Leta loved to be at the Cricket Club Pool in the summer.  She couldn’t swim and I feared that if she ever fell in the water unattended she would sink like a human anvil, But we spent many long summer days sitting on a ladder in the deep end of the adult pool meeting all sorts of kids and people.  Most kids thought Leta strange that she didnt swim or talk, but most adults were generally kind to her.  For a few weeks, we seemed to arrive at the pool at the same time  every day as a woman who brought her elderly mom to swim.  The elderly woman’s name was Audrey and she had Alzheimers Disease.  Her daughter would carefully put on her mom’s floral bathing cap and with the help of a lifeguard , she would lower her mother into the pool.  We met because Leta was always sitting on the handicapped steps where Audrey was  lowered and we had to move out of the way at this point each day.  Leta took an immediate affinity to Audrey.  Neither of them were verbal, and they both said a great deal with their eyes.  I felt that Audrey really enjoyed Leta’s presence too.  Leta ,never respectful of personal space and boundaries, was always right in the mix of things as Audrey entered the pool.  She loved to touch Audrey’s swim cap and insisted on swimming close by when her daughter floated Audrey around.   It was the making of a beautiful friendship.  But one day when we arrived, Audrey had already been for her swim and was sitting by the snack bar  eating a bag of chips.  Well, Leta loved Audrey by this point, but she loved and will always love orange cheetohs more.  So I watched Leta premeditativily approach Audrey, lift up her arms, pretending she wanted to give Audrey a big hug, and in a “Ninja instant,” Leta did a martial-arts head fake, grabbed Audrey’s Cheetohs and made a run for it.  I was mortified.  Leta was covered in orange food dye. We never swam with Audrey again.