"THE FREE-STANDING POOL THAT TOOK ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN!"

“THE FREE- STANDING POOL THAT TOOK ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN!”

In about 1997 or so, my then-husband decided we needed one of those free- standing swimming pools—the type that are five feet deep and very big across. Instead of searching for one at a store, he went to the ad section of the newspaper [which can be good] and found a pool as described above, called the person and bought it sight unseen. Not good.

When the man who owned the pool arrived at our house, he had brought not only the pool but the metal stakes for holding it up as well and two other men. The first thing I saw was DUCT TAPE on one piece of the pool liner. Did my husband? Of course not. When I pointed it out to the prior owner, he said, “Oh the liner is just fine; I put that tape on there to cover a tiny hole.”

After hours upon hours with my husband and those men, the pool was assembled. And it was dark. The pool was put out back behind the house on top of a brick patio; behind the house is woods and it goes straight down to houses below. The men left and my husband took forever in filling it up with the garden hose. About eleven o’clock that night, it was completely filled up with water and yes, I got in it with him—but not for very long. Decided to come inside and went out to the carport and saw him still in the pool—and that wasn’t all that I saw!

The pool took on a life of its own! It started moving from the back and was nearing the top floor of the house! The front was getting flatter and flatter. My husband screamed at me to call 911 and I ran into the house and called—trying to explain the impending disaster. One of my biggest fears was that the hundreds of gallons of water would go flying down the hill and hit the house where friends live and they also kept dogs outside in a pen.

A fire truck arrived with flashing lights and the sirens going on! The firemen got out and ran to the pool only to see it flatten right out and the water [A MIRACLE] went to the side of the backyard and ran down the hill missing the neighbor’s house and dogs. Course the firemen left, my husband was standing there staring at a flat pool and in a rage. “But the duct tape!” I reminded him. And that did no good at all; he had been taken financially—sure he knew it but never did admit it.

In all of my life, I had never seen an inanimate object full of water take on a life of its own till that incident. It is etched in my mind forever. Moral is that if you are going to buy a free-standing pool, never buy a used one that has any duct tape on it at all—anywhere! If you do, be prepared to call 911 and have hundreds of gallons of water descend to somewhere and hope it doesn’t hit any houses. What a disaster!

Sherry Hill