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Cathie ignored thethe one made of far less exotic and expensive fabric, and a straw hat, both her own choice Silently she lorious under her tired feet The staircase was negotiated slowly as she had felt dizzy when she had dashed down theone bu the family room the tiles felt blessedly cool on her tired, hot feet She could see Chloe waiting ie and, thankfully, couldn't see her father

'bout time' Chloe co underwater the little merraceful dive Cathie had beaten her to it

'Can you dive? I can't, I only belly flops and it hurts'

'Yes, it's easy Want me to teach you?'

'Could you?' Cathie knew shewhether she could was more appropriate She didn't know if she could She didn't know anything about what she could or couldn't do

'Are you having swi lessons this summer?'

'Uh, uh' Shaking her head the little girl proudly announced 'I can swi paddle and duck dives to the other side

'See?'

'Can you swim over arm and with your face in the water? Look, like this?' With perfect technique the olderhampered by the t-shirt, perfor up on the beach, shaking, the exertion a trifle too much for one so soon out of hospital

'Can you try that?'

A cross between a paddle steamer and a downed helicopter thenexhausted Cathie tried not to giggle too loud If there was a name for the stroke she didn't know it It definitely fell under the banner of freestyle

'We can ith that but how about I teach you to dive first?'

Breathless the youngster could only gulp and nod

It took just 5 minutes to turn are near disastrous belly flop into a passable dive Lead up techniques that involved breaking the skill down into coression was so s splat

Darlene watching from the kitchen reminded herself to add that little piece to Ethan's puzzle

Cathie and Chloe spent the next half an hour cavorting in the ater, playing tag, water polo, 'Marco Polo' and even trying freestyle again