The Swim Platform

Speaker 1 Get more Nothing Much Happens with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Everyone,

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens,

Speaker 1 you feel good,

Speaker 1 and then you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai, I create everything you hear on Nothing Much Happens with Audio Engineering by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to one that is close to my heart and my doorstep, Oxbow.

Speaker 1 Oxbow is an artist-built community dedicated to the preservation of time and space for arts education, research, practice, and and community building for artists at all stages of their journey.

Speaker 1 You can learn more about them in our show notes.

Speaker 1 To listen to our full catalog, over 300 episodes, all completely ad-free, as well as monthly bonus episodes and our nine-hour long season specials, all for about a dime a day, please consider becoming a premium subscriber.

Speaker 1 You'll get all of that on your listening app of choice. Plus, you'll literally be making our show possible.
We can't survive without you.

Speaker 1 Click subscribe in Spotify or in Apple or go to nothingmuchhappens.com.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I have a story to tell you. Not much happens in it, and that is the idea.

Speaker 1 Just by listening to the sound of my voice, following along with the soft shape of the tail,

Speaker 1 will rock your mind to sleep. This is a type of brain training.
The more regularly you use it, the more you listen, the more easily you'll fall and return to sleep.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake again in the night, Don't hesitate to turn an episode right back on.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called The Swim Platform.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about one of the last swims of the season.

Speaker 1 It's also about remembered cues from long ago diving lessons.

Speaker 1 The sound of water lapping against boards.

Speaker 1 Swans and side-strokes. The smell of varnish and the feel of sun on chilled skin.
And an unhurried, perfect moment, savored before the fall.

Speaker 1 It's time.

Speaker 1 Get as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Relax your jaw.

Speaker 1 Soften your shoulders.

Speaker 1 Even feet

Speaker 1 and hands go limp now.

Speaker 1 You have done enough for the day.

Speaker 1 It is enough.

Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.

Speaker 1 Again, breathe in.

Speaker 1 Let it go.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 The swim platform.

Speaker 1 On the far side of the lake, there was a single oak tree turning bright yellow.

Speaker 1 Just the one.

Speaker 1 I stared out at it from the platform.

Speaker 1 It shifted under my feet as slow waves struck the sides.

Speaker 1 I'd spent the morning diving in,

Speaker 1 swimming, climbing out,

Speaker 1 and laying in the sun till I was warm enough to dive again.

Speaker 1 And I was warm and ready now.

Speaker 1 My suit was nearly dry,

Speaker 1 and the wood planks of the platform pleasantly stung the soles of my feet.

Speaker 1 I liked to stand tall,

Speaker 1 hands on hips,

Speaker 1 and hook my toes over the very edge of the boards.

Speaker 1 I'd done it since I was a kid out here,

Speaker 1 though the platform had been rebuilt once or twice since then.

Speaker 1 The oldest version I could remember was cobbled together from spare lumber,

Speaker 1 all cut at different lengths, and painted with a varnish that smelled like resin and was a bit sticky on hot days.

Speaker 1 That one had a wooden ladder that got slick with algae toward the end of the season,

Speaker 1 and the whole thing only lasted a year or two.

Speaker 1 We must have decided to make something less ad hoc and more user-friendly. Because the next one was larger,

Speaker 1 built with properly sealed planks,

Speaker 1 and an aluminum ladder, like you'd find in a swimming pool.

Speaker 1 That platform had lasted for years,

Speaker 1 though it did have a bit of a slope to it.

Speaker 1 And if you fell asleep close to the low end, you might roll right off into the lake.

Speaker 1 Something we thoroughly enjoyed pretending to do in front front of the watchful grown-ups, moms and dads, grandparents, and the neighbor kids folks.

Speaker 1 Then, toward the end of one summer,

Speaker 1 in a September like this one, in fact,

Speaker 1 a storm blew over the lake.

Speaker 1 Rain and lightning, and very strong winds.

Speaker 1 we woke to find a neighbor's rowboat leaning against our shed

Speaker 1 another's beach umbrella tangled in our washing line

Speaker 1 and the platform half sunk in the middle of the lake

Speaker 1 I remember that there had been a cold snap shortly after

Speaker 1 and the recovery mission that followed had been a chilly one.

Speaker 1 We'd had to hype ourselves up,

Speaker 1 to motor out in the pontoon and dive for the anchors

Speaker 1 that held the platform in place.

Speaker 1 Once we'd hauled them up onto the boat,

Speaker 1 we could tow the whole thing to shore

Speaker 1 where a bonfire was waiting to warm us.

Speaker 1 and we could recount our tale of bravery and goosebumps.

Speaker 1 I shivered now thinking of it.

Speaker 1 My toes still hooked around the edge of this version of the swim platform.

Speaker 1 Version three point zero, I suppose,

Speaker 1 which we'd built the following spring.

Speaker 1 We'd gotten a bit bit fancy with it.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 it was still just a platform, buoyed by barrels, anchored in the water,

Speaker 1 with a ladder bolted to one side.

Speaker 1 But we'd added two slanting seat backs so that you could plop down onto the platform

Speaker 1 and comfortably lean back

Speaker 1 like you were in an Adirondack chair.

Speaker 1 We'd also painted aqua blue waves along the sides

Speaker 1 and used a wood burning kit to sear in the date it was launched.

Speaker 1 It was right by the ladder, and I had a habit of tracing my fingers over it

Speaker 1 whenever I climbed aboard.

Speaker 1 I smiled, thinking of the small small touchstone moments.

Speaker 1 My toes hooked over the edge on the way into my dive,

Speaker 1 touching the date on the way out.

Speaker 1 Little rituals we build into places we love

Speaker 1 to feel literally connected to them.

Speaker 1 I lifted my arms up over my head, just like I'd been taught to do when I was little.

Speaker 1 Elbows squeezing my ears, fingers pointed,

Speaker 1 look where I wanted to go,

Speaker 1 and a slight bend in my knees.

Speaker 1 I took a deep breath

Speaker 1 and dove.

Speaker 1 I sliced through the water,

Speaker 1 feeling it wrap around my body,

Speaker 1 like I'd just been tipped fingers first

Speaker 1 into an envelope and sealed up inside it.

Speaker 1 That every part under the water at once feeling

Speaker 1 never fails to clear my head.

Speaker 1 I paused,

Speaker 1 savoring the touch of the lake all around me,

Speaker 1 then kicked a few feet to the surface and pushed my hair from my eyes.

Speaker 1 They found that same yellow oak on the far side,

Speaker 1 and I smiled across the water at it.

Speaker 1 It felt like a reminder to enjoy this swim.

Speaker 1 There wouldn't be many more left this year.

Speaker 1 I tried out a side stroke,

Speaker 1 a lazy kick and pull maneuver that let me take in the view

Speaker 1 as I circled the platform.

Speaker 1 I could already see that there were more empty boat slips than full.

Speaker 1 Lots of folks had pulled their crafts out for the summer,

Speaker 1 and at the end of one of the docks

Speaker 1 was an optimistic pile of pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I chuckled as I tipped on to my back,

Speaker 1 thinking of how the squirrels must be looking down at them from the trees, planning their lunch.

Speaker 1 I swam to the ladder and gripped it with both hands,

Speaker 1 finding the bottom rung with my feet.

Speaker 1 The water slapped at the barrels below the platform,

Speaker 1 and the sound echoed hollowly in a familiar way.

Speaker 1 I pulled myself up, touched the date with my right forefinger,

Speaker 1 and sprawled out on the surface,

Speaker 1 watching the sunlight

Speaker 1 scatter through my my eyelids.

Speaker 1 I was chilled from the water and sat up,

Speaker 1 pulled my knees to my chest

Speaker 1 and wrapped my arms around them,

Speaker 1 letting the sun shine on my back.

Speaker 1 I listened to my own breath,

Speaker 1 sniffed the water away,

Speaker 1 and pressed a towel to my face,

Speaker 1 then stretched it out over the seat back,

Speaker 1 and reclined on to it.

Speaker 1 A deep sigh rolled out from my lips,

Speaker 1 and I had a pleasant feeling

Speaker 1 of heaviness that was easy to give into.

Speaker 1 The sky was deep blue,

Speaker 1 and there was a breeze touching the cool water, beaded on my skin.

Speaker 1 I had all day

Speaker 1 to do as I liked.

Speaker 1 This is perfect,

Speaker 1 I whispered,

Speaker 1 needing to say it out loud.

Speaker 1 From across the water,

Speaker 1 I heard flapping wings

Speaker 1 and shielded my eyes to look out.

Speaker 1 A swan descended toward the surface,

Speaker 1 his wings beating in a slow rhythm

Speaker 1 as he reached with his webbed feet

Speaker 1 and tilted back.

Speaker 1 Like a stone skipped across the water,

Speaker 1 his plump body skittered, making ripples

Speaker 1 that spread out behind him till he was floating,

Speaker 1 shuffling his wings onto his back

Speaker 1 and dipping his head in to cool off.

Speaker 1 A paddle boarder, a hundred yards on the other side of him, was stopped.

Speaker 1 Her paddle slack in her hands, watching as well.

Speaker 1 I smiled at her,

Speaker 1 and though I couldn't see her face,

Speaker 1 I bet she was smiling too.

Speaker 1 The days were ticking down,

Speaker 1 but we were here now,

Speaker 1 and it was good.

Speaker 1 The swim platform

Speaker 1 on the far side of the lake,

Speaker 1 there was a single oak tree

Speaker 1 turning bright yellow.

Speaker 1 Just the one.

Speaker 1 I stared out at it from the platform.

Speaker 1 It shifted under my feet.

Speaker 1 A slow wave struck the sides.

Speaker 1 I'd spent the morning diving in,

Speaker 1 swimming,

Speaker 1 climbing out,

Speaker 1 and laying in the sun

Speaker 1 till I was warm enough to dive again.

Speaker 1 And I was warm and ready now.

Speaker 1 My suit was nearly dry,

Speaker 1 and the wood planks of the platform

Speaker 1 pleasantly stung the soles of my feet.

Speaker 1 I liked to stand tall,

Speaker 1 hands on hips,

Speaker 1 and hook my toes

Speaker 1 around the very edge of the boards.

Speaker 1 I'd done it since I was a kid out here.

Speaker 1 Though

Speaker 1 the platform had been rebuilt once or twice since then.

Speaker 1 The oldest version

Speaker 1 I could remember

Speaker 1 was cobbled together from spare lumber,

Speaker 1 cut in different lengths,

Speaker 1 and painted with a varnish

Speaker 1 That smelled like like resin

Speaker 1 and was a bit sticky on hot days.

Speaker 1 That one had had a wooden ladder that got slicked with algae toward the end of the season,

Speaker 1 and the whole thing had only lasted a year or two.

Speaker 1 We must have then decided

Speaker 1 to make something

Speaker 1 less ad hoc

Speaker 1 and more user-friendly

Speaker 1 because the next one was larger,

Speaker 1 built with properly sealed planks

Speaker 1 and an aluminum ladder

Speaker 1 like you'd find in a swimming pool.

Speaker 1 That platform had lasted for years,

Speaker 1 though

Speaker 1 it did have a bit of a slope to it.

Speaker 1 And if you fell asleep

Speaker 1 close to the low end,

Speaker 1 you might roll off into the lake.

Speaker 1 Something we thoroughly enjoyed pretending to do

Speaker 1 in front of the watchful grown-ups,

Speaker 1 moms and dads,

Speaker 1 grandparents,

Speaker 1 the neighbor kids folks.

Speaker 1 Then,

Speaker 1 toward the end of one summer,

Speaker 1 in a September like this one, in fact,

Speaker 1 a storm blew over the lake.

Speaker 1 Rain and lightning.

Speaker 1 And very strong winds.

Speaker 1 We woke woke to find a neighbor's rowboat leaning against our shed,

Speaker 1 another's beach umbrella tangled in the washing line

Speaker 1 on the platform

Speaker 1 half sunk in the middle of the lake.

Speaker 1 I remember that there had been a cold snap shortly after,

Speaker 1 and the recovery mission that followed

Speaker 1 had been a chilly one.

Speaker 1 We'd had to hype ourselves up

Speaker 1 to motor out in the pontoon

Speaker 1 and dive for the anchors

Speaker 1 that had held the platform in place.

Speaker 1 Once we'd hauled them up onto the boat,

Speaker 1 we towed the whole thing to shore,

Speaker 1 where a bonfire was waiting to warm us

Speaker 1 And we could recount our tale of bravery

Speaker 1 and goosebumps.

Speaker 1 I shivered now,

Speaker 1 thinking of it,

Speaker 1 with my toes

Speaker 1 still hooked around the edge of this version of the platform.

Speaker 1 Version three point oh,

Speaker 1 I supposed,

Speaker 1 which we'd built the following spring.

Speaker 1 We'd gotten a bit fancy with it.

Speaker 1 I mean

Speaker 1 it was still just a platform,

Speaker 1 buoyed by barrels,

Speaker 1 anchored in the water,

Speaker 1 with a ladder bolted to one side.

Speaker 1 But we'd added two slanting seat backs

Speaker 1 so that you could plop down onto the platform

Speaker 1 and comfortably lean back

Speaker 1 like you were in an Adirondack chair.

Speaker 1 We'd also painted aqua blue waves along the sides

Speaker 1 and used a wood burning kit

Speaker 1 to sear in the date it was launched.

Speaker 1 It was right by the ladder,

Speaker 1 and I had a habit of tracing my fingers over it

Speaker 1 whenever I climbed aboard.

Speaker 1 I smiled,

Speaker 1 thinking of the small touchstone moments.

Speaker 1 My toes wrapped over the edge on the way into my dive,

Speaker 1 touching the date on the way out.

Speaker 1 Little rituals

Speaker 1 we build into places we love

Speaker 1 to feel

Speaker 1 literally connected to them

Speaker 1 I lifted my arms up over my head

Speaker 1 just like I'd been taught to do when I was little

Speaker 1 elbows squeezing my ears

Speaker 1 fingers pointed

Speaker 1 look where I wanted to go,

Speaker 1 and a slight bend in my knees.

Speaker 1 I took a deep breath and dove.

Speaker 1 I sliced through the water,

Speaker 1 feeling it wrap around my body,

Speaker 1 like I'd just been tipped,

Speaker 1 fingers first,

Speaker 1 into an envelope

Speaker 1 and sealed up inside

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 every

Speaker 1 part

Speaker 1 under the water at once feeling

Speaker 1 never fails to clear my head

Speaker 1 I paused

Speaker 1 savoring the touch of the lake all around me

Speaker 1 then kicked a few feet to the surface

Speaker 1 and pushed my hair from my eyes.

Speaker 1 They landed on that same yellow oak

Speaker 1 on the far side,

Speaker 1 and I smiled across the water at it.

Speaker 1 It felt like a reminder

Speaker 1 to enjoy this swim.

Speaker 1 There wouldn't be many more

Speaker 1 left this year.

Speaker 1 I tried out a side-stroke,

Speaker 1 a lazy kick-and-pull maneuver

Speaker 1 that let me take in the view

Speaker 1 as I circled the platform.

Speaker 1 I could already see that

Speaker 1 there were more empty boat slips

Speaker 1 than full.

Speaker 1 Lots of folks had pulled their crafts out for the summer

Speaker 1 and at the end of one of the docks

Speaker 1 was an optimistic pile of pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I chuckled

Speaker 1 as I tipped on to my back,

Speaker 1 thinking of how the squirrels must be looking down at them from the trees,

Speaker 1 planning their lunch.

Speaker 1 I swam to the ladder

Speaker 1 and gripped it with both hands,

Speaker 1 finding the bottom rung with my feet.

Speaker 1 The water slapped at the barrels below the platform,

Speaker 1 and the sound echoed hollowly in a familiar way.

Speaker 1 I pulled myself up,

Speaker 1 touched the date

Speaker 1 with my right forefinger,

Speaker 1 and sprawled out on the surface,

Speaker 1 watching the sunlight scatter through my eyelids.

Speaker 1 I was chilled from the water,

Speaker 1 and sat up,

Speaker 1 pulled my knees into my chest,

Speaker 1 wrapped my arms around them,

Speaker 1 and let the sun shine on my back.

Speaker 1 I listened to my own breath,

Speaker 1 sniffed the water away,

Speaker 1 and pressed a towel to my face,

Speaker 1 then stretched it out over the seat back

Speaker 1 and reclined into it.

Speaker 1 A deep sigh rolled out from my lips

Speaker 1 and I had a pleasant feeling of heaviness

Speaker 1 that was easy to give into.

Speaker 1 The sky was deep blue,

Speaker 1 and there was a breeze

Speaker 1 touching the cool water,

Speaker 1 beaded on my skin.

Speaker 1 I had all day to do as I liked.

Speaker 1 This is perfect,

Speaker 1 I whispered,

Speaker 1 needing to say it aloud.

Speaker 1 From across the water,

Speaker 1 I heard flapping wings

Speaker 1 and shielded my eyes to look out.

Speaker 1 A swan descended toward the surface,

Speaker 1 his wings beating

Speaker 1 in a slow rhythm

Speaker 1 as he reached with his webbed feet

Speaker 1 and tilted back

Speaker 1 like a stone skipped across the water.

Speaker 1 His plump body

Speaker 1 skittered,

Speaker 1 making ripples that spread out

Speaker 1 behind him

Speaker 1 till he was floating,

Speaker 1 shuffling his wings onto his back

Speaker 1 and dipping his head to cool off.

Speaker 1 A paddle boarder,

Speaker 1 a hundred yards on the other side of him,

Speaker 1 was stopped,

Speaker 1 her paddle slack in her hands,

Speaker 1 watching as well.

Speaker 1 I smiled at her,

Speaker 1 and though I couldn't see her face,

Speaker 1 I bet that she was smiling too.

Speaker 1 The days were ticking down,

Speaker 1 but we were here now,

Speaker 1 and it was good.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.