The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald Read Free Book Online

afternoon. I was so excited that I thought the morning would never end. And then after lunch we had to wait an hour before we could go swimming, knowing if we went any sooner we might get cramps.
    We ran into Frank and Allan Jensen on our way to the river. They had Lady with them. Frank was Tom’s age and his brother was the same age as Sweyn. They were blond kids with hair that was almost white. Shocks of it protruded from beneath their caps like bangs over their foreheads.
    “Lady is in heat now,” Allan said. “How about bringing Brownie over to our place tomorrow and we’ll put them in our barn?”
    “We’ll be there,” Tom said.
    “You fellows going swimming?” Sweyn asked.
    “No,” Allan said. “We are going exploring. Want to come along?”
    “We can’t today,” Tom said. “We promised to teach J.D. how to swim.”
    We left the Jensen brothers and Lady and continued on to the swimming hole in the river. We stripped naked. There were about a dozen kids already swimming and diving as I followed Tom and Sweyn to the bank of the river. Sweyn then led me into the river until the water was up to my armpits.
    “I’m going to hold your chin, J.D.,” he said. “You paddle dog-fashion and kick your legs.”
    I was scared but felt safe as long as Sweyn was holding my chin as he took me into deeper water.
    “Now keep paddling and kicking,” Sweyn said as he let go of my chin.
    My head went under water. I tried to scream only to swallow more water. I was sure I was going to drown and let everybody know it as my head came above the water. Sweyn grabbed hold of my hair and pulled me into shallow water. He and Tom looked completely disgusted as they led me out of the river.
    Tom looked at Sweyn. “Well?” he asked.
    “I guess it is the only way,” Sweyn said.
    My oldest brother grabbed me and picked me up in his arms. I screamed bloody murder and tried to wiggle loose. He held me tight as he carried me up the plank used as a diving board over the deepest part of the swimming hole. I knew this was how almost every kid in town learned to swim, but I wanted no part of it.
    “Let me go!” I screamed. “I’ll drown for sure.”
    “You won’t drown,” Sweyn said. “You just keep paddling dog-fashion with your hands and kicking your legs and you won’t drown. And it won’t do you any good to yell for help, J.D., because I’m not going to jump in after you.”
    “Please let me go,” I begged, more afraid than I’d ever been in my life.
    “Stop that blubbering,” Sweyn ordered me, “or I’ll tell Papa you acted like a coward and disgraced the name of Fitzgerald before all these kids.”
    I stopped bawling. Sweyn had given me no other choice. I might as well drown as have him tell Papa I was a coward.
    “Here you go, J.D.,” Sweyn yelled as he tossed me from the diving board into the deepest part of the swimming hole. He sounded as if he enjoyed drowning his own brother.
    I hit the water and went down until my feet touched bottom. I tried to scream and got a bellyful of water. I began paddling with my hands and kicking my legs like sixty. Then my head came out of the water. I breathed in air.
    “Atta boy!” I heard Tom yell.
    I was too interested in saving my own life to pay any attention to him. I was sure I was going to drown before I reached the bank of the river. Then my fingers touched mud. I never knew mud could feel so good as I crawled up the river bank.
    Sweyn and Tom patted me on the back.
    “You swam more than twenty feet,” Sweyn said.
    Tom nodded. “But next time don’t scream and yell,” he said. “Keep your mouth shut.”
    “The next time?” I asked, and felt myself get sick inside.
    “As soon as you get your wind,” Tom said.
    “Right,” Sweyn said. “And this time you are going to run and jump off the diving board all by yourself.”
    “I am not” I said as I started for my clothes. “I’m going home.”
    Sweyn grabbed me. “You run and jump off that diving board