Chapter 10
Swim class was much harder today, even though he knew what was expected of him.
Colin’s muscles felt spongy and stubborn, as if they were reluctant to do what he told them.
Even the exercises that had been easy the previous day came with difficulty.
Just the same, it felt good to lose himself in the tasks.
He loved being in the pool, even more than the day before.
As if the experience was magnified, now that he knew what to expect.
He relished how total it was, how easy to set aside his project and his thoughts and even his father.
All of it washed away in the joy of being surrounded by the crystal blue.
Sometimes when he submerged himself and stayed under, Colin found himself thinking about his mother.
What surrounded him here, the light-filled water, the weightless joy, held a whisper of what she had found so special about the sea.
He had not been back to the beach since her death. He wondered if he ever would again.
When class was over, he took up the same position as the previous day, seated on the pool’s boundary, ignoring the shrill noise as all the other children were released for their Sunday swims. He swished his feet back and forth and thought on what it would be like to swim in the sea.
Moving along the border of thousands and thousands of miles of blue. The depths going down into blackness …
He was startled from his reverie by Mira leaning down beside him. “You were looking good out there today.”
“It felt a lot harder.”
“Sure, I get that. Your muscles are learning new rhythms. How do you feel?”
He liked that. Thinking of the swim strokes as rhythms. “I’m really tired now. But it’s a good tired.”
“Next week we start the breaststroke.” She crooked her arms, extended them fully at a forty-five-degree angle, then brought them together. “You’ll feel even worse after that, learning to push forward with your leg strokes.”
“I can’t wait.”
She slipped down beside him. “So how are things for the new UNC brain?”
“I meet with the dean of admissions and the head of math in a couple of hours.”
“That’s just wild. I mean, here I am sitting next to … How old are you?”
“I just turned twelve.”
“Wild.” She had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”
“What did you do to celebrate?”
The question made him uncomfortable. “Nothing. I mean, it’s just a day.”
She lost her smile. But the sense of ease did not diminish. “My folks would like to meet you. Is that okay?”
“Sure, I guess.”
“They’re over by the kiddie pool with my brother and baby sister.” She rose to her feet. “Come on, I’ll introduce you. Then I’ve got to get back to work.”
Colin had no clear idea what he expected, meeting Mira’s parents.
He had assumed she was South American, Brazilian perhaps, with her tall, languid shape, already fully a woman.
He did not know much about girls of her age.
Mira was nothing like the older academy students.
She possessed a singular poise and grace.
“Mom, Daddy, this is the boy I was telling you about. Colin … I’m sorry, I forgot your last name.”
“Eames. Colin Eames.” The mother held the hands of a young girl who danced waist deep in the kiddie pool. A boy of perhaps four or five played by the knees of his father, pushing a sailboat around. Both parents were blond, tall, with ready smiles and clear gazes. “Hi.”
The father rose from his seated position and offered Colin his hand. Like he was meeting an adult. “Very nice to meet you, Colin. I’m Ethan and this is my wife, Alexi. And that’s Noah. Can you say hello to the young man, Noah?”
The boy kept pushing his sailboat and did not glance up. “No.”
“And my little squealer there is Gracie.”
“I’m not a squealer. I’m a princess.”
“Hi.” Colin had no idea how old Mira’s parents might be. His judgment of adults’ ages was basically limited to nearly old, old, very old. But Mira didn’t fit with the rest of the family picture, the two blond kids, both with their mother’s crystal blue eyes.
Alexi patted the stone next to where her husband had sat. “Come join us, Colin. Can you stay with us, Mira?”
“For a few minutes, I guess.”
The mother didn’t even wait for him to seat himself before asking, “So Mira tells us you’re studying at Outer Banks Academy. Is it nice?”
He felt Mira’s warm presence settle on the pavement behind him. “It’s been really good to me.”
Alexi continued to hold her daughter’s hands, but her attention was now fully on him. “How long have you been there?”
“Going on six years.”
Her father wore a faded surfer’s T-shirt that partly hid vivid lines of old scars on his neck and right arm. The skin was deeply puckered, the indentations very pale against the man’s tan. Ethan said, “Mira says you live in one of their dorms.”
“It’s just the one house for scholarship students. They call it Sojourn. There are fourteen of us in there now.”
“How many students does Outer Banks Academy have?”
“A little over four hundred.”
He did not mind their questions, or how they kept looking at each other over his head. They shared an easy comfort with each other, the same open familiarity he had found in Mira. There was no danger here. Nothing to run from.
Ethan said, “Mira told us something about UNC Wilmington?”
He nodded. “I start there next week.”
Mira said, “He’s meeting the dean of admissions this afternoon.”
Colin said, “My adviser at the academy thinks it will all go okay.”
Ethan asked, “What do you want to study?”
Colin felt himself begin to rock in place. It was not like him to trust people. Especially a family he just met. But there was something about them, not the individuals, but the unit. Plus there was the simple, unassailable fact …
He needed help. And he didn’t have much time.
Colin built on the partial confession he had started with Mira. “Integral and multivariable calculus. Real analysis. Statistical logic and probability.”
The news was greeted with silence, finally broken by Mira saying, “Told you.”
Alexi said, “Your parents must be very proud.” When Colin did not respond, she asked, “Do you have family?”
He thought back over the previous night’s dinner and quietly replied, “Not really.”
Another silence, then Mira said, “Daddy probably knows some of the stuff you’ll be studying.”
“Not like he’s talking about. I’m a CPA. An accountant.”
Colin felt another electric surge, strong as hope. “I love numbers.”
Ethan laughed out loud. “A man after my own heart.”
Alexi said, “Why don’t you come have dinner with us tonight?”
“Say yes, Colin.” Mira stood. “The chief is giving me the stink eye. Tell them yes, then I have to split.”