A New Mistake

Since PP is so pressed for time and focus and energy this quarter (What the hell ever possessed her to teach Research Writing of all things on top of her writing center job?), she’s just going to give a brief summary (this will be a good exercise for her) or a pivotal piece of dialogue (without context—see you can tell she’s been reading way too many woo woo research papers.)in this blog entry.

Why is she doing this besides her time crunch?

Aren't you all just dying to know what’s been happening at the pool and in Utopia?


“Are you okay?” PP asks, suddenly concerned when Dunking Under the Water in the Hot Tub Woman comes up for air, but can’t catch any. Coughs dramatically till PP and DL are forced to stop chatting about cats.
“Yeah,” she DUW grins, still choking. “I put my face right next to a jet and I choked.”
“Oh,” PP nods, thinking how this is just one of the many reasons she doesn’t dunk her head under the water in the hot tub.
“It was a New Mistake,” DUW shakes her head.
“A New Mistake?” DL’s eyes get big and shinning. “I love that!” she exclaims, then looks over at PP and starts to giggle and giggle and giggle and giggle.


“I have a good cat story for you,” DL announces as they walk the tread mills. (This isn’t the same cat story as above if that matters.)
“Okay,” PP nods as she watches the Millionaire Matchmaker snap her whip.
“You know how D got these two kittens. Well they’re not really kittens anymore….”
“They’re teenagers, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right. And one afternoon, D was in the kitchen and she noticed that the Tortie was chewing and chewing and chewing on something and you know what it was?”
“No.”
DL grins, “A BIG FAT WHITE WORM!”
”UGGGHHH! GROSSS!!!! DISGUSTING!!!”
“Yeah.”





“How was your swim?” DL asks as they climb into the hot tub, DL making ouch it’s so hot faces as she sticks her toes in.
“It was crazy cranky,” PP answers.
“Why? Was it crowded?”
“No, not really. But the lanes are so narrow that it can feel crowded and then when Sidestroke Giant Man kicked me, scratching my hand with his Big Toenail…”
“EUUUU!!! GROSSS! Where?”
PP stretches out her palm and turns it over, looking for some tell tail evidence. But frankly can’t even remember which hand it was at this point.
She points to her left hand anyway, showing DL a spot between her thumb and index finger. Nothing’s there.
But DL nods, “I don’t even know what Sidestroke is.”






“Sandy, you know what Sidestroke is, don’t you?”
“Yeah, sure of course.”
“It’s very relaxing, right?” PP asks as DL lies down on the hot utopia bench.
“Yeah, it’s that. But it’s also one stroke where you can keep your head out of the water. You don’t have to worry about that breathing aspect.”
“That’s a good point,” PP nods.
“When I was a kid, I literally had to learn to sink or swim. My dad threw me in the water and I dog paddled or sidestroked cuz these were two where I could keep my head out of water.”
“Wow!” PP exclaims, thinking this is pretty wild. “How old were you?”
“About 3.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s like chopsticks. You learn to use them if you’re hungry.”
PP tells them about her experience in China when she had to use chopsticks her first night there and all the waitresses lined up against the wall of the Garden Moon Restaurant and stared at her, laughing and pointing.
“The White Devil,” Sandy nods.

PP just stares. Did she really say that? Should she say anything back?
Nah, cuz if she did, well, she would surely commit another New Mistake.