Downstream

perch, which he’s fished for
in the past.
As the boys leave I walk
around the pool; the bottom
looks shallow and sandy and
there are plenty of weeds and
mud. On a hot day it must be
a perfect place to cool off,
and in the 1940s it was here
that schoolchildren were
taught to swim. ‘We didn’t
have a bathroom at home, so
the nearest I usually got to
water was a quick rub round