Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great Read Online Free PDF Page A

"Afraid! Me? Is that what you think?"
     
        Marty just smiled.
     
        "I am not afraid of anything!" I told him. "Nothing! I just think it's dumb of my mother to waste her money on swimming lessons. Because if I felt like it I could jump right in and swim as good as anybody!"
     
        "That's great," Marty said. "Tomorrow you can show me how you do that."
     
        I didn't answer him.
     
        That night Libby begged my parents for swimming lessons.
     
        "You swim very well now," Mom told her.
     
        "But think of all Marty could teach me," Libby said.
     
        "You don't need him to teach you anything," Daddy told her. "Now that's that!"
     
        "Sheila gets all the good things!" Libby cried. "It's not fair."
     
        "You can have my lessons," I said. "All fifteen of them."
     
        But Daddy and Mom said, "Oh no!" together.
     
        The next afternoon I told Mom that I had an awful stomachache and I couldn't possibly go to the pool. She gave me a spoon of pink peppermint stuff and told me I'd be fine in a few minutes.
     
        When we got to the pool I told her I had a sore throat and that people with sore throats shouldn't go swimming. Mom said it was probably just an allergy to the trees. Since when am I allergic to trees?
     
        I told her that I forgot my bathing cap so I wouldn't be able to put my head in the water. But she pulled out a new cap and said she brought one along just in case. And then she delivered me to Marty.
     
        He was waiting at the shallow end of the pool.
     
        "I don't feel very well," I told him.
     
        "You're just nervous," he said.
     
        "Me, nervous? That's very funny. I never get nervous!"
     
        "Good, I'm glad to hear that. It's much easier to work with a relaxed person than a nervous one."
     
        "Do nervous people sink in the water?" I asked.
     
        "Oh . . . sometimes," Marty said. "But I haven't lost more than three or four."
     
        I stepped away from him.
     
        "Hey, that's a joke, Sheila!"
     
        "I know," I said. "Don't you think I know a joke when I hear one?"
     
        "Come and sit down at the edge of the pool," Marty said, lowering himself into the water. "I'll get wet first."
     
        I wished there weren't so many people around. If I had to take lessons why couldn't I take them in the middle of the night when nobody could see me?
     
        "Now the first thing I'm going to show you is how to blow bubbles. Watch this." Marty put his face into the water and big bubbles came up. Soon he raised his head and said, "You see . . . you just blow bubbles. It's a cinch!"
     
        "I told you," I said. "I'm not putting my face into the water."
     
        "I can't teach you to swim if you don't."
     
        "Well then, I guess you won't be able to teach me." I stood up and started to walk away.
     
        "Wait a minute, Sheila!" Marty reached out and grabbed my ankle. "Get wet first . . . before you make up your mind."
     
        "My mind is made up," I said.
     
        "Well, get wet anyway. I might get fired if you don't at least get wet."
     
        I didn't want Marty to lose his job because of me so I walked down the three steps and stood in water up to my waist. "It's too cold for me," I said. "I'll get pneumonia or something. I'm getting out!"
     
        "Sheila! This pool must be eighty degrees today. You're not going to catch anything!"
     
        Marty scooped me up and started walking around the pool with me.
     
        I said, "Put me down. . . you put me down right now or I'll scream!"
     
        "If you do everyone will hear and look over to see what's going on. Is that what you want?"
     
        I think he's a mind reader. I hate him! "What are you going to do with me?" I asked.
     
        "Nothing. I just want you to get used to the water. And to see that I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
     
        "If I drown you're going to