I'm not sure how good the writing is, but I like this story and where it's going. Potential Readers, I humbly ask you to start on Chapter One if you haven't read it, or just to refresh your memory. Let me know if you're enjoying it as much as I am. Cheers!
*****
I made it to the Pilner building the following morning early, waiting outside Dr. Tammy Wynn's office door for almost twenty minutes before she arrived. Her heels were clacking across the floor as she walked the hall, and I remember how it drew attention to her legs. Gams, as we liked to call them back then.
"Early bird gets the worm, huh?" she said, approaching. "No need to be early, Mr. Feller... Ryan. Just be prompt. On time."
"Yes, ma'am," I said, as she unlocked the door and invited me inside. I made my way to a chair in front of her desk and stood, waiting for her direction.
"You may sit. You're probably wondering why I asked you here, right?"
"Yes, ma'am." The chair was comfortable enough, though I wasn't.
This memory may be more than five decades old, but I clearly recall how nervous I was in the presence of that beautiful instructor. I'd never seen such beauty back in Kansas, and I don't mean that to sound dismissive of my home town. There were lots of pretty girls back home. Dr. Wynn was just unique.
She gazed at me, I think taking some amusement in my discomfort. Maybe it was because she was a woman in a position of authority over me, maybe it was because she'd seen me stark naked yesterday (with an erection!), or maybe it was just her beauty, but I was sweating bullets and shaking.
"It's okay, Ryan, you can relax. I told you yesterday I wanted you to take on additional training, remember? Allow me to explain why."
"Yes, ma'am," I said, stiff. Not in my pants (yet), just feeling awkward in front of the female authority figure.
"This training will improve upon your greatness weakness."
"My weakness?" I asked. I was young and didn't like being insulted, and it was easy to construe her words as such. My nerves prevented me from challenging her, though.
"The film footage I saw. Both times, you were the last one off the block at the start of the race. I also examined all of your times that are on record. Do you realize, Ryan, that after your freshman year, you didn't finish less than third in any event?"
I smiled, bowing my head. "Yeah, my times kept getting better."
"Ryan, the worst you lost your senior year was by tenths of a second. Had you come off the block as well as you swim, you would have won those, too."
She had a point.
"Take a look at this." Dr. Wynn opened the large drawer at the bottom of her desk, lifting a heavy and boxy object out of it, placing it on top of her desk. "Just a moment, I'll plug it in." She then got up, wrestled with some cords and found an outlet. The box lit up.
"What's that?" I gasped.
"See the cord to the button I'm holding?"
"Yes," I said.
Dr. Wynn pushed the button and a red light blinked on the box, followed by a yellow one and then green. She allowed a brief moment to pass, before pushing the button again. A number on a screen next to the lights popped up reading '3.174'.
"Three point one seven four seconds from the time the light turned green to the time I pressed the button. It is accurate to one thousandth of a second. With this training device we are going to practice the time it takes from when the light turns green, to when your body enters the water and begins kicking."
My eyes lit up. I had never seen such high-tech equipment before. "I get it," I said. "We get to actually measure improvements in my reaction time. I had drills before, but this is actually useful!"
"We start now, what do you say? You don't have class until nine, right? That gives us what... fifty minutes at least? Enough starts to get an accurate measure of your timing right now."
"Oh, I uh.. uh..." I stuttered. "I didn't bring a suit." I could barely get the words out.
"A suit? Mr. Feller, I am not sure what experiences you had in Kansas, but just because I am a woman does not mean you get to break the rules of-"
"In Kansas, we wore suits, always, with everyone."
Tammy stopped. "Oh, I see. Of course, I've forgotten some places do work differently, don't they? A shame. Look, Ryan, you're just going to have to get used to our guidelines. All the meets in the tri-state area have specific no-clothing clauses at their pools, including this one.
"But the girls-"
"The girls, of course, have different rules. You know boys cannot be trusted to behave like gentlemen if the girls went naked. Rules are rules."
"What does that even mean?" asked Ryan. "If the girls went naked, why would the boys act differently to the girls, than they do to the boys, when the boys have to go naked?"
"Enough, Ryan. I personally wouldn't care if you wore a tutu, but it's not allowed in the pool. Rules are rules. You follow the guidelines, so neither of gets in trouble. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said, hanging my head.
"This office is right off the south hall to the pool. You can take it to the locker room, or change here."