3 Deep Water not to be republished - NCERT

1 deep Water /23 deep WaterDeep WaterDeep WaterDeep WaterDeep WaterAbout the authorWilliam Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine,Minnesota. After graduating with a Bachelors of Artsin English and Economics, he spent two years teachinghigh school in Yakima. However, he got tired of this anddecided to pursue a legal career. He met Franklin at Yale and became an adviser and friend tothe President. Douglas was a leading advocate ofindividual rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lastingthirty-six years and remains the longest-serving Justicein the history of the court. The following excerpt is takenfrom Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas. Itreveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearlydrowned in a swimming pool.

2 In this essay he talksabout his fear of Water and thereafter, how he finallyovercame it. Notice how the autobiographical part ofthe selection is used to support his discussion of these words and expressions in the their meaning from the my prideybob to the surface like a corkyflailed at the surfaceycurtain of life fellyfishing for landlocked salmonyback and forth across the poolIt had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I haddecided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Yakima that offered exactly the opportunity. The YakimaRiver was treacherous. Mother continually warned againstit, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowningin the river. But the pool was safe.

3 It was onlytwo or three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it wasnine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got apair of Water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk33333 NCERTnot to be republished24/FlamingoSketch map not to scaleThe Yakima River is a tributaryof the Columbia River in easternWashington, The state isnamed after the indigenousYakama YAKIMA RIVER NCERTnot to be republishedDeep Water /25naked into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued mypride and did the beginning, however, I had an aversion to thewater when I was in it. This started when I was three orfour years old and father took me to the beach in and I stood together in the surf.

4 I hung on to him, yetthe waves knocked me down and swept over me. I wasburied in Water . My breath was gone. I was laughed, but there was terror in my heart at theoverpowering force of the introduction to the swimming pool revivedunpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in alittle while I gathered confidence. I paddled with my newwater wings, watching the other boys and trying to learnby aping them. I did this two or three times on differentdays and was just beginning to feel at ease in the waterwhen the misadventure went to the pool when no one else was there. The placewas quiet. The Water was still, and the tiled bottom was aswhite and clean as a bathtub.

5 I was timid about going inalone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for had not been there long when in came a big bruiserof a boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair onhis chest. He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legsand arms that showed rippling muscles. He yelled, Hi,Skinny! How d you like to be ducked? With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deepend. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed Water , andwent at once to the bottom. I was frightened, but not yetfrightened out of my wits. On the way down I planned:When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump,come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge ofthe seemed a long way down.

6 Those nine feet were morelike ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs wereready to burst. But when my feet hit bottom I summonedall my strength and made what I thought was a great springupwards. I imagined I would bob to the surface like a , I came up slowly. I opened my eyes and saw nothing NCERTnot to be republished26/Flamingobut Water Water that had a dirty yellow tinge to it. Igrew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and myhands clutched only at Water . I was suffocating. I tried toyell but no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose cameout of the Water but not my flailed at the surface of the Water , swallowed andchoked. I tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as deadweights, paralysed and rigid.

7 A great force was pulling meunder. I screamed, but only the Water heard me. I hadstarted on the long journey back to the bottom of the struck at the Water as I went down, expending mystrength as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. Ihad lost all my breath. My lungs ached, my head was getting dizzy. But I remembered the strategy Iwould spring from the bottom of the pool and come like acork to the surface. I would lie flat on the Water , strike outwith my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then I would getto the edge of the pool and be went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothingbut Water with a yellow glow dark Water that one couldnot see then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror thatknows no understanding, terror that knows no control,terror that no one can understand who has not experiencedit.

8 I was shrieking under Water . I was paralysed under Water stiff, rigid with fear. Even the screams in my throat werefrozen. Only my heart, and the pounding in my head, saidthat I was still then in the midst of the terror came a touch ofreason. I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. Atlast I felt the tiles under me. My toes reached out as if tograb them. I jumped with everything I the jump made no difference. The Water was stillaround me. I looked for ropes, ladders, Water wings. Nothingbut Water . A mass of yellow Water held me. Stark terrortook an even deeper hold on me, like a great charge ofelectricity. I shook and trembled with fright. My armswouldn t move.

9 My legs wouldn t move. I tried to call forhelp, to call for mother. Nothing happened. NCERTnot to be republishedDeep Water /27 And then, strangely, there was light. I was coming outof the awful yellow Water . At least my eyes were. My nosewas almost out I started down a third time. I sucked for air andgot Water . The yellowish light was going all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp;and a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; itwiped out terror. There was no more panic. It was quietand peaceful. Nothing to be afraid of. This is to to go to no need to too tired it s nice to be carried to float along in arms around tender arms like Mother nowI must go to crossed to oblivion, and thecurtain of life next I remember I waslying on my stomach beside thepool, vomiting.

10 The chap that threwme in was saying, But I was onlyfooling. Someone said, The kidnearly died. Be all right now. Let scarry him to the locker room. Several hours later, I walkedhome. I was weak and shook and cried when I lay onmy bed. I couldn t eat that night. For days a haunting fearwas in my heart. The slightest exertion upset me, makingme wobbly in the knees and sick to my never went back to the pool. I feared Water . I avoidedit whenever I few years later when I came to know the waters ofthe Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever Idid whether I was wading the Tieton or bumping Riveror bathing in Warm Lake of the Goat Rocks the terrorthat had seized me in the pool would come back.