Завьчин

My grandad lives on a houseboat. It is small and blue, and it moves a little when the wind comes.

Grandad is a boatman. He can drive every boat in the harbour: the slow sailboat, the loud speedboat, the red fireboat. But Grandad can't swim. Nobody in the harbour knows this.

One night there is a big noise. A motorboat hits the rocks near the boathouse.

"Can you help?" a woman shouts. "My son is in the water!"

Grandad looks at the black water. He can't swim. He can't swim!

But he can drive. He runs to the lifeboat and starts the engine.

Two minutes later the boy is in the lifeboat — wet and cold, but safe.

"You are a hero," the woman says. "Can you teach my son?"

"I can teach him boats," says Grandad. "I can't teach him water."

Now every Sunday the boy sits in the old boathouse with Grandad. He learns the name of every boat. And Grandad? He is learning to swim.