"THE DAY THAT I FELL INTO A KOI POND"

Maybe you don’t know what a koi pond is but I can well remember what one looked like. These ponds were left over from the early 1900’s and were popular into the fifties. They were either by the side of a house or in the backyard—mostly in people’s backyards. The pond consisted of a hole dug in the ground, water added, goldfish [carp] put in and the water looked black. Heck, it was black! The first time I ever saw one was at a house across the street from my grandmother and it gave me the creeps. I could see a glimpse of a flash of orange here and there and thought the pond was endlessly deep.

How would I ever guess that I would fall into this pond? The people who owned it had two daughters and a son. I played with them when I was staying with my grandmother. My family had moved to another close by city and I got an invitation to a birthday party at that house. Remember riding a cab by myself [you were safe at that time I suppose] to my grandmother’s house and her walking me across the street to the birthday party. I was so excited when I got there. The party was out in the backyard with the usual birthday cake, sliced ice cream and something to drink.

And then came the games. Bet you can guess that one of them was blind man’s bluff and here I was blind folded and twirling all around in the usual kid stupor—until I felt wet and felt slimy things on my legs and arms. Yep, I was in that koi pond! Grabbed the blindfold off, screamed holy murder and was pulled out by some adult. Soaked, scared and shocked, I ran out of that backyard and across the street to my grandmother’s house as fast as I could.

I didn’t care if I had left that party or not. It had to be one of the worst things in my little so- called life at that time that scared the mortal wits out of me. My beautiful dress was almost destroyed, hair dripping wet not to mention my shoes. And the thought of those fish swirling around me gave me the jitters. Oh the consolation from grandparents was wonderful but when my parents picked me up to go home that day, imagine their surprise at seeing me in a state of horrid disrepair. I won’t write what my mom said. Will leave that up to you the reader.

Did learn that the koi pond was not deep since I could stand up in it when I was in it but also learned that I never wanted to be near another one in my life. And I haven’t. I’m posting a photo I found on Microsoft Word but only the bottom part—the pond part—is what that thing looked like. Dark, murky and darned frightening to look at still. Oh and by the way, after that incident, I also hated games forever and still do. Why you never know what might happen to you!

Sherry Hill