It was summer and in the middle of Numbuh 4 having his growth spurt. He was in his room and measuring himself. Like he did every morning since he went to the doctor's one day and he said that Wallabee started growing a lot since last time. That made Numbuh 4 excited and he decided to check his height every morning. He still didn't get rid of his feety pajamas because for some reason he was attached to them. He stood up against his measuring thing and measured himself. Then he looked and saw that he was a centimeter taller than yesterday. He ran all the way outside to go to the tree house and accidentally went out his back door. When Numbuh 4 got out into his backyard, he saw Numbuh 1; Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 5 were filling up his pool with water and were wearing bathing suits. Then he immediately forgot how much he grew. Numbuh 5 looked at him and she had a hose in her hand. She looked a little different that summer. Her hair was in a ponytail instead of a braid and it was a little lighter. She looked a little more grown up too and she didn't use herself in third person either.
"Hey Wally. Come on, get out of your p.j.s and get into your bathing suit. Geeze, you sleep like a rock," she said to him.
"Yeah, 'cause we were throwing rocks at your window and nothing happened. Besides your mom yelling at us to stop throwing rocks and brake a window or she'll send us all to boot camp so we could throw rocks there," Numbuh 2 added. He wasn't very different. Except now he doesn't have his hat anymore.
Numbuh 4 looked helplessly at Numbuh 1 who just looked at him seriously. "Go put your bathing suit on Numbuh 4," was all he said but Numbuh 4 swore he heard him say, "If I have to go on with this idiotic plot, then you should too." Numbuh 1 didn't change at all. He was just quieter and worked harder than usual. He also acted older which worried the team to think that he would quit the Kids Next Door before his thirteenth birthday. Numbuh 4 knew he couldn't win so he just walked inside and put on his suit. He also put on floaties, goggles, an air tank (where ever that came from) and flippers. He started writing a few lines for his will but then Hoagie dragged him outside.
Numbuh 5 looked at him and shook her head. "You don't need all that junk," she said while she took it all off. Numbuh 1 sat at the picnic table and watched them. He smiled at Numbuh 4 then quickly put his head down when Abby caught his eye.
"Come young one," Numbuh 2 said pushing Numbuh 4 near the pool.
"Shut up. I'm only a few days younger than you," Numbuh 4 teased.
Numbuh 5 put a rubber duck in the water and showed Numbuh 4. "See how the duck floats?" She said pointing to the rubber duck.
Numbuh 4 raised an eyebrow. "And the duck floating has to do with…?"
"Pretend you're the duck. Be the duck. Float like the duck," Numbuh 5 said.
"You're starting to scare me Numbuh 5," Numbuh 4 said moving away from her.
Abby pulled him back. "I'm serious here Numbuh 4. Do you want to learn to swim or not?"
Numbuh 4 thought and stuttered, "I-I-I-I d-d..."
"He does," Numbuh 2 answered for him.
"Alright then, get in the water," she instructed Wally.
He slowly took a step in the pool. "The waters cold!" he complained.
"Get over it," they heard Numbuh 1 mumble but ignored him. Numbuh 5 got in the water too and showed Numbuh 4 how to swim. They started in the shallow end. Numbuh 5 put the duck on Numbuh 4's stomach when he was back floating.
"Why did you put the duck on me?" Numbuh 4 asked.
"So you remember to balance and float like the duck," she explained to him. Wally rolled his eyes but did as he was told. Hoagie sat on the edge eating a sandwich. Wally and Abby stopped when they smelled something disgusting.
"Ew, Hoagie what the crud are you eating?" Numbuh 4 asked attempting to swim away with his little skills of swimming.
"A sandwich," he answered plainly.
"We can see and unfortunately smell that. What kind of sandwich?" Abby asked also swimming away.
"You're making the ducky want to puke," Numbuh 4 said.
"Aw, my ducky loves me," Numbuh 2 said reaching for the ducky.
Suddenly Numbuh 4 came up from under water with the rubber duck on his head. "That smell could drive anyone away," Wally told him holding his nose.
"Hoagie just tell us, what kind of sandwich are you eating?" Abby repeated swimming over and holding her nose as well.
"Duck sandwich with mayonnaise and tuna casserole." Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 5 looked at each other and held their throats in disgust and started gagging.
"Ducky's not gonna love you anymore," Abby said.
"Why not?" Hoagie asked with his mouth full.
"Because, you're probably eating one of his cousins!" Numbuh 4 told him.
Numbuh 2 stopped chewing. He spit out his sandwich and threw it away (by that I mean on Numbuh 4's lawn). "Ew! Ugh. I'm never looking at rubber ducks the same again. That's disgusting." Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 5 laughed. "I'm now going to be a vegetarian," he announced, "but I'm still hungry."
Numbuh 4 took off Numbuh 5's hat. "Here," he said. "You can eat Abby's hat." The strangest thing happened. He threw it towards Numbuh 2 and it went directly to him. Then all of a sudden it turned and went into the deep end. I guess the laws of physics were against Wally that day.
They all stared at it. "Wallabee!! You go get my hat!" Numbuh 5 screamed angrily in fear the chlorine might affect the material.
"But I-"
"NOW!"
"Ok, ok."
"Oh man I gotta see this," Hoagie said with a smile. Numbuh 5 crossed her arms and Numbuh 2 watched Numbuh 4 figure out a way to get the hat away from the deep end without drowning. He slowly walked on the bottom of the floor until he couldn't reach. (Which really wasn't that long knowing Numbuh 4's height.) Then he was forced to swim. He tried remembering what Numbuh 5 told him. 'Pretend you're the duck. Be the duck. Float like the duck.' He remembered the duck was still on his head. He picked it up and looked at it.
"Be the duck," he whispered to himself. Wally took a deep breath, closed his eyes and swam to get the hat. He then felt fabric and opened his eyes. It was Abby's hat! He made it! He turned around holding the hat in the air. "Hey Numbuh 2! Here's your lunch!" Abby and Hoagie laughed and so did Wally. Numbuh 4 swam back to his friends and they congratulated him on learning to swim. Then they swam the rest of the day. Finally, his pool can go to good use!
