Chapter 13: paddle boarding

I was struggling to understand the situation. I'd never been in, or seen, a family that functioned so easily as these Keatons did. Where was the bickering, the raised voices, the jibes, the teasing and all that stuff?

I mean, Randolph did do a bit of whinging, but he didn't go on and on with it; and his parents didn't start yelling at him. Like, when we were doing the firewood, Mr Keaton gently chided Randolph with, "Come on, Randy, Lynda's doing twice as much as you, get a move on."

"Aw, she's just too fast, Dad."

"Well, you be fast too."

"Slow down a bit, Lynda, you're making me look bad," Randolph whispered to me.

"Speed up then, Randolph, let's get it done."

I actually started going faster and I think Mr Keaton saw what was going on and was chuckling to himself as he continued chopping the wood.

The day had warmed up. We were going to try the stand-up paddle boards on the lake. Of course, this was something I'd never done, but I wanted to.

Mrs Keaton took me into my bedroom. "Lynda, you will have to wear swimmers because you're bound to fall in at first. Let's get this suit on you."

Shit, a girl's one piece swimsuit. I turned an agonised, appealing face towards her.

"You'll look good in it, love. Come on."

She was just like a mother as she helped me to get the suit on.

"Sweetheart, tuck your bits back between your legs and we'll pull your suit up tight. Yeah, that's it. Oh yes, you look terrific."

I didn't believe her.

"Lynda, do you want me to just tie your hair back or would you prefer to wear a bathing cap?"

I looked at her and just gulped.

"Let's try the cap, ay?"

She fitted it on me.

"Very nice. Do you want to have a look at yourself in the big mirror in the bathroom, sweetheart?"

I shook my head, feeling uncertain and edgy.

"Right, off we go then."

Neither Mr Keaton nor Randolph made any comment on my appearance. They had the boards ready at the lake edge.

"Now Lynda," Mr Keaton said, "Randy's pretty good on these . . ."

Randolph interrupted and crowed, "I'm the best."

He pushed away from the shore and started paddling around showing off with a big grin on his face.

Bloody hell, he was good. Okay, it can't be that hard then. Well, maybe a bit tricky, I thought as I fell off for the third time into the cold water. Randolph came over and started giving me some advice.

"Don't try to stand up too quickly. Try just kneeling on the board until you get your sense of balance. You can paddle around with your hands as though it's a surfboard."

That was better and I started to feel more comfortable.

By the time Mrs Keaton called us for lunch, I was able to stand up (still a bit wobbly) and paddle around carefully. I liked it.