I had worn the swimsuit only one time
and knew it had gone through the wash. My family
was on our way to Lagoon Amusement Park and I went to the laundry room to retrieve
my suit. I was saddened to see the bottoms had discolored as there had
been a bleach spill. My top, fortunately,
had not been bleached. The bottoms had
become an ugly brown resembling soiled diapers.
The top, fortunately, hid the bottoms.
I figured it would be okay to wear them.
 |
| this is not the exact suit but does resemble the style |
Until that day, I was unaware how
harmful too much bleach can be and how bleach combined with water can make
fabric disintegrate – which is what happened in the pool. I don’t
know how soon after I started playing in the water that they disappeared. I had been in the pool for a while (I think) before I realized that my bottom was bare.
I remember making my way to the edge
of the pool and asking my mom to hand me a towel.
“They are just right there,” she said
pointing to the towels on the nearby ground.
“I know,” I said, holding the bottom
of my suit top so that it wouldn’t float up and expose me more than I already
was. “Could you hand me one?”
Of course mom did not realize until
after I had gotten out why I just didn’t lean down to get it myself. There may have been pieces of fabric floating
around in the pool – but not enough to identify as my bottoms. It certainly could have been a more
embarrassing situation. I remember that
I was mortified at the time. I didn’t
find the humor in it until many years later.
