Douglas refers to the near-drowning episode at the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool as a "misadventure." At the time, the author was perhaps ten or eleven years old and had only just begun to learn to swim by emulating others. He began drowning after being shoved into the sea by someone who couldn't swim. He developed a great phobia of water as a result of his fight to the surface and avoid drowning, which prevented him from participating in water-related activities for many years.