A LUCKY CATCH

Somehow Toby's managed to grab and hold onto the diving board!

Slowly he  drags himself back to the fence, the board bounding about underneath his trembling body.

Gripping the fence , Toby rests, his face white with shock on the diving board, he takes deep breaths fighting back tears.
After a time he tries to move but he cannot seem to make his body respond ! He does n't know how long he lays there trying to calm himself.
Lost in a world of his own he does not here anything until

" It's okay Toby I'm here " he feels an arm go round him and hears the words, calm and wonderful.

"Got your self in a bit of a pickle here I see " says James soothingly , stroking Toby's back
" J J  James." Toby's voice trembles tearfully " I  I nearly fell... "
"but " James calm voice soothes " you didn't.. you managed to save yourself and grab the board "
James had seen it all from the bedroom window, he'd hit the floor running the minute he'd seen Toby manage to grab the board and stop his headfirst fall!

" I  I did ! " Toby smiles through his tears " But I don't know how ! I did but I did "
" Yes you did and now I think I should help you back down , what do you think? "

"Please James I'd really like to get down to the ground "
"Okay do what I say "

Slowly and calmly Jame's helps Toby get from the board back onto the fence, always keeping one hand on Toby so he knows he's close by.

"That's It Toby, slide back slowly and we'll soon be able to climb down". It takes a while with James giving Toby lots of help and encouragement but finally they are back on the ground, well nearly!

"What were you doing up there Toby? " asks James now they are both safe
" I was going to practice to become an Olympic diver "
" I see , you know they don't actually start at the very top board you know "
"They don't? "
" No they start by diving off the side and then the smallest diving board and then as they get better they move up until one day they are diving off the top one!!

"Well no one tells you that! " says Toby getting a little colour in his face , to James relief  " I could have saved myself having to climb all the way up that fence!"
" Yes you could have" agrees James " but then did you ask anyone about how those divers get to be so good at what they do? "
"Well no"

"If you are serious about being an Olympic diver, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up to the high boards " says James " and you'll need a coach to teach you plus you'll need to practice before and after school for a couple of hours everyday"

"A couple of hours everyday? " repeats Toby stunned " Can I not just do a dive from each one and then try the top one.....well not today... maybe ... next week "

" Nope sorry Toby, you have to train for thousands of hours at each stage before you move up "
" Thousands! " gasps Toby " That's more than ... than one whole hundred! "
"Yes it is " smiles James " come on lets go inside and talk about it "

" Good idea " agrees Toby turning round " I'm feeling quite cold now and would like some hot chocolate "
" Hot Chocolate ! I could go some of that myself " agrees James " lets get you warmed up and then we can talk about all the different sports you could win a gold medal in "
Toby starts forward " James ? "
"Yes "
" We don't need to tell Mum what happened .. do we? "
James shivers " No I think it's best we don't tell Mum this time " They set off for the house, James knowing Mum will have to know sometime but not yet, he does not think he could tell her without crying ,he needs to get over the shock himself first! Then he looks up and sees Mum waiting white faced by the back door, Toby sees her too! Suddenly he starts running to her, tears flowing down his cheeks, she grabs him in  a big bear hug and no one says anything.... for a while.


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