Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Hot Summer Nights

 So, this story starts out at this clubhouse overlooking the pool at some condominiums down the street.  It looks the same now as it did in 1989.  I had not been married long, when an old roommate and good friend of ours, John G., came to town looking for a job.  He stayed with us for several months and we enjoyed each other's company and hung out with the people next door.  This was the young woman who had all the roommates as mentioned here.  Well, at this time, she had just started dating a guy who would become her husband, but at the time of this incident, none of us knew that yet.  We would hang out and play games and drink beer and listen to music and talk.
Well, this one hot summer night (none of us had air-conditioning in our houses back then which now seems unbelievable), we decided to go for a swim.  This was my husband's idea.  He was always a renegade and loved sneaking into pools and hot tubs for a quick dip.  We had used this pool many times.  No one ever suspected us because we were grown and quiet and were only around for about 15 minutes or so.
 It was probably one or two in the morning.  Certainly after midnight.  The five of us headed to this pool on foot.  When we got there, the guys decided they were going to swim in the nude.  My friend, the young woman (I'll call her Kay), did not feel comfortable stripping her clothes off in front of this newish guy she was dating and the others.  I was relieved because I did not feel like swimming naked either.  She and I sat on some chairs--up there by that umbrella--and talked while the guys swam.
Then, she got the idea to steal their clothes which were lying in clumps around the pool.
We jumped up from our seats and I headed toward my husband's clothes, she toward her boyfriend's.  They caught on at once and rescued their clothing.  I must have grabbed John G.'s clothes in route to my husband's because his were the only clothes we managed to get away with.  He was very nonchalant and I don't even remember what happened to his clothes.  Did we surrender them to him?  Did we carry them off?
Anyway, Kay and I  headed home.  Her boyfriend and my husband easily caught up with us, and then--whizzzz!  John G. streaked past us.  Literally streaked, as in ran by with no stitch of clothes on!
 He ran out of the pool area and up this street.
 Past here.
 And all the way down here.  He was running in the middle of the road.  (He did have on his shoes! I remember hearing them slapping against the pavement, and someone remarked and we all thought we would die laughing.)  At one point, he crouched down behind a car to hide from an oncoming vehicle, but then he was off running again.
We hooted and cheered.
 When we got to the house, he was sitting calmly and nakedly in a chair on the back porch one leg up ankle on the knee, smoking a cigarette.  "Fine evening, isn't it?  What took you so long?"  He said, which caused us all to double over in laughter and exclaim at his boldness.
That was a long time ago, but Kay and I still bring it up from time to time.  Remember the time John G. ran naked from the pool?!
I often sit out on this porch in the night and remember those times when we sat out late trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to keep cool, cracking jokes and beginning the trajectory of our lives.

I don't go sneaking in to other people's pools anymore--though I might challenge Kay to it one night yet!

1 comment:

  1. Great story! I love a good prank. Keeps life interesting ...

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