Swimmy

After swim lessons one recent evening, we were walking back to our cars when we heard a “meeeoooooow.”

We stopped and looked around. A cat? It was so dark that at first, we couldn’t see anything. But then, there he was—a black cat, barely visible against the night.

He looked hungry, thirsty, and lost. As we slowly approached, he came right up to us. He didn’t seem scared of us at all. We didn’t see a collar, and there was no one else around.

We couldn’t just leave him there, so we decided to take him home. Since he was very dirty, we laid down some towels in the back of the car before heading off.

It was too cold to clean him outside, so once we got home, we gave him a bath. At first, he did NOT like it, but as the bath went on, he seemed to relax. And then, to our surprise, we noticed something strange…

His tail had blue marks!

We had never seen anything like that before. Curious, we took some pictures and shared them, hoping someone would recognize him. But no one came forward to claim him.

We didn’t have the heart to take him to a shelter, so we decided to keep him.

A few days after deciding to keep him, it only felt right to bring him back to the pool.

He sat quietly, watching all the swim lessons. Kid after kid took their turn in the water. He never made a sound, only tilting his head occasionally, as if curious.

After the last lesson, we packed up to go home. It had been exactly one week since we found him. Time had flown by. The sun streamed through the glass windows, casting a golden glow.

We glanced back. The cat was perched on a chair, lazily licking his paws, content after his evening of silent observation.

As we opened the storage closet to put away toys and supplies, a voice suddenly broke the quiet.

“I want to try.”

We froze, staring at each other for a moment in shock.

Rushing back out, we looked around. Had someone left a child behind? That had never happened before. But no one was there—just the cat, staring right at us.

“That was weird,” we murmured, brushing it off.

“I want to swim.”

We dropped everything. This time, we knew we weren’t imagining it.

We searched everywhere—the bathroom, under the chairs, even outside. Nothing.

Slowly, we turned to the cat.

“Was that… you?”

He blinked. “Well, yes. You’ve never heard a talking cat before?”

“AHHHHHH!”

The cat sighed. “Guess not.”

We stared at him, stunned. “So… you want to swim?”

“Yes, but I’ve never swum before. Will you teach me?”

We exchanged glances. “I guess… but I thought cats didn’t like water?”

“I’m actually quite nervous. Will you get in with me and show me?”

“Of course!”

Then a thought struck us. “Wait—if we’re going to be talking to a cat, we need to call you something.”

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“You know, a name.”

“I don’t have one. I’ve never had a name before.”

We grinned. “Since the first time we heard you talk was at the pool, how about… Swimmy?”

His whiskers twitched. “Swimmy… I like it!”