THE END…
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee
Up on the hill sand was spread all around
To be leveled flat for an above ground pool
The guy ran here, ran there …all the while leveling…
He hurried as fast as he could… he had other things to do
Forgetting all that… had been done for him
Her confidence faded quickly as she watched him work
No, this guy doesn’t know what he is doing
He is throwing a shovel of sand here, there
She felt disappointment in being led to believe
In him, when he said he’d level the sand for the pool
He began to smoke a cigarette, his body language
Showing he was already gone with his money
He didn’t do very much more
She went ahead, paid him… tried to smooth, level
The sand as best she could… she couldn’t
The guy left, I tried to even the ground the best I could. I didn’t have the strength it took to move the sand. I did a little each day until the morning the water truck came.
The water guy was nice as could be; he talked while he pumped the water. He was sorry that the pool collapsed the first time, wasting $225.00 for 3200 gallons of water. Sorry, but… it was our loss, his gain.
This was the second time in 3 weeks he made $225.o0 for water… we purchased from him.
The swimming pool was filling nicely when… all of a sudden, the pool wall collapsed with the weight of the water. It wasn’t level once again.
I tried to grab the wall to keep the water from rushing out. The pain was excruciating… I wasn’t strong enough to do it. All the while my mind was thinking of all the waste… all the waste of money we could have used for something else we needed more.
Skip was trying so hard to give me something to make me happy. A place to go, get into the warm water to help take some of the ‘always’ pain in this body of mine… away.
Oh, how much that meant to me… I could go, get into the water that was made warm by the kisses of sunshine! To ease the pain in my body…
Oh, no! It wasn’t going to happen! That beautiful swimming pool threw my ass out over the wall…. smashed me down on the sand!
The beautiful, clear water rushed out over my head trying to drown me… I was even looking upward …through it. I could see the sun shining through it… sending me kisses as I drowned!
I felt the sand burn my knees, my arms. I felt it meet my head as it slammed to the ground! I floundered like a whale that was grounded ashore…. get up! Get up! You are going to drown!
Thank-God, I knew how to hold my breath! As soon as I could get out of that torrent of rushing water, I jumped up. Pain shot through my body…. my knees, arms burning from the sand as it took its best shot at me, too!
Damn it! Oh, damn it! I thought this as I quickly looked around to see if someone was seeing this latest fiasco! I looked in three possible directions to see if I saw a grinning face looking at me.
Oh, thank-God, no one’s looking… unless they are looking out their windows. Oh Lord, I thought… please don’t let anyone see me like this! It’s hard to be proud… when you’ve made an ass of yourself in front of… God, and everyone.
I grabbed the pool wall, fought like a banshee to pull it back up to stop the gushing water… to stop the waste of such beautiful, precious, clear water! It worked… I felt the extra pain in this ‘old’ body! But… it worked!
I cut my eyes this way… that way to see if someone had appeared to see ‘if I was alright’. No… no one was there… so, I ‘drowned’, no one was there to save me. I took my drowned self right into the house, sand… and all!
I didn’t care if water dripped to the floor, I hurt… and I was mad! But… thank-God, I saved so much of that expensive water!!! I was happy though … I was sad to lose any of it.
I got into the shower… thinking about the ‘beauty’ of such an awful experience! Yes… I even saw beauty in it! The sunshine was sending me kisses through that beautiful, crystal-clear water! I felt the warmth of it as it tried to drown me! I was going to die beautifully… all the while the sun was kissing me! Death while being kissed by the sunshine… filtering through crystal-clear water.
I began bathing the sand off my body, that was in shock from the assault of the sand on my very flesh! It hurt, it stung, it made me mad as a hornet! I was pissed… I don’t mind telling you. I’m trying not to be ugly about it at all. It’s just exactly how I felt… yep, that’s right. I told you that I’m not perfect at all… I get mad, too. I do say an occasional ‘bad’ word. I don’t mean to be ugly… it is what it is. Life is like this … sometimes.
Okay… by now… it seems like ‘I have had a lot of these times’… Come on Life… let me rest from all the things you toss at me. I’m a very strong person… but, be damned
)), I’m really tired, worn out. Give… me… a… break! You know how some people will yell, ‘bring it on’! I don’t… don’t bring it on… to me. I ‘can’t take anymore’!
My cell phone rang… I get out of the shower to answer it. It’s Skip asking me ‘what happened’? Our neighbors called him to say there is a flood of water coming down the hill toward their house! What!!!
I wrap a towel around me, run through the hall, to the window. What the hell! The swimming pool couldn’t stay up, could it? It had to go and collapse behind my back! All my beautiful, crystal-clear water… was … all gone. All gone… all my sun-kissed water had flowed on to better places, warming the ground along its way.
Dejected… I turn, walk slowly back to the bathroom to dress. My skin was burning where the sand rubbed my skin raw. I don’t have a swimming pool, anymore. It had… meant the world to me. It had made my body feel good for … that one good time.
Skip told me he was going to hire someone else to level the sand, and it was going to be filled up again! I was very happy… but, I told him that was a lot of money to spend once again on water! He said he’d do what he had to do to earn it. He earned it through sickness, and going through a lot… it hurt my heart.
$300.00 for the pool… $150.00 for the sand… $225.00 for the water. For a simple (did I say simple?!!!) little 3 1/2 x 15 ft. above the ground swimming pool! A kiddie pool!!! Then, to have to… pay $225.00 plus …. $40.00 more, for the second time!
He hired a guy to come level the sand out. Oh yes! I know how to level the sand, he said! ‘We’ used to do it all the time! He told us this… like it was a regular thing he did. Why didn’t I feel anything, then? Too smooth…
The day came… he came. He began tossing a little dirt here… a little dirt there! With a flair, he whipped a little 12 inch level out, put it on the sand where he made a little ‘hole’. Put that level across that hole… each end touching sand…. ‘Yep! That’s level’!
I looked at him with surprise… I may be a woman, but… I’m not a fool. I told him that through the years I’ve been around my step-father when he built things… I even helped sometimes… I told him that’s not how you ‘level’ something.
He just kept tossing his little shovels of sand… here and there. Making a spectacle of how hard he was working to get it ‘just right’. The whole time, I watched him… ‘snake oil’…. ‘charming birds out of a tree’… I’m not fooled.
I saw some of his people waiting close by, wanting him to finish… to come on, let’s go! He began smoking that cigarette… he was through! That was all the work he was going to do… he wouldn’t hear that he hadn’t leveled the sand… in his mind, he did a good job.
His body language indicated he was through, he wanted his money; he wanted to run… why, he had things to do. Ta-ta! Goodbye! Good luck with your pool!
I felt anger inside… I thought to myself… you got away with this…’this time’… but, it’s THE END for all the things we did ‘before’… for you. Did you forget what we did from our hearts for you? That’s alright… no more. You took advantage of two good people… forgot all they ‘gave you… lent you’, never asking for anything in return. They just paid your ass $40.00 to smooth out… level sand… that was ‘almost level’ … to begin with!!!
The water guy came again… $225.00 once again went from my hand… to his hand. He began pumping that beautiful, crystal-clear water into the swimming pool. Oh, there’s something magical about crystal-clear water when there’s … lots of it. It makes me happy… don’t ask me ‘why’…
I stood on the opposite side of the pool…. of course… that’s where Life would have ‘me’ stand… to be sure I got my ‘Life’s experience’!!!
That pool filled half-way… and all of a sudden… it collapsed, water began rushing on me, trying to throw my ass down on that sand, wash ‘me’ downhill! I’m in shock… I’m increduous! I don’t believe what just happened!
I began trying to hold the wall up… to no avail. The water keeps on gushing out in a huge wave. I felt more pain from trying so hard to hold the wall up. Thank-you, Life… you got me again!!!
The water guy was so nice. He pulled the pool back… took a shovel, tried to level the sand. It was so hot, sweat poured down his face as he worked. I was sick inside… here we go again. I was mad at that guy for pretending he could do something he couldn’t….
The water guy goes back to turn the pump on… to fill the pool up. The pool filled up… looked whop-sided. I paid him, and thanked him for doing all he did.
When he left… I walked around that pool… more than one time. Disappointment… I was so dishearted, disappointed… the pool looked beautiful at one angle… the other side, it was wrinkled from lack of water filling it. From this particular angle… it felt like I was looking at a slingshot…. like it was saying… ‘get in me… I’m lined up, my walls are pressured just enough… to sling your ass down the hill this time! Just… you get… into me’!
I was ‘gun-shy’… I just could not get into that pool. I ‘knew’ Life was ‘waiting to give me another…. Life experience’! Didn’t I learn my lesson the first time? I learned I wasn’t going to do it again.
So… for weeks… I just looked at the ‘good side’ of the pool, enjoyed it being there. The only thing was… I had to see the ‘bad side’, too. It took all the pleasure away… it’s like the Salton Sea in California… beautiful to look at… but, there’s no life in it.
Skip and I discussed what to do… we decided to give the pool, and all its accessories … away. Life had taught us all we needed to know in this ‘pool experience’. It was time to … let go.
I pulled the plug, and took the hoses off… I let the water come out in three places… until it was almost empty. The water left in it looked so nice, clean… crystal-clear. I watched as all that beautiful water flowed in a ‘river’… downhill… I imagined having a creek that ran like that all the time… the creek dried up… 3200 gallons of water flowed away… once again.
I stood, watched the sun kiss it warm… I felt sadness in my heart. My pool… my new pool that meant a lot to me… was going to be given away. It seems there’s no relief for me… the pain in my body. I don’t drink, nor do I drug… oh, well.
The family came to take the pool away. I watched them as they emptied the rest of the water out. They folded it, all the while pressing air out of the ring… getting it ready for transport. They loaded it.
On the outside of the fence sat the beautiful, sturdy ladder, the thermometor to measure the temperature of the water… two floats, two noodles, two ‘surf’ boards… all new.
A new green tote with all the pieces to put the hoses, and such ..back on the pool. A manuel, and a brand-new pool cover were also, in the tote. Leaning on the fence a pole with the net to get leaves, debris out of the pool… in the tote; the vacuum accessory to use on the pole, also.
Also… leaning on the fence… a new kiddie pool… to fill with water so, one could rinse their feet before getting into the big pool.
I watched as they loaded all… they had two vehicles, both were full of … my beautiful swimming pool… my Life experience. I watched with sadness in my heart, tears in my eyes… as they drove off into the sunset to have… happy-everlasting pool experiences that …I didn’t get to have.
It was THE END…
****************************************************************Note: I had to put these two photos here… A special person on my Facebook page pointed out something to me, ha! Look at it, I’m sure you will agree with her. I did, when I read her words, looked again!
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Special Person: OMG.. it is the ‘The End” of the water hole.. the pic looks like they are talking to each other saying “I know there was a swimming pool here right?? Kissy, Chadwick did you see it? I know I’m not going crazy, I may have been really sick, but I know there was a pool here guys
))) Ha!
2 hours ago · Unlike · 1
Granny Gee Ha! Ha! Gail… that’s exactly what it looks like! That was so funny!
))
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Granny Gee That was just so cute, Gail. I’m going to have to add it in with
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Granny Gee ‘THE END’ photos of when the pool got gone!
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Special Person: The pups are still talking about it behind your back..Ha!!!!
2 hours ago · Unlike ·
