Somehow, three-year-old Bets's crying relaxed her, though she was still frusturated. "Pools always relax me," she thought after she calmed down. "If I jump in maybe I can relax even more."
She looked at the stack of swim diapers Rebecca gave her. "Like I'll really need those," Bets though while she walked out of the changing area into the pool.
"Maybe it won't be such a bad thing to be little again," she thought as she got to the 12 ft. area, her favorite spot to dive into.
She was about to dive in when she felt someone grab her shoulder. Bets looked up and saw a lifeguard. "Sweetie," the lifeguard said, "you're too little to be in the deep end."
"May I go to the shallow end?" Bets asked, having problems speaking.
"I'm sorry," the lifeguard continued. "At your age, you can only be in the shallow area with by your mommy or daddy. Is your mommy or daddy here, sweetie?"
"No."
"Then I'm afraid you can't go into the big kids pool. But you can go into the kiddie pool."
Disappointed, Bets walked over to the kiddie pool where little kids from ages two to four, mostly in swim diapers, were splashing and wading. The water was only 1 1/2 feet high.
"What was I thinking?" Bets thought. "Being little won't be good."