It was the first full day of summer vacation . School had ended at noon the day before . I was just finishing my Cheerios when Jimmy knocked on the back door . My mom let him in and he sat down across from me at the table . He looked very excited . " We got a new lifeguard this year . " I nodded as I crunched . That wasn 't big news . Jimmy continued , " He 's a hippie . " " OK , Mom . " I put my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher before we rode off on our bikes . Along the wide paved street that fronted our houses , and about halfway down the hill , was a neighborhood pool . It wasn 't a public pool . It was owned by the neighborhood homeowners ' association . All the families who used it paid for its upkeep as part of their association dues . The pool didn 't open until school let out for summer , unlike the public pools which opened on Memorial Day . When the pool did open , Mrs . Pemberton ( who was the president of the homeowners ' association ) hired someone to operate it . That person would arrive in the morning , unlock the rusty padlock on the chain around the fence , clean the pool and add chemicals . He also served as lifeguard while the pool was open and made sure that only members used the pool . At first , we had to sign in on a notebook . After a few days , the lifeguard usually recognized us and the notebook sat unused on a table near the gate . As we coasted down the hill , I could see that the gate was open , and that an old van was parked in front . From a distance , a large peace sign could be seen painted on the side . When we got closer , I saw that letters were painted around the sign . They spelled " Cartwheel " . We were already wearing our bathing suits and carrying towels . That was the standard uniform for the first days of summer when the pool opened . We 'd meet our friends here and spend every morning of the first few days in the water . We parked our bikes next to the gate and stared at the van - a real hippie van . We walked through the gate and saw him . He was just finishing the morning cleaning routine . He looked tall enough to be a grown - up , but he had long curly hair . He wore cut off blue jean shorts , bleached into a tie - dyed pattern . He looked like a hippie , all right . Until that moment , I had only seen hippies on TV . He put down the long handled brush and walked over to the notebook . He found our names and held out a pen . " Cool , man . I 'm Cartwheel . " " The pool is ready . You 're my first two customers of the season . Jump in and try it out . " He turned his back to us and climbed up the ladder to his elevated seat . I looked to Jimmy . He just shrugged . Then he yelled , " Cannonball ! " and jumped into the water . I took a deep breath to steel myself , and followed . The water never gets warm this far north . By the middle of summer , the pool may not be as painful , but it is still cold . It 's a nice respite from the warm muggy summers . Early in the season , it 's downright cold . That 's probably why the adults didn 't start using the pool until July . We didn 't care . We were kids and it was a pool . It was our pool . I hit the water and the shock of the cold was like knives sticking into my skin . It was very cold . I came to the surface and exclaimed , " Whew ! " I tried to answer , but my teeth were starting to chatter . Cartwheel laughed . " Swim around some . You 'll warm up . " That 's what my mother always said , too . We swam a few laps and were just getting out when more people arrived - some of the girls in the neighborhood . Jimmy and I were drying off with our towels so we could warm up in the sun . Jimmy nudged me with a smile on his face . Two of the girls were older , teenagers . He always liked to watch when they got out of the pool because the cold made their nipples stand out . We were too young to have figured out what girls were good for yet , but Jimmy still liked to watch . I made a face at him , but turned to look at the girls anyway . The girls were looking not at us but at Cartwheel . They were talking in whispers and giggling . Obediently , they signed the book without being asked . The two older ones walked over to say hi to him . He looked like he was enjoying talking with them , but he was also businesslike . He wasn 't here just to have fun , after all . This was a job for him . We turned back to the gate at the sound of our names . It was the rest of our gang . I hated when they called me Davey , and they knew it . That 's why they did it . It was a game we played . We spent the morning at the pool , alternating between swimming and warming up in the sun . The girls were on the other side of the pool , mostly trying to surreptitiously watch Cartwheel . When we got on our bikes to head home for lunch , Tim suggested meeting at the swing after lunch . I rode up to Jimmy 's house after a lunch of sandwiches at home . He was ready for me , now wearing a t - shirt with his bathing suit . We headed towards the next hill , away from the pool . We met up with Tim and Billy on the way . Just before the top of the hill , we turned right onto a dirt road cut through tall grass . As we turned off , I looked to the side and could see the pool off in the distance , with Cartwheel keeping watch from his platform . We rode along the rutted road , leaving the homes behind us . A meadow was to the right , trees to the left . Birds were singing happily in the trees . Before long , we passed the burned out remains of a very old building . With the Bicentennial coming up in a few years , every old building suddenly had a story attached to it about the Revolutionary War . In our minds , the building had been an Inn , where George Washington had once slept during the war . The story went that there was an agreement . Soldiers from both sides had stayed there . It was like neutral territory where they didn 't fight . In reality , the building was probably just an old barn . At ten years old , make believe was larger than life . When the Apollo astronauts had been collecting rocks on the moon that spring , we got library books and spent weekends trying to identify the shales and shists in our backyards . Tim 's father worked for the government , doing something vaguely connected with NASA and he got us some really cool photographs of the astronauts . We even tried to concoct spacesuits to add realism to our play . After the " Inn " , the road turned to the left and entered the woods . There were two spots where the ground was lower that stayed muddy . Billy had fallen off his bike there once and had to ride home covered in mud . His mother washed him off in the yard with the hose . We rode slowly through that part . Next , the trees thinned out and we rode down a hill as the sound of a gurgling brook slowly became louder than the crunch of small twigs and other debris under our bicycle tires . The stream ran through a valley between two hills . The hill on the other side was cleared of trees at one spot . Unknown kids long ago had climbed a really tall tree and hung a rope from a branch . If you grabbed on to the end of the rope and ran up the hill , when you reached as far as you could go and still hold on to the end of the rope , you could hang on the rope and swing . The swing would carry you across the stream , across the valley , almost to the trees on the other side , and back . You had to let go of the rope when you swung back to where you started . When the rope was slack , it hung about ten feet above the stream . We used a long tree branch to grab the rope and pull it to the hillside where we could grab onto it . Jimmy got there first and dropped his bike alongside the stream . He liked the swing more than the rest of us . He always had to be first and last on the swing . I was right behind him , crossing the stream by stepping on the rocks and looked for the tree branch . We kept a really long one there at the edge of the clearing . I found it and went back to the stream to grab the loop at the end of the rope . Jimmy watched and smiled . The first ride of the day was going to be his again . I brought the rope to him and he started up the hill . The rest of us sat and watched . Jimmy climbed the hill as high as he could with the loop at the end of the rope in his hand . He always pushed the limits . When he could go no further , he faced downhill , jumped , and put one foot through the loop . Instantly , the rope carried him down the hill and over our heads . Jimmy 's cry of " Wahoo ! " echoed through the woods as he flew . Because he had started so far up the hill , he could get three swings before he had to put his feet down and stop on the hill . The rest of us could only get one or two swings . You had to stop while you were still swinging far enough to be able to touch the hillside with your feet . I had scary thoughts of what it would be like to hold onto the rope until it stopped swinging . You would end up suspended over the stream , too high to be able to jump down . As long as someone was there to pull you back to the side with the tree branch , you could safely get off . If not , you were stuck up there . The water in the stream was only knee deep . Dropping from the rope that high up was sure to cause serious injury . My turn was next . When I saw Jimmy 's feet hit the ground with a puff of dust , I ran up to meet him . " Fly , Dave , " he told me , still grinning . I took the rope and went up the hill . I didn 't go as far as Jimmy because I wasn 't as tall and I was afraid of losing my balance with the rope pulling back on me . When I was ready , I looked down the slope to where my friends waited . I took a deep breath , jumped , and held onto the rope for dear life . It was like I was flying . I soared over the heads of my friends , seeing them following me with their eyes as I passed . I flew over the stream , crossing it in an instant . Far over me , I heard the rope and the branch creak as my arc reached its limit near the trees we had ridden through , then I swung back . I picked up speed as I again passed my companions , before preparing for my landing on the hill . I put down my feet and dragged them as I still held onto the rope . Dust flew as the rubber soles of my shoes skidded along the ground , over rocks and dirt . I had landed . Like that , we each took turns , passing the rope off each time . We spent hours that afternoon , flying through the trees . We took off our shoes and waded in the cold water of the stream . Sometimes , we stacked rocks and tried to build dams . We hiked about a hundred yards downstream where a pool formed behind a waterfall and swam . We were ten years old . We wore no watches . We noted the passage of time by the light of the sun . We had no responsibilities and we were indestructible . Life was simple and innocent back then . When the sun started to go down and it slowly started becoming darker under the trees , we got back on our bikes . Jimmy made his last swing over our heads as we started down the road , his cry like that of a bird high in the sky . He landed and caught up to us before we exited the woods and soon enough we were back on our street . I coasted down the street towards home . Just as I started pedaling to climb the next hill , I looked ahead to see Cartwheel still on duty at the pool . He would be closing the pool soon , the end of his first day as our lifeguard . One by one , we peeled off from the group as we reached our homes . Billy was the last rider . He lived just on the other side of the pool . The next day was more of the same . We had the entire summer ahead of us . We spent mornings swimming at the pool , always under the watchful eye of Cartwheel , and afternoons in the woods . Sometimes , we talked about Cartwheel , wondering what he was really like . It was Billy who gave a name to Cartwheel 's van - The Makeout Machine . This was a few years before Ford came out with their Good Times Machine . I guess Cartwheel was a trendsetter . We imagined all the women he must pick up to kiss and " stuff " in there . The windows were tinted so dark that we couldn 't see anything inside , so we dreamed up what the interior must be like . In our minds , we saw a bed , a lava lamp ( though we never thought where it would get power ) , a TV , a refrigerator , and a stash of drugs . Hippies always had drugs . We knew that . There was some dispute over whether Cartwheel had one special girl , or he went through women like we went through underwear ( Tim suggested that description ) . Over time , we came to know Cartwheel better . He talked to us sometimes . Jimmy finally worked up the courage to ask him what being a hippie was like . That made him laugh . He told us about love and peace and politics , foreign concepts for us . He would greet us by name , which only aggravated the girls who were , for the most part , too shy around him to do much more than look at him from across the pool and giggle to each other . Sometimes , Cartwheel would ask us about ourselves . Things like how we did in school ( good enough to get by , except for Tim who was the class genius ) , what we wanted to be when we grew up ( bold goals like astronaut , baseball player , things like that ) , and if we liked girls ( No way ! ) . He assured us that our attitudes about girls would change in a few years but we didn 't believe him . One afternoon , about two or three weeks into summer , we were back at the swing in the woods . Jimmy was going up the hill for yet another ride . We were sitting or lying on the ground , talking about our favorite subject , the mysterious Cartwheel and his magical Makeout Machine . I remember looking up the hill at Jimmy . It seemed that he was a lot higher than usual . It looked like he was standing on his toes , trying to get a little more height on his swing . I laughed . I had turned back to the rest of my friends when Jimmy 's " Wahoo ! " came from far over our heads . We looked up to see him sail past . At the end of his swing , there was a kind of popping sound from far above us . Jimmy and the rope seemed to drop just a little and the movement affected the arc of his swing . I got a good look at Jimmy as he swung back towards us . He wasn 't grinning or yelling this time . He looked terrified . I scrambled to my feet . Just before he swung over the edge of the stream , there was another pop , louder this time . Jimmy screamed . It wasn 't , " Wahoo ! " . It was more like , " Ahhhh ! " Then he fell , with the rope trailing along behind him . I looked up and , to my great horror , the end of the rope was no longer attached to the branch . It had broken . The whole incident probably took only a couple of seconds , but I remember it in slow motion , as if it really lasted for minutes or hours . I yelled , " Jimmy ! " and pointed . Tim and Billy were on their feet now as well . We were all helpless . All we could do was watch and scream as Jimmy and the rope got closer and closer to the ground . Jimmy hit just on our side of the stream , among the rocks . The rope fell like a snake around him . I thought I heard a crunch when Jimmy hit . He made a loud sound like , " Oof ! " . We were paralyzed by fear . We weren 't sure if we had just seen our friend die right before our eyes . We didn 't move , didn 't make a sound . The wind in the leaves and the sound of the water over the rocks even seemed to cease . I think we all held our breath . Then , just when we couldn 't stand the suspense any longer , Jimmy groaned . That single sound freed us from our bonds . As one , we moved . He was still alive . We raced for Jimmy , falling to our knees around him . As Billy touched him , I admonished , " Don 't move him . " The others looked at me . More calmly , I explained , " We might hurt him more . You know , internally . " There were nods . We had been taught some first aid in PE class and in Cub Scouts . I thought , my mind suddenly a mush . We had to get him help . We needed a grownup , someone who would know what to do . I looked at Billy . " Go . Get on your bike and ride like the wind . Get his mother to come out here . If she 's not home , get anyone 's mother . Just get a grownup out here fast . " He didn 't answer me . He just gave me a curt nod , looked down one last time to Jimmy 's crumpled form lying among the rocks , and took off . We could hear him pedaling as he raced through the trees . His sound faded , replaced with the water and the wind . It was going to take a long time for him to get help . Even riding fast , it would take time to get someone and come back out here . I wished I had a watch at that moment . I could have some idea of when he might be back . Even at that young age , I knew that in times of crisis , minutes could seem like hours . I mentally followed Billy , seeing him emerging from the woods . I tried to follow along , pacing myself to what I thought was as fast as he could ride . I saw him passing the burned out building . He still had a long way to go . Minutes did seem like hours . Tim didn 't speak . He just watched . He looked to me , to Jimmy , to the woods where Billy had disappeared , then back to me . I looked over Jimmy 's body . He was bleeding , but not a lot . Bright red was appearing on the grayish rocks . It was little streams of bright red that weren 't flowing , just staying there . I hoped that meant he wasn 't losing too much blood . It seemed to be more like what happened when I scraped my knee really bad . I wished I knew more of what to do . The best we could do for him was to wait . Jimmy groaned a few more times . I saw him try to move but encouraged him to stay still . " I hurt , " he tried to say but it came out as more of a moan . His eyes were still closed . I was trying to keep time in my head . It seemed like Billy had been gone for hours . In my head , I had seen him go to Jimmy 's house and ride back here in Jimmy 's mother 's car . When he failed to appear , I imagined that Jimmy 's mother wasn 't home and he had to get his own mother . I even imagined that the car couldn 't make it down the muddy road and they had to walk . Where was Billy ? I was starting to panic , to think that something bad had happened to Billy , too . I was about to send Tim to get help when I heard a different sound . It wasn 't water , or wind . It was mechanical , but very faint . A hum , but a straining sound . It was slowly getting louder . I felt my eyebrows raise as I realized it was the sound of some kind of vehicle . Maybe not a car but more of a truck . I could hear whatever it was getting really close now . Then I heard a new sound , a swishing combined with a rhythmic clanking . With a start , I realized it was a bicycle - Billy 's bicycle ! Cartwheel 's van bounced along the dirt road and came to a stop . Cartwheel jumped out and ran through the stream to where Jimmy still lay on the ground . Cartwheel was wearing his usual t - shirt , blue jean cut - offs and sandals . He had obviously come directly from the swimming pool . He knelt down and touched Jimmy very gently . " Don 't move him ! I mean , he might be hurt , or … " Tim admonished him . Billy and I gave Tim the kind of look a teacher gives you when you interrupt her . Cartwheel never reacted to the exchange . All his attention was directed to Jimmy . He was touching Jimmy very delicately . Jimmy winced when Cartwheel touched his arm , then winced even louder when he touched his leg . The lower leg was a darker color than it had been before . Cartwheel turned to me , speaking in a hushed tone , too quietly for Jimmy to hear . " Help me turn him onto his back , " Cartwheel said . I reached out to my friend but I wasn 't able to do very much because I winced when Jimmy reacted to the pain with a scream . Cartwheel said to me , " I 'm going to try to lift him as gently as I can . " Speaking a little louder , " Jimmy , this will probably hurt a lot . I 'm going to try to make this as painless as possible . " Jimmy just gave a small nod . Cartwheel carefully slid one arm under Jimmy 's neck . The other arm went under his legs , starting with the uninjured one . When he reached the injured leg , Jimmy cried out again . I winced every time Jimmy reacted . Cartwheel looked at me . " Dave , open the van door . " I ran ahead and opened the first door . Cartwheel had to explain to me how to unlatch the other door so he could gently put Jimmy down on the floor . The inside of The Makeout Machine was not at all as we had imagined it . It was very different from the opium den or the bachelor pad we had built up in our minds . It had orange shag carpet on the floor and a bench seat . That was all there was . Cartwheel was waiting for me to move out of the way so he could lay Jimmy down . I got out of the way and Cartwheel put Jimmy on the floor . Then he turned to me . He looked very serious , and maybe nervous . I 've never seen him look anything but confident and friendly before . That day , he looked scared . That made me scared . He was Cartwheel . He was supposed to know what to do . If he was worried , what was going to happen to Jimmy ? Then it happened . It looked like Cartwheel was blinking away tears . He looked me right in the eye , and then looked away , up at the sky . " I don 't know , David . " The words were just a whisper , purposely too quiet for Jimmy to hear . In that instant , my hero fell off his pedestal . He wiped his eyes . " I don 't like the way his leg looks . We need to get him to the hospital . Climb in . " I did as I was asked . Without wonder now , I entered The Makeout Machine and crouched next to Jimmy , who was lying on the shag carpet . Seeing Cartwheel cry changed something in me . He wasn 't invincible after all . He was human . I was counting on him to be something more , something a lot more , and save the day . I was counting on him to be the hero and save Jimmy . What I was seeing was something less . I felt wounded inside . Cartwheel closed the doors and hurried around to the other side . Getting behind the wheel , he started the engine . He looked back to the two of us . " Jimmy , the road is pretty rough until we get to the street . I 'm going to try to make it as easy as I can for you , but it 's going to be a little bumpy . " Looking me in the eye now , Cartwheel said , " David , try to hold him still . Do the best you can . " I felt so small , so useless at that moment . Worse , I felt like Cartwheel wasn 't going to be much better at helping Jimmy . I felt the van move . Cartwheel turned it around and it jostled as we reentered the woods . Jimmy moaned loudly every time we hit a bump . I tried to reassure him . I had to be strong for Jimmy . I had to give him hope . Unable to draw strength from Cartwheel any longer , I thought of what it might have been like for the astronauts if one of them had gotten hurt on the moon . For them , help was days away . I tried to be strong for Jimmy like I imagined the astronauts would be for each other . I needed another hero to give me strength . We bumped along the road . The tree branches made slapping and scraping sounds against the sides of the van . Cartwheel was going slow , too slow it seemed . I finally realized that he was going so slowly because the road was so rough . It never seemed this bad to us on our bicycles . I knew then why we never saw cars driving out to the swing . It seemed like hours and miles before we came out of the woods , still only halfway to the street . The road wasn 't any less bumpy , but more sunlight filtered into the tinted windows of the van . I finally took my eyes off Jimmy for a few minutes and looked around . I didn 't know why we ever were so fascinated by The Makeout Machine . It was just an old van inside , not at all what we had built up in our minds . Reality was turning out to be far less impressive than my imagination had been . I looked back to my friend lying on the carpet . Jimmy opened his eyes a little . He was either grimacing or trying to give me a tight smile . I smiled back , but it took a lot of effort . Inside , I was scared . " Of course he will , " Cartwheel responded , but I didn 't hear a lot of confidence in his voice . I hated the way he sounded . I needed him to be the grownup , the hero . Jimmy needed him . The engine labored on as we bumped our way to the street . I saw a shape go by the heavily tinted window and realized I was seeing the burned out building . We were close to the street now . I told that to Jimmy . After what seemed far too long , I felt one more bump and knew the van was back on a paved road . Cartwheel turned and accelerated . He seemed to know the way to the hospital without even thinking about it . I tried to brace myself now so I wouldn 't fall on Jimmy when we went around turns . " We 'll be at the hospital in about fifteen minutes , " Cartwheel announced as he drove . It seemed that he was driving a lot faster than my parents ever had along this street . He was trying really hard after all . I felt bad for doubting him earlier . There wasn 't much traffic . Now I realize it was just before rush hour . Back then , I never knew about such things , or cared . Life was so much simpler for me . I shifted my eyes from Jimmy to Cartwheel and back . I was watching Jimmy to see if he needed anything , though I don 't know what I could have done for him . I guess I was watching Cartwheel to encourage him to go even faster but he seemed to be doing all he could . Finally , there was a bump as the van drove over the curb , then a short dash until the van stopped suddenly with a light screech of the tires . Cartwheel was still getting out of his seat when the door suddenly slid open . A few people were standing there , men and women , dressed in light green suits . Two of them were pushing a stretcher . Speaking loudly , one of the women addressed my friend . " Jimmy . Jimmy , can you hear me . You 're at the hospital . We 're going to move you . Tell us where it hurts . " Cartwheel was there now and he motioned for me to come with him . I waited for them to move Jimmy to the gurney before getting out to follow Cartwheel . It tore me up inside to hear Jimmy scream when they moved him . We watched Jimmy being wheeled inside . One of the women turned back to face us . " That 's good . You took good care of your friend . The doctor is with him now . I 'm going to go call his parents . " After the lady left us alone , Cartwheel directed me to some chairs . We sat and waited . We didn 't talk much and it was hard to just wait . I was worried about Jimmy . I did watch Cartwheel from time to time . He seemed to be worried also . I was afraid of what was going to happen to my friend . Time passed slowly , even more slowly than when I was waiting for Billy to return . I couldn 't get comfortable in the chair . Waiting there was almost a physical pain . Finally , I heard a man call , " Mr . Cartwright ? " I didn 't react , but I was surprised when Cartwheel said , " Over here , doctor . " I looked at Cartwheel with surprise but he didn 't notice . His eyes were on the doctor . " His arm is broken , but we 're really worried about his leg . When he broke it , he damaged a blood vessel . There was some internal bleeding so we 're going to have to do surgery to repair it . We 've spoken to his mother and she is on her way over here now . Can you tell me how long it 's been since he fell ? " Both men looked at me and I looked back to Cartwheel . " I sent Billy on his bike to Jimmy 's house right after he fell . I don 't know how long it took him to get back . " The doctor nodded . He smiled a little , his next words designed to calm some of our fears . " The boy is going to be alright . You did the right thing getting him here so fast . He 's lucky to have friends like you two . " Then he put his hand on my arm . The doctor 's reassuring touch did make me feel better . " I 've got to get back in there . We 'll keep you informed on his progress . " The doctor got up and walked back through the doors where he came from . I looked at Cartwheel . He was still staring at the door the doctor had gone through . I thought at that point maybe there was more to Cartwheel than I had given him credit for lately . I was thinking about that when my thoughts were interrupted by a sound . It was a sound every person recognizes , no matter what they are doing . Someone was calling my name . " David ! " It was Jimmy 's mom . She was crying a little when I looked up and she was heading for me . The look on her face made me realize just how much a parent loves a child . It was like agony , grief and frustration , all wrapped up together . " Mrs . Lerner . We just talked to the doctor . Jimmy is going to be OK , " I told her , trying to reassure her . A nurse must have heard us because she came over . " Are you Jimmy Lerner 's mother ? " she asked . Mrs . Lerner nodded . " Come with me . You can see him for a moment . " She took Mrs . Lerner through the door . She was gone for only a few minutes . When she returned , she looked , I don 't know , more composed , I guess . She sat down next to me . She was still upset , but she looked like she was doing much better . " Thank you , both of you , for what you did for Jimmy . " The gratitude in her face was something I don 't think I 'll ever forget . It made me realize how much we had done for Jimmy . I didn 't feel so useless any more . We had helped - really helped . Both of us . " You 're welcome , " Cartwheel said , holding her hand with both of his . Then he turned his gaze to me . " Want a ride home with me ? " After he was gone , I broke the silence with a question . It wasn 't important at that point in time , but my curiosity was getting the best of me . I was only ten , after all . " Mrs . Lerner ? " It took her a moment or two to realize I was talking to her before she gave me her attention . She had been lost in thought , probably worried about Jimmy . " Cartwheel 's name is Milton ? " I was astonished that a hippie would have a real name , and such a square name like Milton . On that day , many things had turned out to be not as they appeared . " He has a real name ? " It was a long wait for the doctor to come back to talk to us . Mrs . Lerner had called my mother and she came over . I wanted to wait for the doctor before I 'd leave , though , so the three of us waited together . Finally , Dr . Hindman came out to talk to us . He wanted to take Mrs . Lerner aside , but she saw the pained look on my face and insisted the doctor talk to all of us . That made me feel grownup . The doctor explained that Jimmy had a broken arm and a broken leg . The internal bleeding was under control but Jimmy would need surgery . He reassured us that Jimmy would make a full recovery , mostly due to being brought to the hospital so quickly . When he said that , Dr . Hindman looked right at me and smiled . I felt really important . After that , my mother took me home and Mrs . Lerner moved to the surgery waiting room while Jimmy had his operation . On the way home , I told my mother how Cartwheel had come to Jimmy 's rescue . By the time we got home , it was dark . Billy and Tim must have gotten our bikes back from the woods somehow . Mine was parked next to our back door . I had hoped to ride over to the pool to give Cartwheel an update on Jimmy but I knew he would have already gone home for the night . It felt different that day when I saw him . We looked at each other in a different way . It was like we were more on an equal footing . I had seen the human side in him . I had seen him afraid . I had seen the fear he felt when he was confronted with a situation he couldn 't fully control . I guess he had seen me helping him help Jimmy . The two of us had changed somehow . Even when we spoke , it was different from the way we had talked before . When Mrs . Pemberton heard about how Cartwheel had thrown everybody out of the pool and closed it early so he could leave , she was going to fire him . Jimmy 's mom threatened to get Mrs . Pemberton voted out . In the end , everybody heard the story about how Cartwheel had saved Jimmy and he kept his job . I even became famous in the neighborhood . Cartwheel and David , the local celebrities . What an unlikely pair . When Jimmy finally came home from the hospital , he had a plaster cast on his arm and a soft cast on his leg . He couldn 't get around very much so Billy , Tim and I spent most of the rest of the summer at his house . Cartwheel had even come to visit him one afternoon after he had closed the pool for the day . Cartwheel signed Jimmy 's arm cast , drawing a peace sign next to his name . When Jimmy finally got his casts off and could ride his bike again , it was the end of the summer . It was also Cartwheel 's last day at the pool . We all rode over to tell him goodbye . When we got there . Mrs . Pemberton and Cartwheel were just going over the final details . She was handing him his last paycheck and he was returning the keys . The pool was officially closed for the summer . We kept our distance outside the fence and respectfully waited for them to finish their business . We could hear Mrs . Pemberton apologizing for wanting to fire him earlier . They finished and walked out . I heard the click as Cartwheel locked the padlock for the last time . He turned to us , surprise showing in his face as he recognized Jimmy . " Don 't mention it . I 'm a lifeguard . I 'm supposed to save people . " He grinned when he said that . " I 'm just supposed to save people in the water . For my special friends , though , I make exceptions . " A car pulled into the parking lot really fast and Jimmy 's mom got out . " I was afraid I 'd miss you . I had to go to the bank , " she was saying as she got out . She walked up to Cartwheel , ignoring us kids . " My husband and I want to thank you for what you did for Jimmy . If not for you , he might - " She started to cry as she said that and Cartwheel hugged her . It was so funny to see them hugging . His hair was longer than hers . " He 's OK now , " Cartwheel was telling her . She started crying all over again and Cartwheel hugged her . When she stopped , she held up an envelope she had been carrying . It was kind of thick . She continued , " It 's to help you this fall . We know what 's ahead for you . We want to help . " She looked him in the eye , not backing down . In the end , Cartwheel relented and accepted the envelope . He thanked her and they hugged again . After that , she left . It was just Cartwheel and the four of us . " Of course . I 'm a college student at the University of Maryland . " Chuckling at our astonished expressions , he held out his hand to Jimmy . " Take care of yourself , man . " Cartwheel nodded . Next he moved in front of Billy . " You ride that bike pretty fast . Don 't ever forget that you had a part in saving Jimmy . " Finally , Cartwheel came to stand in front of me . I knew what I wanted to say but I was afraid I wouldn 't be able to finish . I cleared my throat and Cartwheel looked expectantly at me . That is as far as I got . The tears were flowing full force . Cartwheel bent down and hugged me . I held on to him , feeling his long curly hair on my arms . I didn 't care that my friends were seeing me cry . I knew how much I was going to miss my hero and nothing else mattered just then . When I let Cartwheel go and wiped the remaining tears from my face , I ventured a glance at my friends . They were silent , not daring to tease me . I think they understood somehow what I was feeling . " Well , boys , I need to be going . " With that , Cartwheel got into The Makeout Machine and started up the engine . I was pretty sure that was the last time I 'd hear that sound . We mounted our bikes and followed him up the hill , though he was slowly pulling away . It seemed like he was going slow so we could keep up . Just before he got to the top of the hill , he held out his left arm and gave us a final wave . The van hit a bump and , for an instant , I could see his face in the big mirror . He pulled his arm in and it looked like he was wiping a tear from his eye . Then the van crested the hill and was gone from our sight . When we got to the top of the hill , we could see The Makeout Machine in the distance . It was turning left . From there , one more turn and it would be on Highway 140 . That fleeting glimpse was the last I ever saw of Cartwheel . The next summer , Mrs . Pemberton had hired another college student to run the pool . We had other lifeguards over the summers as we grew up , but none were ever as cool as Cartwheel . Or as heroic . I came to realize that summer afternoon when Jimmy had his fall that Cartwheel was human after all . Later , I figured out that ordinary humans can be heroes . I never forgot that lesson I learned from Cartwheel . I took a sip of my coffee as I looked again at the picture in the morning paper that had captured my attention . The long curly hair was gone , the blue jean cut - offs and t - shirt replaced with more appropriate attire , but I recognized the face . Even if I hadn 't , the caption below the picture left no doubt . The Trauma Department of Northwest Hospital welcomes Dr . Milton Cartwright . Dr . Cartwright , a graduate of the University of Maryland , … This story is an experiment , an attempt at a mainstream story . I 've heard from many of my readers that they skip over the sex scenes in my stories because they are so absorbed in the plot . Now I 'll see if they really mean it . Please tell me what you thought of the story . Feedback helps me to understand what my readers like and don 't like . It also encourages me to write more .