Dating : On the Danger of Swimming Pool Bathrooms

“You must always wear shoes if you go to the bathroom,” June’s mother had said as they arrived at the public swimming pool.

It was a peculiar request, but June had shrugged and agreed without much thought. She had only been half listening; the brilliant sunlight glinting off the pool water she could see through the gate seemed so much more interesting than her mother at that moment. The trip had been promised last Sunday, and the week had passed slower than normal. As she slipped into her swimsuit, she thought of the slides and flumes that waited for her; Sadie Saunders had gone with her family the week before, and she had been boasting about it all week at school.

It was just the two of them that day, although her mother had said she could bring a friend. She wasn’t sure what her friends would make of her mother, who had always been the eccentric type, so she didn’t ask anyone. June herself had long since become used to her oddities, but it was jarring if you weren’t expecting it.

Back when he still came home at night, her father told her that her mother’s fears were superstitious nonsense. June didn’t know if that was true, but it didn’t seem like a risk worth taking when all you had to do was skip the occasional drain cover and sometimes waste salt.

Leaving her clothing in a neat pile to be carefully packed into a locker, she bolted past the showers and into the pool area. In spite of the breeze, the air was heavy with the smell of chlorine and the delighted shouts and screams of children echoed strangely off the metal and plastic slides. Following behind, her mother held a cheap pair of flip flops in her hands. “Remember,” she said, “you must wear these if you use the bathrooms here.”

June nodded, staring ahead as if beyond the baby pools lay El Dorado itself. Her mother sighed, worriedly.

Her mother was worried a lot and it had never been anything worthwhile, so June ignored it.

The Great Snake Flume was in front of her, with the steep drops and stomach swooping turns it was famous for. Sadie and her brother had ridden the Great Snake Flume four times, she remembered. It looked daunting, and June decided she would work her way up to it. That was what her mother would tell her to do. It was the sensible thing.

She turned to one of the smaller, less threatening slides instead.

Leaving her mother sitting on a lounge chair, June raced away.

As the afternoon wore on, June forgot all about her mother’s strange request. It seemed like such a small thing, all in all.

As she queued up to ride the Great Snake Flume for the first time, she wiggled her toes and leaned forward in anticipation. The sun was still shining, there were only five people left in front of her and she had goosebumps in spite of the humid summer air. She could see her mother sitting where she left her earlier that day, doing a crossword, her hair was bone dry and the corners of her mouth were pulled down in concentration. From up near the heavens June watched her jot another answer down and tap her foot, the way she always did when she was concentrating.

Four to go.

Three.

Two.

Then she bounced forward, nerves sending shivers down her spine, and crawled into place. Watching the light above the slide keenly, she waited, arms aching as she hung onto the metal bars above. Red turned to green, and she let go.

Steep enough to send her stomach swooping into her chest and fast enough that the world flashed by in a blur, June slid into the water feet first and screaming like a newborn. She emerged at the end, bright eyed and coughing the foul taste of chlorine out of her mouth, clambering up the steps and toward the bathrooms. For all that she had enjoyed the slide, the taste of the pool water had made her feel sick.

Her feet padded past her mother silently, unnoticed.

The door to the ladies room creaked slightly when she opened it, and she thought she saw a strange shiver across the floor. Kneeling down in the cubicle nearest the door, June pressed her forehead against her arms. The churning in her stomach calmed slowly, replaced by an itch in her left foot. When the itching finally overpowered her nausea, she uncoiled herself from the floor and returned to the pools.

The itching stopped the moment she moved and she wobbled when she stood up. She thought nothing of it.

Her mother glanced over when she left the bathroom, eyes widening in alarm before flicking downward. What she saw made her face go pale. June followed her gaze, confused, and then stopped dead. There, where she had felt an itch on her left foot, was an empty space that had once been occupied by her two smallest toes.

The skin was pale and at the end of her foot there was a scar that looked like a bite mark.

Eyes locked with her mother’s, June tried to stay calm. Her chest felt tight and her thoughts tumbled over each other inside her head.

June flexed her toes over and over again, gaping, and remembered the odd shiver in the tiles she had once dismissed. When her mother reached her, she spun her around harshly and began guiding them back toward the changing rooms. June could feel her nails digging into her back, sharp pain fighting through the panic. She wiggled her toes again, and thought about the ugly orthopaedic shoes her mother always wore.

“What did I tell you-” she hissed as they left, “-about wearing shoes in the bathroom?”