There may be nothing better in this universe than finishing a run on a ridiculously hot day and then jumping in a pool. It’s glorious.

One downside is having to share pool space with kids who happen to also live in your apartment complex and by their very nature suck the relaxation out of the experience.

But something strange is happening in the neighborhood. In the warm months leading up to the end of the school year, there were always kids at the pool. In fact, I rarely ventured up that way so that I could avoid the constant screaming and non-parental supervision madness.

Now that school is out, you would expect the pool fiasco to only worsen. Yet for some reason, the kids have all disappeared. Maybe there’s a new Pokemon-type fad I’m not familiar with. Or perhaps they just don’t like the extra heat that Summer has so nicely provided.

Today there were two children near the pool, in a picnic area just outside. It looked like one may be roughly 10 and the other about 6. The younger girl was sitting at a table looking miserable-as-can-be. The older girl was berating her about something. I didn’t stop to listen, a lot work remained to do in the pool.

As my cooling-off ritual continued, so did the yelling from the older girl. She was probably babysitting the younger child, and reveling in her authority. Her style was borderline abusive, leading me to think about why people talk to others like that. Her mother probably spoke to her like that (it had that distinct overbearing mother sound).

Just when I extremely disliked this older girl, she turned her power trip to something useful. The younger girl got up from the table and tossed her empty water bottle on the ground. That dirty litterer. The older girl sprang into action, chasing down her younger counterpart and yelling for her to “PUT YOUR DAMN BOTTLE IN THE TRASH!!!”

The younger girl was obviously not a big fan of their relationship. She refused. The older girl spanked her. The centuries-old technique was effective and seconds later the bottle was placed in its rightful place. (Note: The rightful place would be a recycling bin, but our complex apparently does not believe in preserving the planet).

Good thing there were no kids in the pool.