Chapter 13: All In

For my next session with Luke, I decided to take old Mrs. Rosa’s advice and open up a little. Instead of a raft, I brought a kickboard. This time, I tried not to worry about what I looked like in a bathing suit and hopped in the water. Again, we started with Luke kicking while holding onto the wall.

“We can try the kickboard. It should hold you better than the raft,” I said. Luke looked skeptical at the hard blue board I placed in front of him. I demonstrated how he could start by holding it under his chest and kick.

I handed him the board, and he kicked along the wall. When he started to feel more confident, he ventured further into the middle of the pool while I swam beside him. Soon he was holding the board out and dipping his head in like he had been on the wall.