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She cocked her head to one side as she considered this, and then smiled and said,“Sure. Here I come, Max.” And with these simple words she stepped into the pool and made her way over to where I was stuck in the middle. “Take my paw and let go,” she said encouragingly when I stiffened. I tentatively took her paw and allowed myself to be dunked into the water. There was amomentary sense of panic when the water threatened to close over my head, but Fifi had me covered and she easily lifted me onto her back.

“How do you do that?” I asked in wonder.

“Water makes you float, Max,” she said. “So even if you’re not the world’s, um, thinnest cat, in the water it doesn’t matter.” And to prove her point she bucked her hips and I floated up and down a little, and I have to confess the sensation wasn’t all that bad!

“Hey, this is pretty fun,” I said. The water was cool, and after a day spent in the sun, that was pretty… cool.

“Let’s wade around a little,” she said, and took me by the paws and started dragging me through the pool.

“Um… maybe we better get to shore now,” I said after a while.

“Just trust me, Max,” she said, and so we waded a little while longer, and since I’d lost a goodish deal of fur around the midsection I wasn’t weighted down by the water as much as I would have been under normal circumstances. In fact I felt light as a feather, and I have to tell you that this was a pretty good feeling for a big-boned cat like me!

“And?” said Fifi after a while. “Had enough?”

“Yeah,” I said with a grunt of satisfaction. “I think that’ll do for now.”

When she’d led me to shore, and I’d scrabbled out over the edge of the inflatable pool, she shook herself like only dogs can, and so I mimicked her movement and found that it was a pretty effective way of losing all that excess water in next to no time.

“And that concludes your first swimming lesson,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks, Fifi,” I said. “I actually enjoyed that.” And I meant it, too. I mean, I’ll probably never be the new Michael Phelps, but it wasn’t half as bad as I’d expected.

“You’re welcome,” said Fifi, then glanced over to her own backyard, where Kurt had started yelling, “Fifi? Fifi, where are you, sweet girl?”

“I better get back,” she said.

“Thanks for saving my life,” I said, and gave her a heartfelt pat on the back.

“No sweat,” she said. “Neighbors have to be there for each other, right?”

I watched her trip off into her backyard, and I heard Kurt say,“Where were you, sweetheart? I was looking all over for you,” and smiled.

And as I stepped back, I accidentally hit the inflatable pool with my hind paw. And out of sheer habit, I kicked out, extending my nails as I did. There was a slight hissing sound, and as I turned around, I watched the inflatable pool collapse like a souffl?, the water pouring out and flooding Odelia’s nice little lawn.

Oops…

Chapter 24

The following morning Chase decided to take his morning exercises outside. And as he stepped out into the backyard, his bare feet encountered a splashy sensation and he found himself standing in an inch of water.

He frowned and glanced down. Huh. How strange. He then looked up at the sky, wondering if it had rained that night.

Nope. The sky was as clear a blue as ever.

And he’d just begun with his jumping jacks when he saw it: the inflatable pool had collapsed into a heap of plastic.

“Oh, darn,” he muttered. Apparently his inflatable pool repair skills weren’t as good as he thought after all. The stickers he’d glued in place must have come unstuck again.

Tex, who’d stepped outside to take in some of that bracing cool morning air, came over for a chat. “Hey, buddy,” said the doctor. “Is it true that Vesta was caught last night trying to break into the Garibo factory?”

“Yeah, we had to go and bail her out,” said Chase, performing his jumping jacks while trying to maintain a conversation with his future father-in-law, which was always a challenge.

Tex gave him a censorious look.“You should be careful not to overexert yourself there, bud. In this kind of weather physical activity isn’t advised.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Chase, a little breathless now.

“I’m a doctor, Chase,” said Tex sternly. Like most doctors he didn’t like his well-meant medical advice to be brushed aside this casually. “So I think I know what I’m talking about.”

“Thanks, Dad,” said Chase, causing the other man to wince. “The day is still early, so I’ll be fine.”

“Mh,” said Tex skeptically, and disappeared again.

Moments later, Marge appeared.“Tex tells me you’re putting yourself at risk, Chase,” she said as she watched him touch the toes of his feet with the tips of his fingers. “Maybe you should listen to him. He’s a doctor, you know, so he knows what he’s talking about.”

“It’s fine, Mom,” said Chase, causing his future mother-in-law to wince. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Mh,” said Marge, clearly not convinced, and withdrew.