On the first morning of the holiday, a young boy named Jerry and his mother are heading to the beach. His mother had very arms, and carried a bright-striped bag when Jerry became focused on the bay. His mother asked, “Why, darling, would you rather not come with me?” He went with her, but all day Jerry was thinking about the wild .
The next morning, Jerry said, "I'd like to go and have a look at those rocks down there." His mother let him go, but she is very worried about the safety of her year old boy. Because she was a , she “…was determined to be neither possessive, nor lacking in .” Jerry headed down to the bay, and ran straight into the and began swimming. “On the edge of a small cape that marked the side of the bay away from the promontory was a loose scatter of rocks.” Jerry saw a bunch of boys, much bigger and older than himself, diving into the water from the highest point of the . He joined them, and watched as the other boys dived in and “Then one, and then another of the boys came up on the far side of the barrier of rock, and he understood that they had swum through some gap or hole in it.” Jerry couldn’t figure out how they did this, so “…in a panic of , he yelled up, in English, "Look at me! Look!" and he began splashing and kicking in the water like a foolish .” The older boys just frowned at Jerry, which embarrassed him, as they jumped into the water down past him. Jerry counted to a hundred and before the boys appeared again. They left without saying good-bye, and began to cry because he thought they were “…leaving to get away from him.” Jerry tried to find the opening in the rocks that they swam through, but he couldn’t see in the salt water.
Jerry decided he needed , and ran back to the villa and begged his mother like a baby until she bought him a pair. Day after day on his vacation Jerry practiced holding his , by weighing himself down in the water using large rocks as . “…the boy dreamed of the water-filled cave in the rock…” and often became weak and , and his nose would bleed at night. Finally, he decided he was ready to do it, to swim through the . He grabbed a rock, filled his lungs with air, sank into the water, and entered the underwater tunnel. “Soon he was clear inside. He was in a small rock-bound hole filled with yellowish-grey water.” He paddled and kicked as hard as he could, he felt like he was , but he “…struggled on in the darkness between lapses into unconsciousness. An immense, swelling pain filled his , and then the darkness cracked with an explosion of light. His hands, groping forward, met nothing, and his feet, kicking back, propelled him out into the open sea.”
After sitting for awhile resting and recovering from his journey, Jerry “…could see the local boys diving and playing half a away. He did not want them. He wanted nothing but to get back and lie down.” He went back to the villa, and sat down for lunch with his mother. He told her nothing about his accomplishment, only that he can hold his breath for at least minutes. She responded with, “…I don't think you ought to any more today."
“She was ready for a battle of wills, but he gave in at once. It was no longer of the least to go to the bay.”