Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great Read Online Free PDF

be in big trouble."
     
        "You're not going to drown. I already told you that. And once you learn how to swim you'll be able to save yourself so there won't be anything for you to worry about."
     
        "Who says I'm worried? I never worry!" I said.
     
        "That's swell," Marty told me.
     
        "Did you mean it when you said if I learn to swim I'll be able to save myself?"
     
        "Yes," Marty said.
     
        "Well . . . as long as I'm here I guess I might as well. So go ahead, teach me! But remember, I Won't put my face in the water."
     
        Marty sighed. "All right . . . I'll teach you with your face out of the water,"
     
        "But you said you couldn't teach me that way!"
     
        "Well, I just remembered I can. I'll teach you to swim like a dog."
     
        "I don't want to swim like a dog!" I said. "I don't even like dogs!"
     
        "Maybe you'll like them when you learn how to swim like one," Marty said, smiling.
     
        He gave me a kickboard. He taught me how to hang on with my hands and kick with my legs. At first I wasn't even a good kicker; I only used one leg. I kept the other one on the bottom of the pooi because I felt safer that way. I was hoping I could fool Marty into thinking I was using both of them. But it didn't work. He said, "That's not bad, Sheila. But this time let's use both feet, okay?"
     
        So, for the first time in my life, I took both feet off the bottom of the pool and I kicked. And I didn't sink, But I knew that was because I was hanging onto the kickboard. If I didn't have that I'd be on the bottom in a second.
     
        My lesson lasted half an hour and all I had to do was practice kicking. When it was over I told Marty it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He said he'd see me tomorrow, same time.
     
        I ran over to my mother and she said she was proud of me, even though I didn't put my face in. I told her Marty said I didn't have to. And that I'd never have to because he was going to teach me to swim like a dog and dogs are very good swimmers. . . everyone knows that! My mother looked at me funny and said, "Well, you and Jennifer have something in common after all, don't you?"
     
        But I didn't answer. Because I heard someone calling "Sunny Sheila Tubman . . . Sunny Sheila Tubman. . . watch this!"
     
        I looked up at the high diving board and saw Betsy
     
        Ellis. And if Betsy was at the pool Mouse probably was too. Did she see me in the water with Marty? I hope not. But I guess now she won't want to be my friend anyway. So what's the difference if she did see me!
     
        Betsy called me one more time, then she did a perfect dive into the water. I couldn't believe it. "Did you see that?" I asked my mother. "She's only four years old!"
     
        "Beautiful, wasn't it?" Mom said. "I hear she's a champion swimmer."
     
        "I don't see her anywhere," I said, searching the pool. "Do you suppose she's all right? Shouldn't she be up by now?"
     
        "There she is," Mom said, pointing. "She swam right across under water."
     
        I wondered if maybe Marty could teach me to swim like that. I could just see myself as a swimming champion. I would learn to do the most beautiful dives anyone ever saw. I would be able to swim back and forth in the pool at least twenty times without running out of breath. Mouse would beg me to be her friend. People frQm all over would come to watch me on Sundays. And Marty would tell them, She's remarkable. . . she couldn't swim at all when she came here . And of course I would be able to do everything without ever getting my face wet. I'll bet there isn't a dog anywhere who can dive without wetting his face.
     
     
     
Chapter Six
     
     
        THAT night, after supper, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," I hollered, running to see who it was.
     
        It was Mouse. "Hi," she said. "Come on out."
     
        I opened the screen door and stepped outside onto the