Squeals of delight and mirth echoed all around the pool complex as kids of all ages played together in the water. Some were teenagers, others were younger, and today there were a large amount of toddlers present. A slightly chubby grey pot-belly pig with blue on the insides of her otherwise black and white ears, a blue nose and eyes came out of the changerooms, wearing a blue brief swim-diaper with her favourite character, Dory on it. She made her way over to the toddler pool, looking forward to taking a dip on this very hot summer's day. But she snorted with disappointment as she gazed over at the full toddler pool, with so many others in it there was hardly any room to stand, let alone wade around. Besides it, the larger pool had much more space and was barely any deeper, at least at the shallow end. She remembered one of her parents warning her about going in alone...
"Careful of the deep end, Minnie. Your little feet won't be able to touch the bottom."
So, Minnie slowly made her way over to the big pool, away from the overcrowded toddler pool. The trotters on her feet clonked and clacked against the tiles of the pool deck, which made her feel a bit embarrassed over how much noise they made compared to every other kid's paws. As the pool deck became wetter and more slippery she really struggled to keep her balance, at least once she slipped and landed on the seat of her swim diaper.
"Ooopsie!"
Minnie promptly managed to stand up again and held onto anything she could while she made her way over to the pool. As she sat on the edge, she peered at the print of Dory on the front of her swim diaper and then flexed her arms, which made her floaties squeak softly. And with that, she hopped into the water with a splash. Her feet touched the bottom and the water was only as deep as the top of her tummy. This was nice and cool, almost like taking a mud bath! Minnie snorted happily as she splashed and jumped and frolicked around in the shallow end of the pool. She nuzzled both of her floaties with her nose and waded around the pool. Maybe she should try to swim, she thought. She tried floating on her tummy and kicking her back legs, but she only managed to splash a lot while she barely went anywhere.
Never mind, she thought. Wading was just as fun. She snorted again with a smile on her face as she caught sight of another kid wearing floaties, like her. She had actually seen him in the changeroom earlier, putting his orange shorts on over a swim diaper with Nemo on it. She waded towards him, though he was facing away from her.

As Minnie waded closer, she could see he was a little brown rat. A little chubby, like herself, but definitely a rat. She suddenly felt a little nervous, but continued to gaze at him. He was struggling to get out of the pool, his untied orange shorts had slipped down at the back to reveal his swim diaper. He squeaked out for help while he struggled, looking back at Minnie as she stood behind him.
"Hi! I'm Minnie! Do you need a push?"
The rat blushed noticeably, but his chubby cheeks curved into a grateful smile as he gazed back at Minnie. "Yes, please! My... my name's Toby."
Toby's blue floaties squeaked against the wet pool deck as he continued to struggle on the wall, while his feet slipped against the wet tiles and he struggled to hoist himself up high enough to clamber out like the other, bigger kids could do with ease.
"But, why are you getting out?" she asked, "It's nice and cool in here!"
"I want to play with that big ferry boat!"
Toby pointed towards a red, yellow and blue plastic boat that was sitting on the pool deck, by the wall. He struggled again, trying desperately to get any grip from either his hands or his feet to emerge from the water. Minnie made her way over to him, and tried to push him.
For a moment, it seemed like Toby was moving, but Minnie couldn't get her trotters to grip the surface of the pool and try as she might, they just slid around under the water, leading her to end up floating on her tummy instead of actually pushing Toby.
"Oh, I don't think I can!" she sobbed, "Sorry, Toby!"
Toby sighed and slipped back into the water. He saw that Minnie looked sad and gave her another grateful smile.
"You tried. That's more than most other kids do."
"What do you mean? Why don't other kids help you?" asked Minnie.
"I'm a rat. Nearly every other kid I've tried to make friends with has run away from me."
Minnie snorted in disgust, not at Toby, but at how other kids could be so cruel. Toby was nice!
As if to prove it, Toby pulled Minnie close to him and gave her a hug. His floaties squeaked against hers while his arms wrapped around her.
Minnie returned the hug, she nuzzled Toby's cheek and peered down at his untied orange shorts.
"If your shorts were tied up, they might not show off your swim diaper so much."
"Yeah, but I can't tie my laces."
Toby broke off the hug and held the black laces in each of his hands. "Can you tie them?"
Minnie lifted her own hands out of the water, just like her feet she only had three claw-like fingers and they probably wouldn't even be able to hold the laces, never mind tie them. She looked sadly at Toby.
"Aww, that's okay. We can still play together!"

So, they did. With their floaties firmly on their arms, Toby and Minnie ventured out into the middle of the pool.
"Can you swim, Toby?"
"No. I try, but I just can't figure it out! Even Nemo can't seem to help me!"
Toby floated on his tummy and tried to swim, but his feet just kicked and splashed while he didn't go anywhere. "What about you?"
"Not really. I have a similar problem."
Toby held out his hand and held onto Minnie. "We'll have to keep each other safe!"
"Safe from what?" asked Minnie.
She had barely asked the question when some older, bigger kids rudely pushed past them.
"Hey!" snorted Minnie, "Watch out!"
But she had barely spoke those words when she realized something was very wrong. Her feet couldn't touch the bottom! She peered down and squealed in panic as she saw the floor of the pool dropped down much deeper. She tried to paddle, but her feet just kicked up and down uselessly. Toby seemed to be in the same predicament. His floaties kept him afloat, but his feet kicked up and down and he couldn't actually get anywhere.
"Oh no! Minnie!" squeaked Toby. He reached out to her with his hand, and managed to grab onto her arm.
"Help! I don't like deep water!" spluttered Minnie, as she continued to struggle.
Although her floaties kept her above the surface, she couldn't get back to the shallow end, no matter how hard she tried. Her feet were as useless as a power car's wheels stuck in the mud. She gazed at Toby, who began to puff and pant from his own efforts to get back to where their feet could touch the bottom.
"Don't let go!" squeaked Minnie.
What were they to do?
But fortunately for them both, their struggling hadn't gone unnoticed. A german shepherd a little older than them both swam over and began to push them back towards the shallow end.
"Oh, dear! You poor pups... Don't worry, officer Jake's here to help!"
Minnie looked back at the older pup and snorted with gratitude as her feet touched the bottom of the pool again. Toby squeaked as he looked back too.
"I... I... um... Thank you!"
"No problem, guys. Really."

A few moments later, Jake opted to stay and play with Toby and Minnie. They all took turns splashing each other and frolicking about. Jake even pretended to be a shark and chased them both around the pool!
"Gnumh! Gnumh!" went the pup, as he snapped his jaw while paddling along after Toby and Minnie.
"No! Don't eat my tail Mr. Shark!" squeaked Toby.
"Nor mine!" squealed Minnie.
After this, they all returned to the edge of the pool. Toby stared at the toy boat he had wanted to play with, forlornly.
"What's wrong, Toby?" asked Jake.
"I wanted to play with that boat, but I couldn't get out of the pool to grab it!"
"Can you get it, Jake?" asked Minnie.
"Sure!"
Minnie grinned at Toby as Jake went to clamber out of the pool. The pup held on with both hands and hoisted himself up, so the seat of his black and grey shorts rose out of the water, but that was as far as he got before he ended up struggling just like Toby had. Jake grunted and yapped as he continued to struggle on the edge of the pool deck.
Toby and Minnie looked at each other, and chuckled. "Oh dear! Jakey needs a push!"
Jake blushed and pushed himself off of the pool deck, and shook his head.
"There's a better way to get out." He pointed to the steps, at the far end of the deep end. "I'll go that way, get the boat, and jump back in!"
"Be careful!" Toby and Minnie called out at the same time.
It took a while for Jake to swim all the way to the end of the pool, but he clambered out and did exactly as he said he would do. He jumped back in and handed the plastic boat to Toby, who squeaked with delight.
"Thanks, Jake!"
"Yeah, thank you Jake." Minnie added, referring to how he had helped them earlier.
Jake opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a call out to him from the edge of the pool.
"Jake! Time to go home, now!"
"Oh, Mom!" cried Jake, "I just made some new friends!"
"Now, young pup!"
"Coming, Mom!" Jake whimpered as he heard his mom, and beckoned to her call.
"Bye Jake!"
"Yeah, come again soon!" called Minnie.
Jake looked over his shoulder with a friendly smile at them both as he continued to wade towards the end of the pool.

The End