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PADDLING POOLS AND KNICKERBOCKER GLORIES

Lizzie

JULY 10, 1998

R ESTING A SET OF LARGE STEREO SPEAKERS ON THE KITCHEN WINDOWSILL , H UGH disappeared from sight, only to reappear a few seconds later when the sound of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Give It Up” blasted from the speakers. “Is this the song you wanted, Gibs?”

“That’s the one, Hugo,” Gibsie crooned from his perch on one of the sun loungers in Hugh’s back garden. “Good man yourself. You can slap that song on repeat. It tickles my fancy.” In Gibsie’s hand was a tall glass containing an impressive ice cream float, complete with both a straw and a cherry on top. “This is the life, lads.” Bopping along to the music playing, he took an exaggerated slurp from his straw and released a contented ahh sigh. “And this is the greatest knickerbocker glory I’ve ever tasted.”

“Can’t argue with you there, Gibs,” Patrick replied. He was sprawled out on an inflatable float bed in their gigantic, fourteen-foot paddling pool, basking in the sunshine with his own knickerbocker glory in hand, while a mischievous Claire steered the inflatable unicorn she was riding like a horse into the side of him. “Keep it up, Baby Biggs,” he warned when she crashed into him for the millionth time. “Because if I’m going under, you’re coming with me.”

Sighing in contentment, I sat cross-legged on their conservatory roof and took in my surroundings.

The sky was crystal-clear, the sun was shining, and I was surrounded by my favorite people in the world. Hugh was right this morning when he told me today would be a good one.

In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so carefree.

“I’m warning you, Baby Biggs.” Laughing, Patrick reached out and pushed her float away. “If I go under, I’m taking you with me.”

“Careful with the hair, Patrick,” Claire groaned, narrowly avoiding getting dunked. “It takes forever to tame these curls.”

“How’s the coast, Liz?” Hugh asked, leaning out the window on the second floor of his house.

“Clear as a whistle,” I called back, taking another sweep of his parent-free garden. “Sadhbh called your mam over for coffee.”

He grinned down at me before disappearing from my line of sight only to reappear a few seconds later when he climbed out onto the windowsill.

“Wait, wait,” Patrick warned, falling off the inflatable bed he was lounging on and scrambling out of the pool, taking Claire with him. “Okay,” he added when he was out of dodge. “As you were.”

“Are you mental?” Gibs demanded, removing his sunglasses to glare. “There’s four and a half feet of water in there, lad.”

“I know,” Hugh laughed, and then he catapulted fearlessly from the windowsill.

Completely awestruck, I watched him execute the perfect landing in the water before jumping to his feet. “Piece of cake.”

“You’re a raving lunatic,” Gibsie muttered, putting his glasses back on. “I can’t be dealing with your antics.”

“Are you ready?” Hugh asked, giving me an expectant grin. “You’ve got this, Liz.”

“I really don’t,” I replied with a snicker.

The conservatory roof was a shorter jump than the window Hugh had leapt from, and I wasn’t nearly as graceful in water as he was, but I was going to give it my best shot.

“Okay, okay.” Grinning mischievously, I climbed to my feet and backed up a few feet before making a run for the edge. “Here I come…ahhh!”

There was only a space of two or three seconds between jumping from the roof and hitting the water below, but the adrenaline those seconds in midair sent rushing through my veins was so worth it.

“You’re such a badass,” Hugh praised when I jumped to my feet, coughing and spluttering, because, of course, I forgot to hold my breath. “That was epic, Liz.”

“Looks like you’ve met your match in the crazy stakes, Hugo,” Gibsie offered drolly. “You should put a ring on it, lad. Maybe on your honeymoon, you can take her diving off Niagara Falls.”