Why not? - English

11-01 The Prince in Pontypandy

The steady hiss of my breath, amplified by the mask on my face and the compressed air tank on my back as I dived down into the depths of the dock, was all I heard here. It was always peaceful to dive into the depths again and again.

There was nothing here to think or worry about. I left all of that behind as I immersed myself and the only thing I had to focus on was the task at hand - which wasn't particularly challenging today.

I reached the stage after another two meters and attached the safety lines that I had taken with me into the depths. It wouldn't be easy without Wallaby 2, but we can't help it. If we wanted to wait until Tom recovered, we might as well build a new one, as aggressive as the seawater would be to the wood.

I looped the wire rope lengthwise around one end of the stage before doing the same on the other side with the harness connected together - we had nothing else and in an emergency the devil ate flies.

I moved a few meters away before giving the signal on my detector. A jolt went through the stage as tension came on the straps and they tightened before they finally lifted. It worked. However, I still stayed down here and watched the stage closely in case something went wrong and they lifted unevenly at the top or, unexpectedly, one of the ropes broke.

I floated in the water as I followed the slowly rising stage up. It was so wonderful down here. Every time I felt like I was floating, like I was in another world. Water was my second element and, next to climbing, my greatest passion. Here I could really switch off and leave everything that was bothering me above the water surface behind me for a few minutes.

I looked up at the stage, which was already about to break the surface of the water, and I followed it with a few strong swimming strokes, but at a safe distance - it was always important, whether in the water or in the air, to never stand under suspended loads.

I emerged and watched the stage slowly do the same. The ropes seemed to be holding and I could hear from the noise of the winches that they were having a hard time working, but they would make it. So I swam towards the stairs in the harbor wall. In one fluid movement, I swung myself backwards onto the first step that protruded from the water and pulled off my mask and oxygen bottle. I was just about to put it down next to me when I felt the weight suddenly become much lighter and looked up.

"I'll take that. You've worked enough today," Sam said with a smile as he shouldered my compressed air bottle. The fact that it was still wet didn't seem to bother him much.

"I haven't had nearly as much weight to carry as you and Elvis did with the carpet today," I replied as he held out his hand to help me up. I was too happy to accept the offer. I began to enjoy the feeling I got when he touched me - no matter how careless or harmless it was.

Or how he smiled when our eyes met, like this morning when he was trying to get the red carpet in position with Elvis and our paths briefly crossed. This made me realize that he was not averse to the fact that I took it as a challenge to see his true colors. So far my attempt has been quite unsuccessful.

"Well, I agree with you. Especially after Elvis threw it into the sea," he replied with a grin as we walked up the stairs on the quay wall together.

"Who told him to give it a good push to roll it out?" I couldn't stop myself from teasing a little.

It was strange. A few weeks ago I would never have dared to do that with Sam. He was our team leader and I was under his command. The hierarchy and proper interaction with one another were an absolute must. But as I had discussed with him before, something had changed for all of us. Arnold and Ellie had brought a breath of fresh air into the team, everyone had become more relaxed - including me. Was it because, thanks to the conversation with Bronwyn, I realized that Sam was more important to me, that I found him more attractive than a colleague should be for me?