steer clear of the creepy kid at the pool

[edited.  A very sweet friend emailed me and gently suggested that this kid probably has parents who don't pay him attention and so he was trying to get attention from another adult, albeit in the wrong way.  She was totally right.  So I've edited my post and taken out the parts where I feel I was especially hard on the kid.]

Over the weekend we let G have a free-for-all on the video games.  It was his one last hurrah before we retire the Xbox until school starts.  He took full advantage and sat his little butt in front of the TV for hours Saturday and Sunday.

Lest G’s eyes melt from staring at the TV for days on end, Hubby offered to take G and Neighbor Boy to the pool on Monday.  Hubby is a brave man.  I have never taken my kids to the pool without my husband, because what happens if more than one child needs to be rescued from the water simultaneously?  What then?  But Hubby offered to take our son, who knows his limits and can swim pretty well, as well as Neighbor Boy, who we didn’t know how he’d act in the water.  Would he immediately get in over his head?  Would he mind Hubby?  All I could see was DEATH and WATER and DEATH, but Hubby calmly took two giddy boys to the pool on a very hot day.

Pretty soon after they arrived a never-before-seen kid swam up to Hubby.  “Hey, my dad thinks he knows you.  What’s your name?”

“Why? Who’s your dad?” Hubby inquired.

“Oh, justwhat’syourname?” the kid asked quickly.

“Mister Fox.  What’s your name?”

“J.W.”

(These are his actual initials.  I thought about using fake initials, but then I decided that you peeps who live in Augusta should know the initials of this kid, so that when he starts a conversation with you, you will find a way to escape.)

Then J.W. swam away without telling Hubby who his dad was.

Pretty soon, Hubby was paged to come to the basket room.  So Hubby trudged back there, even though both kids in his care were within his eyesight when the page was made, and found nobody there.  Hubby asked the worker who’d asked for him.  J.W.

Upon returning to the pool J.W. smiled at my husband.  “Ha, ha, pretty funny,” Hubby told him without smiling.

Then the kid hung around.  While Hubby was trying to enjoy time with his own kid at the pool, while Hubby was trying to keep G and Neighbor Boy safe, this kid kept splashing a grown man he didn’t even know.  So Hubby told him to go away.  Of course the kid didn’t.

It’s a good thing Hubby was the one to endure this because I WOULD HAVE LOST IT.  I would have grabbed that kids’ hair and held him under the water until he agreed to leave me alone.

Then, in between the splashing and general harassment, J.W. started telling people that Mister Fox does drugs.

This kid had the upper hand and he totally knew it.  What is an adult supposed to do in that situation?  Splash him back?  No.  Go whining to the lifeguards?

So one time, after he’d intentionally splashed Hubby and then swam too close, Hubby grabbed his leg and held it up, making J.W. arch his back to keep his face out of the water.  As the kid squirmed and tried to keep water out of his mouth, Hubby looked him in the eye and told him very quietly, “GET AWAY FROM ME.”

Then he ran to the lifeguards, who looked at him quizzically, then they looked at my husband, who nodded and smiled in return.

That was the last Hubby saw of J.W. that day.  Seriously, keep that kid away from me.  I will turn into a child myself and throw his shoes over the fence and his towel in the pool if he gets too close to me.