The first bathhouse at the Ritzville swimming pool
that I remember as a kid was a wooden structure
built by the Walla Walla Indians in the early
1600s. Okay. You got me. Ritzville wasn’t founded
until 1881.
 
Just trust me, it was an old building with lots of
holes and open spaces if you were willing to risk
your life climbing into the rafters you might get a
peek into the girls’ side.  Boys of every age risked
their lives weekly just to get a peek at several of
the local girls in their birthday suits. Outside the
bathhouse you could see them in their swim suit but
that was not nearly as interesting.

The girl I most wanted to see naked was life guard
Jane. Just seeing her bare breasts would be enough
to carry me into my college years.

I had heard stories from several of the bigger boys
that fueled my desire to climb into the rafters and
peer into the girls’ dressing room. If you got
caught you were banned from the swimming pool
for a month. If you got caught a second time you
spent the rest of the summer out of water. Every-
body knew this because Lonny, one of the big boys,
had already received a summer sentence.
 
The best time to do it was when the pool was full
of swimmers for four reasons: 1) there were more
girls, 2) there was lots of noise so the girls
wouldn’t hear you climbing, 3) everybody was in a
hurry to get into their suit so they wouldn’t be
looking up, and 4) the lifeguards were busy
watching swimmers so they were not in the
bathhouse.

The girls of most interest, for obvious reasons,
were in their mid-teens and older. They were also
the ones that did not come to the pool already
dressed in their swimming suits. The best time of
day to see the naked girl of your dreams was
usually 4 to 4:30 p.m.  Why, you ask? 
 
The pool closed at 5 p.m. for dinner and reopened
at 6 p.m. The younger girls who came to the pool
already suited up stayed in the pool as long as
they could. The older girls wanted to be dressed
and out of the bathhouse before the herd of flat-
chesters rushed through the stables.

It was Friday at 4:10 p.m. Three stunningly
beautiful bodies left the pool deck for the girls
dressing room. Benny and I left the pool deck
for the boys dressing room.

Benny was my lookout as I quietly carried the
garbage can to the end of the wall between the
two dressing rooms. I turned the can upside
down and climbed on top of it.
  
Now I had to grab the base of the rafters and
pull my self up . . . very quietly. As I did,
Benny hustled over and returned the can to its
original location so if anyone came in they
would not suspect anything.

I got into the small space in the rafters and
pulled my feet up. Unless you looked up
directly from either dressing room to the area
where I was laying, you would not know I was
there. All of this positioning only took about
45 seconds.

What? I couldn’t believe my eyes. The three
beauties were already dressed! How was that
possible? Then it dawned on me. When they came
into the dressing room their suits had already
dried. They put their clothes on over their
suits!!!  Damn! Damn! Damn!

Okay, I thought, I’ll just stay up here and
wait for the next girl to come into my peeping
lair. Let me think. Which buxom babe is still
out there? I couldn’t think of one. I was taking
this incredible risk for nothing. I best get
down quick.

“Benny, bring over the can,” I called in a quiet
voice. No answer. I called twice more. No answer.
Then I heard the whistle to clear the pool. Now
I was stuck. I tried to lay as flat as possible
so no one would see me. My only chance to get
out of this was to wait until everybody was gone
between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. for dinner.

Both dressing rooms emptied. I knew the life-
guard, Scotty, who ate dinner at my house, would
leave as soon as possible. I waited five minutes,
then started to get down. Suddenly, Jane the
lifeguard came into the girls dressing room.

Oh my God! She stripped off her bathing suit and
for 30 amazing seconds I saw her absolutely
stunningly naked, an image that took me not just
into college but through graduate school. I
couldn’t believe how sexy she looked. No wonder
Lonny risked it all for a second look.

She got dressed and left. Now I had to get down
. . . without the garbage can.  I hung my legs
over the wall, slid my belly and chest down
until I was just hanging in air gripping the
top of the wall. Finally, I dropped the rest of
the way down, about four feet.
 
Because I was still in my swimming suit with no
shoes or sandals, I landed on my bare feet in a
pool of water. On contact with the wet concrete
floor my feet slid out from under me and I
ended up flat on my back.
 
I laid there believing that I had just broken
every bone in my body. Then I realized I felt
no pain. I must already be dead, I thought.
Slowly, I moved one leg, then the other, then
both arms, then I raised my head. Unbelievably,
I was unhurt.
  
My fall had been broken by the pile of for-
gotten towels and other garbage I had dumped
when turning over the garbage can. When Benny
put it back in place he didn’t bother to pick
up the stuff I dumped. I got up and quickly
exited the bathhouse without anyone seeing me.

When I got home for dinner, it was 5:45 p.m. and
Scotty had already finished eating. I sat down
and waited for the inquisition from Mom. Dad
was still eating and was not going to address
this issue until he was finished.
 
“Well?” she asked. “Sorry I’m late. I was with
Jane and just lost track of time.” Mom looked
at Dad and said, “I told you it was time to buy
him a watch.” Dad smiled and said, “if he was
with Jane, the watch wouldn’t have mattered.”
Boy, did he have that right!

By the way, the next day Benny said he just got
scared and left for home. For that feeble excuse
I told him nothing. He didn’t deserve to hear
any of the delicious details.