I am only a little Gypsy 1 - Reincarnation, does it exist? - 22. Chapter 22. Nearly drowned; swimming as a water rat.

Still thinking and pondering, I unexpectedly detected a small ridge under my feet that seemed to be just below the water surface! Feeling curious, I first tried to estimate how deep down it could be. Would that small ridge be able to rescue me, in case I plunged into the water and my built-in 'little trapper friend' really couldn't help or rescue me? Well, there was only one way to find this out...

Carefully, I slid down from my mossy bank and started to probe around with only one foot, until I felt the small ridge that fortunately was not too deep down. Feeling like a little adventurer, I first stepped onto the small underwater ridge, and then carefully probed around a little bit further, to find out how far it was stretching out into the lake. 'Safety first', as all our responsible grownups always told their kids! Fortunately, the underwater ridge turned out to be safe enough to step onto it without any immediate danger; because, standing upright on my small ridge, the surrounding water came up only to my waist.

Now that I was in the water, I only had to decide what kind of swimming I wanted to learn first. Again, I looked at what the other kids were doing. Most kids were swimming around, chasing after each other, or diving under the water surface and resurfacing again. A few kids were just floating around, moving lazily or lying still while looking at the moving clouds over their heads. Yes! Floating around was the first thing I wanted to learn, because it seemed to be the easiest thing to do. Without any further thinking, I just took a deep breath, closed my mouth, and went down on all fours. After my face disappeared into the water, I first waited until my ears got used to the unexpected silence. Then, I had to resurface to breathe again.

Well, so far, diving under the water surface turned out to be easy enough! Okay, let's now try out if my tiny body really can float on the water surface. After taking another deep breath, I first went down on all fours again. Then, I turned around slowly, until I could see the lazily moving clouds over my head. Very much to my delight, my body had started floating automatically, just below the water surface! Only my face stayed out of the water so that I could breathe, while my body slowly sank down when I breathed out, but it floated up again when I breathed in. Clearly, I only had to remember to breathe in again, every time just before I was sinking too deeply and my face threatened to dive under the water surface. Well, so far, floating around on my back had turned out to be easy enough!

For quite some time, I just went on floating on the water surface whilst staring at the still lazily moving clouds over my head. Then, I started to feel bored, and therefore decided to go on towards the next stage. Now that floating had turned out to be this easy, I supposed that swimming would be easy too. And, of course, I still wanted to join my frolicking friends and partake in their splashing water games!

However, just before I started trying to swim all by myself, I first wanted to take another look at what exactly my friends were doing, and at how they were able to propel their swimming bodies through the water. Slowly and very carefully, whilst trying to keep my mouth above the water surface, I stretched my legs downwards and tried to reach my small ridge, so that I could stand upright on it...

At that same moment, I started to PANIC, while my involuntarily opening mouth swallowed a huge gulp of water so that I desperately tried to cough it out. Where was that safe ridge that should have been just below my probing feet? WHERE WAS MY SAFE RIDGE?

Of course, I needed that ridge to stand upright on it, because I had coughed out too much air whilst trying to get rid of the involuntarily swallowed water! Now, my body was slowly sinking down, so that my mouth disappeared under the water surface and I couldn't breathe in anymore. Because my chest was no longer filling with air, my body didn't want to float anymore, so that it was sinking down deeper and deeper into the lake's bottomless depth! Apparently, I had drifted off too far away into the lake, so that I was now unable to find any solid ground under my desperately searching feet.

Still panicking, I tried to 'swim' towards the water surface, by kicking around and splashing with both my legs and my arms, thereby involuntarily swallowing even more water into my already soaking lungs. Unfortunately, nobody had ever taught me what I should do in the water to resurface and breathe in again. A nasty pressure started building up in my loudly ringing ears, while my heart started to hammer in my chest like crazy. Obviously, I was DROWNING in this bottomless lake, because I couldn't breathe in anymore!

This time, even my built-in 'little trapper friend' couldn't help me anymore, although my inside was sure he was now trying to rescue me, but my desperation prevented him from taking over. While my more and more panicking body started to sink deeper and deeper into the lake's bottomless depth, and my emptied lungs started to get more and more painful because I couldn't refill them with fresh air, I was already beginning to see little stars and tiny flashes of light.

Feeling more and more desperate, I tried to calm down, so that my built-in 'little trapper friend' could take over and quickly bring me back to the surface, before it was too late. That is, IF he knew how to swim and how to resurface without my already drowning body being able to breathe in anymore. Unfortunately, I also couldn't take in a deep breath, as I normally always did to force my inside to be still, and nobody had ever taught me any other ways of calming down...

Just before I really blacked out from lack of fresh air, I suddenly decided to give up and wait for whatever would happen next. If really nobody would be able to rescue me from drowning in this lake, not even my Beloved Ancestor Friends or any other Spirit Helpers, all further resistance would be futile! Clearly, today, I had lived through my very last adventure on our beautiful Planet Earth, towards the sorrowful end of little Gypsy Crown Prince Harold Janovski Romani.

Would my parents and all my friends in our secluded Gypsy camp be very sad after they found my dead body lying on the bottom of our mountain lake, probably near the end of the day? Would they now have to move towards another location, or would I die far enough away from our camp to let them stay in our own place? Our Gypsy belief forbade us to stay in the same place where one of us died, but I absolutely didn't want to be such a nuisance to my friends and to all the others, in what once had been my own happy birthplace...

Suddenly, a hazy ghostly form showed up next to me in the water, and two hands gripped my arms and pulled me back to the surface! Were my Beloved Ancestors and Spirit Friends trying to rescue me? Or, was I already dead and dreaming only sort of a 'rescue' wish? Suddenly feeling hopeful again, I desperately tried not to black out. Fortunately, just before I really lost consciousness, my head already popped up out of the water, so that my body woke up from its dying stupor and instinctively restarted to BREATHE!

Immediately after my lungs inhaled their first renewing breath of heavenly fresh air, they also started to cough and spit out lots and lots of involuntarily swallowed water. Then, I started to cry my heart out. This terrifying almost-drowning adventure was the most humiliating experience that I had ever lived through, during my entire young life! Whilst coughing, I had also wrestled around, so that I could clamp my drowning body onto my unknown savior, like some desperate octopus. Now that I woke up from my drowning stupor, I also found out that I was clamping onto my 'ghostly' older friend Misha with all of my might, as if Misha could be my so-called 'guardian angel'.

At seeing my confused looking teary eyes and still upset face, Misha first started to smile broadly. Clearly, he was very pleased to see me waking up alive and kicking! But then, he chuckled:

"You really resemble a little 'octopus', as your Dad now and then calls you! Could you please loosen your death grip on me and let your body float free again for a few seconds, so that I can dive under you? Then, just climb onto my back, so that I can swim both of us to the banks, where I can help you recover more easily."

Patiently, Misha coached me to loosen my 'octopus' death grip on him, until I left my savior and tentatively started to float again. Then, he dived under me and helped me climb onto his back, so that he could swim us to my underwater ridge. Sitting down on the ridge, he pulled me onto his lap and firmly pressed his fists against my upset stomach. Then, he waited until I had thrown up and coughed out all of the involuntarily swallowed water from my lungs and stomach.

Now feeling quite a lot better, I first regulated my breath to stop crying. Almost immediately, my bright brainiac brain restarted to feel curious again! What could have gone wrong, after my head went under the water surface so that I couldn't breathe anymore; and why had I not been able to resurface on my own, as all the swimming others in our lake seemed to do almost effortlessly? And, why hadn't my built-in 'little trapper boy' helped me resurface, instead of letting me drown like this? Although I could feel his presence in my inside, he still didn't say a word but only chuckled some, as usual.

Misha seemed to feel even more relieved when finally some more life returned into my again curious looking eyes. Clearly, he had been truly afraid that I really had drowned and therefore was already dead. But then, my older friend started to apologize for his behavior:

"Sorry, little man, for being too tardy so that I couldn't rescue you in time! All the time whilst you were floating around, I've tried to keep a close eye on you, to be able to help you if ever necessary. But then, I suddenly didn't see you anymore, because you had already disappeared under the water surface. Immediately, I dived down at the place where I had seen you floating just before you disappeared. Fortunately, I was able to find you and pull you upwards, just in time before you lost consciousness and drowned. Now, to avoid any more nasty disasters, I would like to teach you how you can resurface all on your own and without any help from anybody else. Therefore, please sit down on this underwater ridge, and take a look at what my legs are doing in the water whilst diving and resurfacing again..."

Helpfully, Misha lifted me from his lap and sat me down on my underwater ridge, so that my head was just above the water surface. From here, I could easily look down into the water at what my new 'swimming teacher' was going to do. Fortunately, the mountain water was crystal clear, so that I was able to see all his movements. Again feeling like a little explorer, I looked at my older friend in anticipation. What was he going to teach me, so that I could rescue myself from drowning, without any help from anybody else?

With a broad smile on his face, Misha first rose upright on our small ridge, at full length. Then, he put his arms high into the air, hopped off the ridge, and sunk down into the seemingly bottomless depth until he was deep under the water surface. Whilst I watched intently at what my older friend was doing, he started to open and close his legs whilst at the same time kicking at the water below his feet. Within a few seconds, his smiling head popped up again, and he spit out some water towards me while he chuckled:

"As you could see for yourself, that's all you have to do! Now, let your body plunge into the water, next to me; so that I can keep your hands into mine, at least for as long as will be necessary..."

Although my inside felt still a little bit wary, I decided to trust my clearly experienced natural trapper friend. Therefore, I just plunged into the water next to my swimming teacher, and grabbed his already invitingly outstretched hands. After taking a very deep breath and then closing our mouths, Misha let some excessive air escape, so that both he and I started to sink down into the seemingly bottomless depth beneath our feet. Before I could start panicking again, Misha quickly showed me how I should open and close my legs whilst at the same time kicking at the surrounding water. Almost immediately, both he and I started to resurface, surprisingly fast and effortlessly.

Suddenly feeling confident, immediately after we resurfaced, I left Misha's guiding hands, breathed out some excessive air, and trustfully dived under the water surface all on my own. When I had dived deep enough and the by now well-known pressure had started to build op in my ears, I just started to kick at the surrounding water with my legs and feet, making my body resurface easily and effortlessly! Up to now, I never knew that diving under the water surface and resurfacing again would be this easy and could be so much fun. Thanks to my older friend Misha who really had been both my 'guardian angel' and my 'rescuer', I knew now exactly what I had to do to resurface all on my own and without any help from anybody else.

Again, faint memories showed up in my inside, of having been a 'little trapper boy' who was used to swimming and diving in even the deepest mountain lakes all on his own, without any help from his proud looking 'trapper Dad' and feeling absolutely fearless. Clearly, I was again remembering something useful from my past life as a little trapper boy! Now, I only had to find out how to swim properly, as I had clearly already been able to do it before, during my past incarnation.

Before I asked my 'swimming teacher' to teach me swimming as well, I first restarted to think. Clearly, just having been able to dive and swim properly during my past incarnation had been not enough; probably because my so-called 'remembrances from my past life' had to resurface from my unconscious mind into my consciousness first. That was why I had nearly drowned, although my 'little trapper boy' from my past life had been able to swim and dive as a real water rat. Therefore, although I had already been such a 'water rat' during my past life, Misha still had to teach me how to swim properly first.

Feeling satisfied now that I knew what had been happening to me and why I still couldn't resurface from disappearing under the water surface and therefore almost drowned, although I had already been an experienced swimmer during my past life, I asked Misha:

"Misha? Thank you very much for being my swimming teacher and teaching me how to resurface from diving under the water surface. Could you please also teach me how to swim properly, so that I can join the others and partake in their splashing water games?"

Chuckling at seeing my again very eager face, Misha responded:

"Yes, of course! But first, I want to teach you how to stay upright in the water with your head just above the surface, by 'treading water'. Please take another good look at what I am doing now, and then just copy what my legs and feet are doing under the water."

After looking carefully at what my 'swimming teacher' was doing with his legs and his feet under the water, I just started to copy his movements. And yesss, very much to my happiness, very soon, I too was able to stay perfectly still in the water, with only my head above the surface, by slowly and lazily kicking my feet at the water below. Clearly, now was the time to relearn how to swim properly!

Again feeling enthusiastic, I asked my proud looking older friend:

"Misha? Thank you very much for being my swimming teacher again. Could you please now teach me how to SWIM properly, so that I can join the others and partake in their water games?"

Without saying another word, Misha just started to swim around me, so that I could see what he was doing. Whilst taking a very good look at what my older friend was doing in the water, my bright brain also tried to understand why exactly he was doing what he did. In the meantime, Misha went on swimming around me while showing me how I had to move both my arms and my legs at the same time and also rhythmically. Now and then, he stopped for a few seconds, to be able to answer my curious questions. Time and again, I let myself float horizontally, with my head under the water, whilst trying to do what my 'swimming teacher' friend told me I should do better.

At last, both my 'swimming teacher' and I were swimming next to each other, although I still couldn't keep up with my much older and therefore also much faster friend. Very much to my disappointment, my movements were still too uncoordinated, because I just couldn't get the hang of making my legs and my feet doing different things than my arms and my hands were doing. Sadly, I also still didn't feel my built-in 'little trapper friend' helping me, although I could again hear him in my inside, chuckling at sensing my idle tries.

Well, even without any help from my 'built-in little trapper friend', I just went on trying to swim less erratically. That is, until my clever brainiac brain came up with what felt like an excellent idea! What if I forgot all about 'trying to learn swimming', and just pretended I was still a little trapper boy who could already swim as a real water rat? I was sure I had been such a trapper boy during my past trapper life, so that I only had to reconnect to my swimming skills from then...

Again feeling like a little explorer, I started to pretend I was still such a little trapper boy, swimming in our wildly streaming mountain river whilst trying to reach my 'trapper Dad' in time before he reached the banks and won our 'race'. Pretending Misha could be my 'trapper Dad' from my past life, I let everything go that he taught me about swimming, and just started to race him across the lake. Exactly at that same moment and without any warning, my 'built-in little trapper friend' from my past life took over both my arms and my legs, but he also started to move them in a totally different fashion that I had never seen before!

All of a sudden, my legs and feet started to trample against the wildly foaming water behind my feet, while my arms started to crawl forward in the water, left, right, left, right, by using my hands as 'paddles' that surprisingly fast but also absolutely rhythmically scooped lots of water backwards. Within a split second, I had reached a surprised looking Misha and then swam past him! Wow, this was the REAL work! All of a sudden, and also totally unexpectedly, I had started swimming as a real water rat, although with the invaluable help from my built-in 'little trapper friend'!

Now, I only had to ingrain his brand new swimming movements into my own memory, so that I would be able to use them always and everywhere, even without his much-appreciated help. Tentatively, I tried to take over control, and, much to my happiness, my built-in little trapper friend really listened to my wishes and from now on only helped me copy his movements, until I could do them all by myself. Feeling wonderful, I thanked him in my mind; but he didn't answer and only chuckled some, while he retreated into my sub-consciousness as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, as usual.

Involuntarily feeling a little bit alone and abandoned, I stopped swimming and curiously looked around. Where was my swimming teacher Misha? Ah, there he was, huffing and panting as if he too had tried to win our 'race'. Had really I, an only four-year-old 'tiny runt', outdone an already fourteen-year-old very experienced swimmer who probably had been swimming in our lake all his life? Wow...

After my older friend finally reached me, still huffing and panting, he first waited a few seconds until his breath returned so that he was able to speak again. Then, looking utterly surprised but clearly also a little bit angry, he started to berate me:

"What the heck did you do to me? All the time, I've assumed that you really couldn't swim, so that I had to teach you everything from the ground on up. Now, all of a sudden, you are turning out to be a real swimming champion, although you are using a strange looking stroke that I've never seen before, but it turns out to be extremely fast. Could we please change places from now on, so that you start being my swimming teacher and can teach ME how to use such a special and extremely fast swimming stroke?"

Suddenly feeling shy and not so sure anymore, I answered:

"Well, I'm not sure about that... To be honest, my built-in 'little trapper friend' from my own past life suddenly took over, and he made me remember what I always did whilst swimming across our wildly streaming forest river all alone and without any help from my 'trapper Dad'. Therefore, I suppose I'll still have to practice quite a lot more first, before I will be able to teach you those extremely fast swimming strokes that are still brand new to my present memory in my present incarnation. But, after I've practiced them some more first, I will happily become your smallest swimming teacher ever."

Still feeling shy, I dived under the water surface, swam towards Misha, popped up at his other side, and teasingly spat some water into his surprised looking face. For a second, Misha chuckled at seeing my teasing antics. Then, without any warning, he suddenly swam towards me and forcefully DUNKED me, by mercilessly pushing my entire body under the water surface! For a few seconds, I lost orientation and panicked, while my body started to sink deeper and deeper. Then, I remembered what Misha taught me about using my legs to resurface. Within another second, I showed up again, still spluttering, but now feeling ready to MURDER my former 'friend' who suddenly turned out to be my 'eternal foe'. How did Misha DARE do this to me, after I nearly drowned and still couldn't swim properly? With angry eyes full of fire and brimstone, I swam towards my 'former friend'. However, Misha only laughed at seeing my fury and fire-shooting eyes. After teasingly sticking out his tongue towards me, he dunked me again!

This time, I was mad as hell at my 'former friend' and felt ready to chase him to hell and back, to get even with him. Quickly, I swam towards my former 'friend' who was now my 'eternal foe', and tried to dunk him in return, by pushing his head under the water. Of course, my thoroughly trained 'former friend' was too fast for me and escaped easily, by diving deeper and then popping up again, whilst again laughing at me and sticking out his tongue...

Immediately, I launched myself at him again. For quite some time, I went on chasing my 'former friend' across the lake, still feeling angry and trying to get even with him. At the same time, and almost unnoticed, I started to swim better and better, so that my body slid even faster through the water. All on my own, by using my anger as a powerful driving force, I was teaching myself how to swim even faster and more properly.

Very much to my happiness, whilst swimming faster and faster, I finally heard my little trapper friend's happy sounding voice in my inside. Chuckling, he explained that he really could swim as a water rat and maybe even better, but he had wanted me to discover swimming and diving all by myself. From now on, he would always help me with everything, whenever our Beloved Ancestors and Spirit Friends allowed him to do so, and he would also teach me everything else that he knew; as once being my former 'little trapper boy' who now was my own unconscious remembrances from my last incarnation on our Planet Earth. He also asked me to start teaching Misha who was still my very best older friend!

Feeling grateful for his much-appreciated help, I thanked my built-in 'little trapper friend' in my mind, but he didn't answer and already retreated into my inside, as usual. Well, okay! Obviously, my friend Misha had dunked me and made me angry on purpose, because he had wanted me to discover how to swim better and properly all on my own, so that I could teach him my own hitherto unknown but certainly much faster swimming strokes! But, then, Misha was still my very best friend and rescuer, and he had dunked me only to HELP me!

Feeling truly happy again and now also thankful, I smiled broadly at my ex-foe and now re-found older friend. Next, followed by Misha, I swam towards all the playing others, to join them and partake in their splashing games. After arriving there, one of our oldest minors, Jock, suddenly exclaimed:

"Look at our little Crown Prince's extremely fast swimming! I know what he does, because I once saw those same swimming strokes in a gadjo movie. In the movie, they called it 'crawling'; and it seems to be the fastest category of swimming that exists. Prince Harold, could you please also teach us those fast 'crawling' strokes?"

Within a second, all my other minor friends crowded around me and begged me to be their 'swimming teacher' as well! Soon, all of them were copying my 'crawling', by swimming and splashing around whilst trying to copy what I was doing. Within a few minutes, all our older minors were already swimming much faster than I could do, including Misha, because they were a lot older than I was and I was still the youngest and smallest kid in their older group of minors. However, I didn't mind at all, and just went on showing them my 'crawling' until all of them felt satisfied and thanked me abundantly. At last, we just started swimming together whilst having lots of fun dunking each other and being dunked in return.

Today, I discovered that dunking and being dunked in return was a funny water game, and I started to like it very much. From this day on, I became a real 'water rat', because I always wanted to go for a swim whenever I had a chance to go to our waterfall and follow its river towards our 'bottomless' mountain lake. Even after many years from now, whilst living in a foreign country, I still love swimming, diving, dunking, and being dunked in return, very much!