Memorial Day at the Swim Meet

Memorial Day went to the swim meet, all of it — canopies staked out on the grass by mid-morning, camp chairs, towels draped over everything and everyone. The yellow caps were everywhere, kids in goggles lined up in the shade waiting to be walked to the blocks.

The races themselves take seconds. A whole heat of girls off the yellow blocks and into the pool and it's over, and then it's another hour of standing around under the tents until the next event gets called. The timers with their clipboards leaned in over each lane at the start.

Between heats the best strategy on display was a camp chair, a can of Coke, and a stack of comic books, working through them one at a time until somebody came around calling the next age group.