TRANSITIONING... to Autumn (Part 141e)

TRANSITIONING... to Autumn (Part 141e)

Knowing that we’d be going to the beach at the sailing club and that the building was closed for the season I told Elle to be ‘prepared’ for the lack of facilities. She chose one of her older skirted bathing suits that had separate panties that matched the print of the suit. I’d almost always been able to get her to wear a pair of nylon panties under them but had to really work on persuading her to do in on that day. Her reasoning was that we would have ‘guest’ in the person of Barbara and regardless of whether she peed through them or not I wouldn’t be able to ‘play’. In the end she backed off and I didn’t have to give up anything to ‘win’ the battle.

There was literally no one at the beach when we arrived. I unhitched the trailer and we all pushed it and the boat to the water’s edge. My girls wanted to show off to Barbara by rigging the boat by themselves. Aside from not being able to raise the sail all the way they did a good job. They got into a bit of an argument about who would be the first to sail but I put an end to that when I told them that I’d bought the boat for their mother and she was to take it out on the maiden voyage. Neither was happy with that but we stood there and watched Elle sail off all by herself.

There was very little wind which, for that area, was typical early in the morning.
Elle was gone for about 10 minutes and when she returned the battle over who would get to sail it next resumed. Barbara spoke up and told each of them to write a number from 1 to 10 in the sand. She told them she had written a number that was hidden by her hand and whoever got the same one or was closest to it would be the next to go out. If the idea had come from Elle or I I’m sure there would’ve been some complaining but because it was Barbara they accepted it. Jean won. Normally, at their age (8 and almost 7) they wouldn’t be allowed to sail all by themselves. Because the wind was so light I decided to let them at least try. I set parameters for both direction and distance and then let Jean go. I ran along the shore line just to be sure but she didn’t need any help. When it was Anne’s turn I was so sure that she wouldn’t need assistance that I stayed with the others and just watched. I remember thinking that she was, for sure, ‘a natural’ when it came to sailing.

As expected, the wind velocity started to rise as the sun rose higher in the sky. It’d only been about two weeks since Labor Day but I could feel that the water temperature had dropped noticeably. For some reason little kids don’t notice it as much as adults do. With the exception of Barbara, we were all standing in ankle deep water. I saw Elle do a “dip’ and then start to walk away and up the beach. I’d seen that a time or two before and I was sure that the cold water had triggered a ‘dribble’... or more. When Barbara saw her she headed in that direction. I was pretty sure Elle didn’t want that so I intercepted Barbara by calling her over to where Kaye, Jean and I were standing. Thinking quickly I asked what she thought about sailing. As we talked I looked over her shoulder and could see that Elle was now squatting and I, for sure, knew what that meant.

I was surprised by Barbara’s answer... that it looked like fun. I jumped on that and immediately offered to take her for a ride. I remember her shaking her head from side to side but with a smile. I kept on and used Anne, at less than 7 years old out sailing all by herself. I told her I’d been sailing almost 20 years so I really knew what I was doing and I wouldn’t let anything bad happen. I finished by saying that we’d stay close to shore where the water wouldn’t be over her head. I could see ‘the wheels turning’ so shut up about then. Elle rejoined us at that moment and, knowing that she hadn’t dipped her fanny into the bay and was wet from pee, felt a bulge starting. Not good timing!

Elle picked up the cause and tried to encourage Barbara to at least give it a try but she still refused. I had turned away and was standing in knee deep water next to the boat trying to hide my bulge. Kaye had been happily playing at the water’s edge and all of a sudden she jumped up and wanted a ride in the boat. That was unexpected and wanting to take advantage of the opportunity I grabbed her up and put her in the cockpit. Even though the bulge was showing a bit I knew Kaye wouldn’t notice. As we started sailing away I could hear Elle teasing Barbara about a three year old wanting to go sailing.

The newness of the sailing experience wore off quickly and Kaye wanted to go ashore to get something to eat. All of the others were around the beach towel and Elle was doling out the sandwiches as we approached. My eyes almost popped out of my head as Barbara bent over to get a cup from the beach bag. The band legs of her panties were very prominent through the knit material of her knit shorts as was the crotch line. It didn’t matter to me that I’d seen it before. It was still a thrill to observe it again. Kaye wanted to eat with Barbara so she took the place right along side of her. The other two girls sat in front of her like they were expecting to be told something important. Elle and I took places on the other end of the towel. I teased her a bit about her ‘leak’ and she slapped my arm and told me to ”shut up!“. After a minute or so she, speaking very softly, almost in a whisper, told me Barbara had explained why she was afraid of the water.

As a young girl she’d been pushed into a goldfish pond by her cousin. She fell in face first hitting her head. The boy ran away and didn’t tell anybody. The blow to her head had knocked her out and if someone hadn’t seen her there she would’ve drowned. The end result was she didn’t want to have anything to do with water after that. She wouldn’t even get in a bathtub and her mother had to wash her using a washcloth until she was about eight years old. After that she would take showers but the thought of being in water still scared her. That explanation pretty much told me we’d never get her into the water let alone a boat.

By the time we’d eaten, the noon siren from the fire house had gone off. The wind had picked up nicely, too much so for Jean and Anne to sail by themselves. I asked Elle if she wanted to go out with either of them and she said the water was too cold and for me to do it. I figured we had about an hour before we had to get Barbara back home so I spent it letting them take turns as the skipper with me as crew. I had a feeling that this would be the last sailing we’d do this year and it was sort of sad.

To be continued...