Louise, being tired of running the slides alone, attempted to garner others' support:
- Mommy: "it's too cold" (code word for "It is too cold")
- Emily: "it's too cold" (code word for "I don't like things scary")
- Daddy: "in a minute" (code word for "I'm too lazy to walk over there and slide")
- Garrett: "where's 'Liza" (code word for "Where is Eliza")
But there was one who would listen, one who would face life's dangers with Louise: Elizabeth.
.
It might be noted that Louise didn't exactly explain to Eliza what she was going to partake in, or that she didn't measure up (literally, she was an inch too short), or that Elizabeth isn't exactly known for being malleable. These are mere trifles to little-Lou.
.
We watch her take Eliza by the hand, walk with her across the pool area, coax her as she hesitated at the start of the line, stand behind her and apply consistent gentle pressure up the stairs, and negotiate with the lifeguard when it was discovered that, yes, Eliza was an inch too short ("But Mr. Lifeguard, she has a lifevest on, and she is a seasoned veteran of such affairs"). Eliza, for her part, believed that she was entering a slide portal comparable to the kiddie slide across the way, with a 2.5' elevation drop across a 5' long slide. Louise may have undersold the actual dimensions a wee bit.
.
Things started well, but took a turn when Eliza stopped herself at the end of the slide, just before the 3'6" plunge pool (Eliza being 3'4" tall), and crawled out of the slide onto the side of the pool. Unfortunately, she crawled out into a place with no exit. The lifeguard (I believe the correct phrase would be "Bless his heart"), climbed over to Eliza, tried to reason with her (not an easy task), and tried to encourage her to climb back into the slide and then over the other end of the slide so she could escape unharmed.
.
All the while, Maggie and I watched in muted laughter from the other end of pool, est. 75' away, half-way getting up, then sitting down, expecting that any minute the lifeguard would just pick Eliza up and toss her across the pool towards the stairs. Finally, as I guilt Maggie into getting up and taking care of her youngest, Eliza climbs through to freedom.
Louise was back in line for the next round of slides.