'Jack and Swim Class'

JACK looked at himself in the big mirror in his room and groaned.

Monday was going to be the worst day of his life. His seventh-grade PE class was starting the swimming unit. Swimming, with girls!

"And all they're going to see is this," Jack said in disgust, squeezing the roll around his midsection.

Sure, Jack had been in pools with girls before. But that was when he was a kid. He wasn't a kid anymore. He was 13. And he was, well, bigger, especially in the waist. His mom said it was cute -- she called it baby fat. But how could it be baby fat if he wasn't a baby? And Jack was sure of one thing: The girls in his class wouldn't call it baby fat.

Just before bedtime, Jack played his final card. "Mom," he said, "I can't go to school tomorrow."

"Are you sick?"

Jack wasn't sick -- he was desperate!

"No, it's just, well, I can't go, because. . . ." and the words came rushing out, "we have to swim tomorrow, and I can't swim with everyone the way I look, they're all going to see this," and he squeezed his stomach, "and they're all going to laugh and point and. . ."

"Hey, what's going on, Jack?" His dad, listening from the other room, strolled in.

Really miserable now, Jack went over it all again.

"Ah, I see," his dad said after the boy finished.

Oh no, Jack thought. Now I'm going to get the story. His dad always had one, like how he had been forced to walk to school in the snow, and had only peanut butter to eat, and worked construction jobs to pay his way through college.

"Let me tell you a story, Jack," his dad began, and launched into a tale of playing golf, and hitting bad shots, and no one caring because everyone was too busy worrying about how bad they looked. Jack waited patiently for the point.

"So, the point is, Jack," his dad said, "I'm 100% sure that tomorrow, no one will be looking at you. Instead, they'll be thinking of how they look. The short kids will be wishing they were taller. The skinny kids will be wishing they had muscles like yours."

"And remember, Jack," his mom said, "these are your friends, right? They know you; they like you. Trust me, they're not going to make fun of you; that's not what friends do."

The next morning, Jack trudged to school. He spent the morning watching the clock. Maybe an earthquake would wreck the school. Maybe an alligator would get loose in the pool.