Ruth slid her ID badge twice past the scanner on the door to the pool room. When the lock failed to click open, she turned to Joan, “Try yours.”
“The green light came on. Maybe it's the lock.” Joan nonetheless slid her badge, too. Same result. She tugged on the handle, rapped on the small, one-way window. A heavy metallic click interrupted her rapping and the steel door eased open to reveal the pate-shaved, acne-scarred head of a young man.
“Hello, Miz President, Joan,” he rasped, “Sorry, I was on the other end of the pool.”
Both women jerked their heads back reflexively and turned their faces. “Don't give us your cold, Rodney!” Ruth said.
Rodney's face morphed quickly through degrees of surprise, welcoming delight and serious concern, settling finally on an amused smile. “No cold, ma'am. Just a little hoarse from calling time for Mr. Hendrian. He wears those earplugs you know.”
Ruth laughed. “Calling time? What's that for, Warren training for the Olympics?”
“No, ma'am. Mr. Hendran says he's just trying to get in shape. Er...is he expecting you?”
“Oh, yes. Maybe not right here, in the pool, but he's definitely expecting us.”
“OK, then, I'll tell him you're here.”
“No, that's OK, Rodney. We'll just surprise him. If you can excuse us?”
“Yes, ma'am, of course.” He pushed the door all the way open and held it until the two women had entered. Before exiting, he turned toward the pool and shouted, “SEVENTEEN SIX! SEVENTEEN SIX! GOOD TIME!”
The plump body methodically splashing toward the opposite end of the pool, wagging head covered with a rubber skullcap, didn't register any response to the shouted words as they reverberated among the tiled walls and walkways. Before Hendrian reached the end of his lane, Ruth had stripped down to her panties and bra and slipped into the pool, and when he turned to start back she was swimming underwater straight toward him. They met when Hendrian had gotten about halfway back. With about ten feet between them, Ruth burst out of the water.
“Hi, Warren!”
“AGHH...AAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEEE...blublublublublubl ...” Hendrian went spastic, whitecapping the water as he rolled and upended, backwards with his head and chest underwater, legs and arms thrashing frantically. After a couple of seconds watching Hendrian struggle with no indication he was gaining control Ruth closed the gap, swam under his back and pushed him upright until he was standing on the pool floor, the water up to his armpits. She propped him up there while he continued to flail and splash. He shook his head like a spaniel after a bath, gagging, spitting and gasping for air.
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