Bryan hadn't wanted to move. He'd liked living on the family farm in Delaware, where he'd spent so much time roaming the fields or skipping stones in the pond. He'd liked the creaky old farmhouse, and always having his cousins there to play with him and his twin brother, Ike. But his dad had been accepted to do his Masters at Texas A&M, so they'd had to move here while he did his degree.
"It's only temporary," his mother reminded him when he sulked, "We'll be going back to Delaware in a year or two. And we can visit at the holidays." But none of that helped him feel better. The holidays were forever away, and two years seemed like an eternity to be stuck in this cookie-cutter development of identical houses in hot-as-blazes Texas. The only thing Bryan liked about the new house was it had a pool, something they hadn't had back home.
Mom wanted him and Ike to take swim lessons before she would let them use the pool, which wouldn't start until next month. But Bryan just couldn't stay away from the pool. Although he kept his promise to stay out of the water, he spent lots of time lying on the concrete apron next to it, one hand or a leg dangling into the water as he watched a show on his iPad.
He was out there one afternoon, just sitting on the edge with his feet in the water, daydreaming, when something grabbed his ankle and pulled, hard. Before he could even scream, he was dragged into the pool with a loud splash, where the water quickly closed over his head.
Much to Bryan's surprise, the next thing he knew he was staggering to his feet in the family pond back home, coughing and spluttering. He wiped water out of his eyes and looked around in disbelief. There was the old red barn with the peeling paint, there was the farmhouse beyond it, and the big tree where his cousins built their tree house. He was really here, he was home!
As he waded through the slippery mud on the bottom of the pond intending to climb out on the grassy bank, he lost his footing and fell backwards. He held his breath and threw out an arm to brace himself, expecting to feel his fingers sink into the soft mud only to find himself breaching the surface of the water in their pool back in Texas instead.
The screen door to the deck slid open. "Bryan! I told you, no going in the pool until you learn how to swim properly. It isn't safe!" His mother yelled, a note of panic in her voice.
"Mom! Mom, come here! You won't believe it!" Bryan spluttered, as he scrambled out of the pool. He ran up the steps to the deck, his clothes dripping, grabbed his mother's hand and towed her towards the pool. "Hold your breath," he yelled just before he jumped.
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