WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156k)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156k)

The pool life guard had also been watching and he joined us asking if I was OK. I was still trying to catch my breath but nodded that I was. After a minute or so he helped me out of the water and sat down beside me. Writing about it now it’s funny… but it wasn’t back then. He waited another minute or so and then critiqued (I’m actually chuckling to myself) my dive. As best as I can remember he told me I “over rotated” and that instead of my body going straight down into the water my legs and feet had gone beyond vertical causing my head to smack the water. My ankle was throbbing so I asked him why. Again, I think he used the term “over rotated” which caused my feet to smack the water. In so doing, the water pushed my feet backward. With my ankle still in a healing mode it stretched the already abused tendons. He helped me to stand up to see if I could walk and even though it hurt, I could. I thanked him and we hobbled off to get something to eat.

It wasn’t the dumbest thing I’d ever done but it was close. Elle kept reminding me that she’d told me not to do it which didn’t make the pain any less. I knew ice would help and persuaded one of the servers to wrap ice cubes in a napkin. By the time we’d finished eating the pain, while sitting, was almost gone. Emboldened by that improvement I, again, brought up the possibility of going on to Jax Beach and the boardwalk. Elle wasn’t sure it was a good idea and used the fact that the only clothes we had with us were our tennis outfits. The server overheard a bit of our conversation and straightforwardly told us that we wouldn’t be that out of place dressed that way. He might’ve even said something like “anything goes”. I had to work on her a bit and she finally gave in as long as I was able to walk. After changing she was concerned that her panties would show from under the hem of her dress. I remember reminding her not to bend over and that she’d be OK. Reluctantly, she followed me to the front of the facility. There was municipal bus that came through the resort complex once every hour from 10am to 10pm. The server told us that we had about a half hour to catch the next one. I didn’t want to take the bag with our clothes and camera and after changing from our bathing suits asked at the registration desk if they had a secure place to leave it. They gave me a receipt for everything and put it in small locked room. It was around 1pm and we were off!

I found that with the brace back on the ankle I could get around fairly well. While eating, the server had gotten some aspirin for me hoping that would help. As we waited for our transportation I knew I had an ankle but found the pain was tolerable. The bus left us off at the South End of the boardwalk. Just a short way down (towards the North) was a roller coaster. In the three Winters I’d been there I’d wanted to go on it but had been forbidden to do so by my parents. I had any number of opportunities to have done it without them knowing but had been a “good boy’ and adhered to their wishes. Seeing it once again I still had the desire to try it. As soon as I brought the subject up, Elle shut it down. We walked (slowly) down the boardwalk and I pointed out some of the arcades I’d frequented. One of my favorite games was called “Ski Ball” in which you rolled a number of wooden balls up a ramp and tried to place them into a number of circles. They all had values with getting a ball in the center was worth the most points. Along the boardwalk there had been a bunch of arcades that had “Ski Ball” but this one spit out tickets that you could collect and then them in for a prize. I put a coin in and showed Elle how it worked. Then I let her try and she didn’t so too well. I finished the game and got my tickets… no where near enough to get a prize… and we headed on further North.

About half way to the other end was my favorite ride… “Auto Dodgem”, also called “Bumper Cars”. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I was on that ride during those three Winters. Elle had never seen one so we stood and watched about ten cars going round and round trying to run into one another. I told her, flat out, that on our way back we were going to go for a ride on it. All I got was one of those looks that said “We’ll see about that!”

The North end held a couple of the kind of rides Elle liked, Merry Go Round and Ferris wheel. To make her happy I joined her on the Merry Go Round. There weren’t many people there as we boarded. When she went to climb on one of the horses that rise up and down I got an eyeful. I’d seen the same thing many, many times before but seeing it while out in public was special. The operator of the Ferris wheel told us we’d have to wait until the were more people so we headed back. It wasn’t quite mid afternoon and I wanted to make sure we had time for the “Auto Dodgem” and “Ski Ball game.

Arriving at the ride there were but four cars running around. I remembered that it was the most fun when there were at least ten to twelve cars moving at the same time. However, I realized that for Elle’s first ride it probably was best. In thinking about it now I’m smiling because of how archaic the whole thing was. The power came from a pole attached to the back of the car that had a strip of metal on top that touched the metal ceiling that was electrified. There was funny smell that I hadn’t remembered. We paid and chose cars. I got another good peek as Elle stepped over the side and slid into her seat. When the attendant gave the signal the other four cars and I started but Elle’s didn’t. Then I saw her car going backwards… and right into one of the other four cars. I heard her scream in spite of the noise the metal car wheels made on the metal plates that made up the floor. I rode over to where she’d stopped. The guy she hit was yelling at her but I ignored him and told her to turn the steering wheel hard to the right and to press the pedal. As she immediately shot forward she hit another car right in the side. To me it was funny… but not so for Elle. She was barely moving for the rest of the time we had. Getting out of my car I went over to her and she gave me one of her ‘looks” that told me that this hadn’t been a good idea.

To be continued…