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 Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:35 am
Today's class had taken more preparation than he was used to--half of the center ring of his gym had had to be cleared to equipment so that the pool nestled beneath it could be uncovered. After working for most of the morning to clear the crowded gym, he was finally nearly finished, and was in the process of removing the pool cover just as Reese was scheduled to arrive.
Teaching a seahorse, of all things, to speed swim. The higher-ups thought it was possible, far be it from him to question them. Maybe this kid would prove his doubts wrong. Either way, he was looking forward to this particular class.
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:43 pm
Reese was excited! Oh boy, was he excited! His first class. His first class ever! This was going to be great! He bounced happily in his wheelchair, clutching his backpack tightly to his chest as Wilbur pushed him along. He was still getting used to the new chair and found it difficult to maneuver it himself. Edge said he needed to conserve his strength for class today, so Wilbur had come along to make sure he got to and from without straining too much.
Upon entering the classroom, Reese's eyes bugged about three times their normal size. Lookit it all! This was going to be so cool! His bouncing increased in speed as his excitement went up. Behind him, Wilbur chuckled as he clutched a little tighter to the handles of the chair.
"Young Sir, you're going to fall out of your chair like that."
"Thorry Wilbur. I'm jutht tho ecthited!" he began peering around, trying to spot the teacher...and upon doing so, frantically waved his hand in the pink haired man's direction.
"Hi there! I'm Reethe!"
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 9:26 pm
One door to the gym slid open to the arrival of the boy in the chair and his escort, alerting Jaxom to their presence. Glancing up from his attempts to fold the pool cover, he raised a brow as he eyed the pair, half-hiding an amused grin. He had a bouncer. Bouncer either meant a short attention span and impossible to work with, or excited and eager to please--hopefully it would be the later.
With the wave and greeting, Jaxom abandoned his work to approach the paid,absently wiping his hands dry on his pants as he left the poolside. "Hi Reese, I'll be handling your class today. You can call me Jaxom, or Professor, but never mister, and never Mr. Atear. Atear is my cat," he added, with a wave towards said feline. The black cat was hunched at the very top of a rock wall arrangement, glaring through narrowed green eyes towards the pool with absolutely no interest for anything else in the room. He wasn't coming down until the cover was back in place.
"We're going to be starting right away, but your friend's welcome to stay if he wants to watch," he went on with a nod towards Wilbur. "He'll just have to sit out of the way and let us work. Tell me, Reese, do you like swimming?"
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 11:40 pm
Reese took a deep breath to make another greeting - Poppa always told him it was nice to repeat people's names when you met someone knew. It showed you were paying attention - but stopped with cheeks puffed out as he considered. Jaxom, Professor...Jaxom or Professor? Wilbur said first names were signs of friendship. Were teachers considered friends? He hoped so...he liked this teacher's pink hair, it reminded him of Laesneniel. But then again, titles were signs of respect and you should always show respect to people older than you.
Meh, he liked being friendly better. He could be respectful in other ways.
"Nice to meet you, Jacthom!" he piped with a happy curl of his tail, glancing up at the cat when it was motioned to and giggling at how unhappy it looked.
Wilbur nodded his head cordially as he was spoken to before placing a hand upon Reese's shoulder, glancing down at the young boy. "I'll be right by the door if you need me, Young Sir." And with that, he was off to take a quiet stand in the corner.
Reese would wave goodbye to the man as he walked off, but as soon as he realized he was being talked to again, his head snapped around. Full attention; his eyes were bright, eager, and he nearly leaned forward in his seat as Jaxom spoke.
"Thwimming ith the betht! Poppa took me a few timeth when I was little." Oh boy oh boy! Swimming! He hadn't gone swimming in forever. And he seriously doubted splashing in the tub counted as swimming.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 8:51 pm
Jaxom lifted his eyes briefly to assure himself that Wilbur had settled out of the way, where he wouldn't detract Reese's attention from the class, then glanced back to the boy with a smile. "Good. We're going to be doing a lot of swimming today, so I hope you're ready. However, we're not just going to be splashing around. Today, you're going to learn to speed swim."
He paused, glancing back towards the pool, then returned his eyes to Reese. "Little back info for you. Seahorses, as you might know, are notoriously slow swimmers. This is because they only have a dorsal fin, this fin on the back, right?" Snatching up his clipboard, he flipped a page to a diagram of a seahorse, which he held towards Reese and pointed out the dorsal fin. "Seahorses don't have a caudal or tail fin like most other fish, and that's the fin that's generally most significant for speed."
"However," he continued, pointing towards one of Reese's arms with the clipboard. "You are no average seahorse, Reese. You have arms, and, if the notes I've been given are correct, your tail's more mobile than a normal seahorse's. You have more control over its movements, which means, theoretically, you can use it in a similar manner to another fish's tail fin. Or perhaps swim like a snake, we'll see. Either way, between these additions, you should be able to zip through the water pretty quickly." He paused, then quirked a brow. "With me so far?"
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 10:26 pm
Actually, Reese didn't know about seahorses. What did he need to know about sea horses for? Though, what Jaxom said sounded pretty important...maybe Reese should start learning about them. He had this sneaking suspicion that it was going to keep coming up at he got older.
Reese put his hands on the wheels of his chair, taking a deep breath and pushing hard onto the guards. It took effort, but slowly he made the wheelchair roll forward to follow behind Jaxom. He looked at the pictures, glanced at his arms when they were pointed at. His tail coiled happily against the foot rest under him, his smile tugging at the corners of his lips again.
"I get it," he confirmed, nodding his head to support the statement. "How do we thtart?" He could do this. Of course he could. Poppa said his arms were already strong from pushing the wheelchair around. This would be easy.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 10:05 am
"Excellent," Jaxom responded approvingly with the confirmation and tossed the clipboard onto the folded pool cover. "Then let's begin. Into the pool with you," he instructed with a gesture towards the water as he led the way to the poolside. However, once there, he paused, glancing back to the child in the wheelchair with an encouraging smile.
He could have frowned, concerned for the poor kid who would undoubtedly be restrained to the chair for the rest of his life, but a smile generally left the kid less defensive and more likely to view the positives of their situation. That tail, after all, was something to be proud of, and, in its own way, could be more useful than legs. No kid should be ashamed of that. "Do you need help into the water?"
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 9:22 pm
This time Reese managed to get himself started pretty easily, but as he picked up speed he realized...he was going to have trouble stopping. His hands gripped the wheels tightly but the friction started to burn his palms. He even tried to roll them back to reduce his velocity, but nothing seemed to be helping. With panic in his eyes he glanced up at Jaxom, gritting his teeth and pushing hard. He came to a stop nearly on top of the man's feet...feeling a red hot blush tint his face and shoulders pink. When he glanced up at the teacher, his eyes were apologetic and the smile on his face was down right shy.
"Thorry," he choked, not realizing he had been holding his breath. He told Poppa this chair was too big for him; why hadn't he listened and gotten Reese a smaller chair? With a light cough, he looked down at the pool and then back at his teacher. The teacher wanted him to move himself out of the chair? But that was something Poppa or Wilbur always helped him with...surely this guy didn't expect Reese to move by himself?
"Yeth, pleathe," he said finally, holding up his arms. Like a baby asking to be picked up. Over in his corner, Wilbur winced. Yes...now that Reese was older, he and Edge were going to work on teaching him to more independent. As soon as this lesson was over.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:46 pm
Jaxom had watched and waited while Reese had attempted to regain control of his chair. Had it seemed like the child was going to go flying into the pool, Jax would have intervened and stopped the chair, but he personally felt that situations like this would be a learning experience for Reese, and he should be left to handle them himself.
"That's fine," he replied cheerfully when Reese managed to control the chair, and at his gesture scooped him up with hands under his arms and lowered him into the pool. This part, he didn't mine helping with. The pool wasn't situated with end steps. It had only two ladders, one on either side. The steps, perhaps, could have been managed by Reese by himself, but the ladder would undoubtedly prove very difficult.
"Okay Reese," he began, once the seahorse was situation in the water. "Why don't you swim a lap so I know what we're working with, and we'll go from there? Just swim to the other end of the pool."
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:34 am
Reese was like a whole different person in the water; he bobbed at the surface, naturally buoyant, but holding himself in place by latching to the side with his hands. His listened to his teacher intently, and nodded his head after being instructed. He set his sights on the other end of the pool, determined and ready. He could do this.
Except...he floundered at first. It'd been a while, and it took a moment for him to get the concept down again. Reese ended up having to grab the side more than once before finding his rhythm a little less than half way to the end. But when he got it, the boy was good to go. His technique was a little more than a dog paddle, using his arms to pull himself forward while his body dragged along behind. Edge had tried teaching him to wiggle his "hips" to help propel himself forward, but in the end it hurt him more than it helped. The movement was awkward.
When Reese got to the end, he held onto the edge of the pool, breathing a little heavily but smiling. "How wath that?" he called back, beaming brightly. He thought he'd done great.
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