It was the next morning at breakfast where Uma was putting the finishing touches on some more toasted waffles, again earning the ire of Audrey.
"Uma, please, we talked about this yesterday." The speckled blonde made a grab for the waffles.
"Ha!" Uma was too quick this time. "You said this was for those that tow the mark around here and I'll soon be employed after two weeks!"
Audrey blinked. "Why two weeks? I don't follow."
Triumphant with her un-pilfered waffles and a job she'd be good at, Uma shared the flier with Audrey. "The city is running short on lifeguards this season. They're looking for powerful swimmers. I just need to get my CPR certification renewed and go through some training."
Audrey gave the flier a once over. "Alright," she sighed, miffed at how long it would take for Uma to get her first paycheck. "I'm glad you were able to find something, Uma."
"Thanks! Orientation starts today," Uma replied, making sure she had a good breakfast to meet the day.
Lifeguard training was dead simple compared to the athleticism Uma used to do in her heyday at college. She and a mixed co-ed group of trainees went over basic exercises the first day, both to test the endurance of the lifeguard prospects and to get them familiar with procedures.
While not nearly as grueling as boot camp the trainees were drilled by a certified instructor in the manner of life saving. There were exercises in diving, using lifesaving techniques with the medical dummy, rescuing a child-sized dummy and each other, going over signs of drowning and medical emergencies to watch out for.
For Uma it got her back into the drive of having regular practice, and the excuse to carb-load at every breakfast. She was rising to the top of the class of cadets, second only to a woman who had been lifeguarding since she was a teenager. Uma had the energy, tenacity and practicality to overcome the rigors of training. Plus, she met a lot of new people and even got them to meet up for drinks. At the smoothie shop, rather than the bar, as lifeguard training attracted the natural fitness junkies. Uma was missing some of her partying lifestyle but that could wait until she graduated and had the spare income to burn.
Over those two weeks her weight was kept in check. For now, anyways. Uma was also looking forward to how chill most of the shift as a lifeguard would be, as for all their practice emergencies were not as common as training made them out to be. Some of her fellow trainees, who had worked or knew people that worked past seasons, talked about the unspoken 'perks' that came with the lifeguard position depending on where you were stationed. It garnered a lot of acclaim from the public, for one, and some businesses by the swimming hotspots gave special attention to lifeguards on or off duty.
She would not have believed you earlier but Uma was well on her way to finding her perfect job. She was dedicated, yet independent. Provided a valuable service, yet had an easy workload outside of emergencies. It used her muscles while remaining relaxed, if alert. And she got to be the center of attention, with the privileges that came with it.
As they say, pride comes before the fall. Waterfall, in this case.
Once her training was complete, where was Uma posted?
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