Swim Until You Can't See Land Read online

  CATRIONA CHILD was born in 1980 in Dundee and spent a great deal of her youth ploughing up and down swimming pools. She has a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen and an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She won the Sunday Herald Blog competition in 2007, was shortlisted for the National Library of Scotland/The Scotsman Crime short story competition in 2008, and has been published in the Scottish Book Trust Scottish Family Legends anthology and in Northwords Now. Her first novel, Trackman (2012), was described by The Herald as having ‘all the makings of a cult hit’. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband Allan and daughter Corrie.

  Swim Until You Can’t See Land

  CATRIONA CHILD

  Luath Press Limited

  Edinburgh

  www.luath.co.uk

  First published 2014

  ISBN (HBK): 978-1-910021-45-3

  ISBN (EBK): 978-1-910324-349

  The author’s right to be identified as author of this book under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been asserted.

  The publisher acknowledges the support of Creative Scotland towards the publication of this volume.

  © Catriona Child 2014

  For Corrie

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Hannah's Got the Wright Stuff!

  1

  2

  It's All Wright for Local Swimmer

  3

  4

  Life Bright for Wright

  5

  6

  Going in the Wright Direction

  7

  8

  Hannah Re-Wrights The Record Books

  9

  10

  Hannah Wrights Her Mark On The World Stage

  11

  12

  Hannah Struggles To Get It Wright

  13

  14

  All Going Wrong For Wright

  15

  16

  The Wrighting's On The Wall For Hannah

  17

  18

  Hannah Hopes Things Will Turn Out All Wright

  19

  20

  Hannah Dives Under The Knife

  21

  22

  Swimming Star Sunk by Shoulder Injury

  23

  24

  Also published by LUATH PRESS

  Trackman

  Luath

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks go to –

  Gavin and everyone at Luath Press for their continued support and encouragement.

  Jennie Renton for, once again, putting up with my many fonts.

  Grant for his help with the German, and Fred and Sarah for their help with the French.

  Ossian for his medical knowledge.

  Sue for reading the initial drafts and for her editing advice.

  James for his continued support, and for giving me the chance to try out an early draft of chapter one on an unsuspecting audience.

  The Yahoo group ‘Photo History’ who confirmed that I had not imagined the idea of ‘street photographers.’

  Dr Juliette Pattinson from the University of Strathclyde, who helped with my questions on coded messages.

  My local library who made the research involved in this book so much easier.

  Mum, Dad, Jamie, Iona and Eilidh for being the best family in the world. Dad, especially for his constant nagging – ‘How’s the book coming along?’

  Also my extended family and friends – Childs, Elders and Irvines, and my Grandparents (Connel and Dundee), especially Granny Dundee’s stories about WW2.

  Speckled Jim, gone but not forgotten, and the inspiration for the fish character.

  Allan, for always being there and making things easy.

  Finally, to Corrie – our beautiful wee girl. Thank you for sleeping on my tummy while I looked at edits.

  If you are a person who is drowning,

  you put all your efforts into trying to swim.

  Eileen Nearne

  May 2000

  Hannah’s Got The Wright Stuff!

  Local swimmer takes four golds

  Perth City Amateur Swim Club have a new swimming sensation in Hannah Wright, after she dominated the Midland District championships in Dundee this weekend. Hannah, aged only 11 and competing against girls two years older than her in the U13 category, stormed to victory in all four stroke disciplines.

  She won the 100m Backstroke and Breaststroke on Saturday then followed this up with wins in the 100m Butterfly and Freestyle on the Sunday.

  Coach, Greg Candy, said he was thrilled at how well Hannah had done but wasn’t surprised at her success. ‘I knew from the moment I saw her that she had a natural ability for the sport. I’ve never seen a swimmer like her in the 35 years I’ve been a coach.’

  1

  NO DIVING.

  I curl my toes around the edge of the pool and adjust my goggles, push on them till they suck at my eyeballs. Bend forward, tap my painted toenails, then

  I dive.

  Streamline, I skim just below the surface of the water, catch a flash of yellow t-shirt as I enter the pool. Chris, the lifeguard, leans against the wall, eyes closed, hair sticking up. His whistle dangles from his shorts pocket. When he first started working here, he called me up for diving. Now he doesn’t bother. He knows who I am.

  (who I was)

  He knows I’m not about to go breaking my neck.

  ‘Will you keep an eye on things while I go to Bayne’s,’ Shirley asks.

  ‘Yeah, no problem.’

  ‘You want anything? Filled roll? Donut? Need to get there before the school’s out or there’ll be nothing left.’

  ‘Eh, cheese and tomato roll, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Cake?’

  ‘Go on then, a custard slice.’

  The door goes and I look up, expecting it to be Shirley, back again with another question.

  You want a drink?

  Bottle or can?

  Butter on your filled roll?

  (on top or doggy style?)

  It’s not her though, some old woman I don’t recognise.

  She puts a bag of Revels on the counter, then rummages through her handbag, lifts out her purse and slides a piece of paper from it.

  ‘And a lottery ticket, please,’ she says and hands me the paper.

  Six numbers scrawled in that spidery handwriting that all old people seem to have.

  5 16 21 26 32 44

  Her accent’s strange: Scottish, but with a twang of something else.

  I print the lottery ticket, put it down next to the Revels.

  ‘£1.57, please.’

  The woman doesn’t answer, doesn’t hand me any money, doesn’t move.

  I follow her gaze. She’s looking at something behind my head. Does she want cigarettes?

  ‘Anything else?’ I ask.

  Her face has gone a dirty silver colour, like the Brasso polish Gran used to buff on my swimming trophies.

  It’s a dumb rule anyway, no diving. Diving is the only way to enter a pool.

  None of this descending down a flimsy, metal staircase while it rattles off the tiled walls.

  None of this lowering yourself feet first from the edge, the cold water chilling you from the toes up.

  No, that just gives the water the advantage, gives it the power. If you don’t dive in, then you struggle to get your shoulders under. You have to bounce, bounce, bounce, try to plunge yourself deeper, deeeper, deeeeper, until you finally build up the courage to submerge completely.

  You’re beaten before you’ve even managed to dunk your head under. Game over. Back to the showers with you.

  Diving gives you the upper hand, puts you in con
trol.

  The woman doesn’t speak, although her lips keep moving. Vibrating, quivering. Dark, like she’s wearing purple lipstick.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Her fingers spread and the purse falls from her hand. Change spills, rolling and clattering off the counter and onto the floor.

  I move out from behind the till but before I can get to her she crumples. There’s a thud as she hits her chin on the glass-fronted counter.

  Shit, that was loud.

  A crack runs out along the glass, slicing the reflection of Panini stickers, Rizla papers and mix-up sweets beneath it.

  My heart’s pounding as I move towards her. She’s lying on her side, blood dripping from her chin. Her false teeth have fallen out. I accidentally kick them in my haste and they spin away across the floor.

  I kneel beside her, knock a display of chewing gum off the edge of the counter. It falls, showering us with packets of Extra.

  ‘Sorry, sorry,’ I say.

  She doesn’t look well, not well at all. She gasps for breath, fumbles with the buttons on the collar of her blouse, blood pours down onto her hands but I don’t think she’s noticed she’s bleeding.

  ‘I’ll get that,’ I say and undo her top button. Her hands grab at mine, clammy and damp.

  She’s wearing a silk scarf tied around her neck so I lift it, press it against the cut. The blood, warm and sticky, seeps into it, turns the pale silk dark.

  Shit, what do I do? What the hell do I do?

  Shirley’s the first aider, not me. Where is she?

  The chlorine, the wet, the chill, it hits you all at once but it doesn’t matter. Because you’re straight into your stroke and the cold’s gone before you’re halfway down your first length.

  I know how to work the water with my hands, with my feet. I know the shapes to make with my arms, my legs. Keyhole, figure of eight, breakout, pull through. My hands are paddles, the roll of my shoulders, the froth at my toes.

  Push me on, propel me forward. Push me on, propel me forward.

  Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe.

  My hands shake as I squeeze the scarf. Blood oozes, dribbles between my knuckles.

  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be alright,’ I say, but my voice is different from how it normally sounds.

  Her eyes roll backwards, eyelids fluttering. She looks worse now, if that’s even possible. There’s no colour in her face, drained away with the blood through her chin.

  Shit, I think she’s dying. She’s dying and I’m just sitting here letting it happen. I need to do something. Come on, Hannah.

  I let go of the scarf. My hands are covered in blood and I wipe them on the woman’s jacket before digging my mobile out of my jeans pocket.

  999

  ‘Hello, you’re through to emergency services, what service do you require?’

  My brain has stopped working. Service? What service do I require?

  Ambulance, ambulance, ambulance, ambulance.

  ‘Sorry, ambulance, please.’

  ‘That’s alright. Can you tell me what’s happened and the address?’

  ‘It’s Shop Better, on the High Street in Kinross. I’m sorry, I can’t remember the exact number, next to the Post Office. An old woman’s collapsed, she’s bleeding.’

  ‘Is she breathing?’

  The door opens.

  Thank fuck for that.

  It’s Shirley, back from Bayne’s with the filled rolls and the custard slices.

  ‘Hells bells, what’s happened?’ She drops the paper bag and box of cakes onto the floor.

  ‘She went all funny, then she just fell.’

  ‘Hello, can you hear me? Can you hear me? What’s your name?’ Shirley asks, as she grips the woman under the armpits and tries to prop her up against the counter.

  ‘Get an ambulance, Hannah, I think she might be having a heart attack or something. It’s not good, whatever the hell it is.’

  I’m not sure Shirley should be saying stuff like that in front of the old woman, but I doubt she’s aware of what’s going on.

  ‘I’ve already done that,’ I say and hold the phone up to my ear again. The woman is still there asking questions.

  ‘There’s a first aider here now,’ I say. My hands are shaking so much I can’t hold the phone still. I hear the phrase ‘the ambulance is on its way’ and I hang up.

  I’m out of breath and all I’ve done is make a phone call.

  Shirley’s still trying to prop the woman up, but she’s lifeless and falls to one side.

  ‘She’s bloody heavy for such a wee thing,’ Shirley says, her face flushed, ‘pass me some aspirin, will you?’

  ‘What?’ I reply.

  ‘Aspirin.’

  It’s not a sore head, Shirley, I feel like saying, but I grab a box from behind the counter, pass it to her. She pulls the foil packet out of the box, presses out a white aspirin.

  ‘Crunch and chew, crunch and chew.’

  I think Shirley’s lost it. She’s trying to force the Aspirin into the woman’s mouth. My eyes are drawn to a circle of silver foil from the Aspirin packet which lingers in the air before landing in a pool of blood on the floor. It floats, rippling from side to side; the whole surface shimmers, even the blood has a glossy sheen to it.

  ‘Crunch and chew.’

  I notice something lying to the side of the blood, grab Shirley’s arm.

  ‘Her teeth, Shirl.’

  Shirley picks up the aspirin, now pink, which has fallen from the woman’s mouth, tries to pop it back in. The woman’s eyes are rolling in her head, backwards, forwards, side to side.

  ‘Her teeth fell out.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Her false teeth fell out.’

  ‘Oh Jesus.’

  ‘Shall I get them, they’re just here?’

  ‘I think she’s stopped breathing, Hannah.’

  Shirley grabs the woman by her ankles, pulls her forward until she lies flat. There’s a thud as the back of her head hits the floor.

  Shirley sees me flinch.

  ‘That’s the least of her problems, tell them she’s stopped breathing.’

  ‘Tell who?’

  ‘The ambulance, where are they? They should be here by now.’

  Cap tight against my skull, costume a size too small, slick against shaved skin. Bubbles rise to the surface from my nose, my mouth.

  Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe.

  The water slides off me, gathers like pearls on my nails, my bare skin. I’m impervious. Silky and varnished.

  Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe.

  Shirley starts to do CPR. My eyes are drawn to her tits as they bounce up and down.

  ‘One and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten and eleven…’

  Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe.

  Breathe, come on, breathe. You can’t die, not here, not on the floor of Shirley’s shop.

  Shirley lifts the woman’s blouse, uses it to clean her chin. I see her bra, her bare stomach; the skin saggy and stretch-marked, off-white like porridge. Shirley presses the woman’s nose, tilts her head back, blows into her mouth, then she’s bouncing again.

  ‘One and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine…’

  I try to stop it, but my brain keeps saying inappropriate things, things I’m ashamed to be thinking of at a time like this. Hell, at any time.

  Shirley could do with a decent bra.

  I never realised how big her tits were before.

  I wonder if she did that to my dad?

  Bounced up and down on him, her tits smacking him in the face.

  Jesus, Hannah, stop it.

  Her face is red, hair stuck to her sweaty forehead.

  ‘I need help can you breathe for me?’

  I know it’s a horrible thing to think but I don’t want to go near that old wo
man. I don’t want to touch her. Her chin’s stained with blood, seeped into the wrinkles, paint filling in the cracks.

  ‘I don’t know how.’

  ‘I’ll show you.’

  I shuffle forward so I’m on the other side of the woman.

  ‘Pinch her nose, form a seal.’

  I lean forward. She smells. It’s so strong, meaty.

  I put my lips over her mouth, slowly, willing the ambulance to show. I try not to think about what I’m doing. Think about anything else, even Shirley doing Dad is preferable to this. Shirley’s tits, Shirley’s tits, Shirley’s tits.

  The woman’s face is cold, clammy. I can taste salt. I close my eyes, blow, but I’m barely touching her, not forming the seal that Shirley’s so keen on. My hair’s covering her face, it makes it easier. I press down harder, blow again. Pretend I’m kissing a mermaid.

  ‘Well done, one and two and t h r e e and four and five and six…’

  Shirley’s counting’s getting slower, her chest heaving.

  Stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe.

  ‘…twenty-six and twenty-seven and twenty-eight and twenty-nine and thirty.’

  Mermaid kiss, mermaid kiss.

  ‘One and two and three and four…’

  Dark tiles, T-shaped on the bottom of the pool tell me the wall’s coming. I don’t need the reminder though, I know exactly where I am.

  I know the number of strokes, the number of breaths. I close my eyes and I still know where the wall is. I can’t gauge distance on dry land, but in the pool I have an inbuilt GPS system.

  I stretch with my arm, a flash of red fingernails. Then my hand pulls me down, flips me over into a tumble turn. My feet plant on the wall, firm, no sliding on wet tiles. Knees bend, I thrust myself forward, arms out in front, head down. Streamline. A short breakout, hips undulating, dolphin kick, then I’m back into my stroke.

  I hear the sirens, in the distance, then louder and louder as they approach the shop. An excuse to get away.

  My legs may be wobbly but they want me as far away from this as possible. They propel me up and towards the door. I stumble, kick a packet of chewing gum as I go. It spins across the floor, hits the front door as I open it. I pick up the packet, fall out onto the pavement. Fresh air, glorious fresh air. I suck it in as I wave down the ambulance.