because no one was there. Then we showed up.
A few minutes later, a mother arrived with two blonde-haired twin boys. Maybe 11 or 12 years old. With a storm coming, surely they would jump in the pool and swim for the short time they had.
The mother had a brief word with them - something about making sure they were all on the same page.
And then each boy went to a different table and buried their heads inside their folded arms.
What’s happening? Why aren’t they swimming? Were they in some sort of trouble?
Dark clouds approached in the distance. There was not much time.
I may as well have cut little holes in my Real Simple magazine for better spying. Instead, I pretended to leaf through an article about summer face moisturizers. What! I was pretending!
Why weren’t they swimming? Why do I care so much? It was driving me crazy. What’s wrong with me? Why am I so nosy?
More importantly, why was my diabetes radar beeping off the charts?
Just then I heard something that made me tilt my head away from a delightful review of a French chamomile orange blossom facial cream. What!!!
I heard the mother on her cell phone.
"We’re at the pool, believe it or not. Just waiting for them to come up."
Them? Waiting for them to come up? Oh my god! Both of her boys have diabetes. How terrible. That explains my diabetes radar going nuts. I felt so bad for them. For her. Maybe I should talk to her. Tell her about Charlie. Let her know that I know what they’re going through. That we’ve been there. At the very least, I could share with her the instructions on how to make your own cucumber lilac body scrub.
After 20 minutes, the boys still sat with their heads on the table. Then 30 minutes. Charlie surely would have come up from a low by then, I thought. What is going on?
The boys then reached into a bag which I figured had to be their testing supplies. Instead, they pulled out sandwiches and began to munch away. No testing first. Just eating. The mother raised her head from her book for a moment, but only to remind them to throw out their Ziploc bags.
WHAT IS HAPPENING??????????
And then, suddenly, the boys raised their heads up and darted off to the entrance of the swim club.
Their friends finally arrived.
They came up ... (to the pool).
It pretty much consumes our life, does it not? ;)
We must work on your spying technique! What has obviously happened here was the kids were behaving horribly before going to the pool so they had to have a time out when they got there...then they had to have lunch. The mom had to call the dad to tell him that they had decided to go to the pool after all in spite of her threatening the kids not to go if they kept behaving so badly, it is easier to get them out of the house than to have them inside acting crazy! How do I know all of this when I am not even in the same state? Easy - I have a 12 year old boy! Now if you want to spy you will need to start with a better magazine...
We must work on your spying technique! What has obviously happened here was the kids were behaving horribly before going to the pool so they had to have a time out when they got there...then they had to have lunch. The mom had to call the dad to tell him that they had decided to go to the pool after all in spite of her threatening the kids not to go if they kept behaving so badly, it is easier to get them out of the house than to have them inside acting crazy! How do I know all of this when I am not even in the same state? Easy - I have a 12 year old boy! Now if you want to spy you will need to start with a better magazine...
Ha! Yes, my technique is a tad suspect. Maybe a more manly magazine like Car & Driver, Field & Stream or Tiger Beat.