The Water Boy

Jimmy “The Water Boy” Jefferson was found fully clothed, hanging by a belt. One end of the belt was wrapped around his neck, the other around a running shower head. Even Jimmy’s very last toss had landed right side up.

Jimmy Jefferson was a youngster with a gift. He could toss a partially filled, plastic water bottle, flipping it by it’s neck, and make it land upright every single time. Jimmy had watched videos of people tossing them on YouTube and tried it. His first attempt failed, but something connected inside him. He felt the water’s weight, and the bottle’s shape, and the distance to the landing spot. Jimmy visualized the bottle flipping awkwardly through the air, twirling at the perfect height, and with the perfect number of rotations to land cleanly on the tabletop, and it became so simple that he never missed again.

Jimmy was showing off his newly acquired talent in the lunchroom at school the next day when Mr. Bailey noticed the gathering crowd. When he inquired, and saw what was happening, he held up his phone, videotaping from overtop the heads of the crowded children. No matter how much water the bottle contained, and no matter how far from the table Jimmy stood, every bottle landed upright, every time. The other kids all crashed and burned when they tried, but Jimmy’s bottles behaved as if they were trained to do the very thing he bid them to do. 

The ringing bell broke up the fun, but Mr. Bailey could not stop watching the video. He had the kids in his classroom read silently while he watched over, and over again, until he could stand it no more. He finally hurried to the Teacher’s Lounge, grabbed several bottles from the fridge, and returned to his classroom. He and the children poured varying amounts of water out of each bottle and started trying the trick, attempting to land the bottles on his desk. Out of hundreds of tosses the class collectively managed to land two bottles upright, and one of those was such a short toss that it shouldn't have counted, but both successes caused such a clamor from the children that Mr. Bailey was sure that Prncipal Lemon would hear them. This really was a difficult thing to do!

When class ended Mr. Bailey ran straight to Ms. London in the library. Together, they downloaded the video of Jimmy Jefferson flipping his bottles onto a computer, added some stop-motions, slow-motions, and other effects, titled the video, “Jimmy ‘The Waterboy’ Jefferson,” and they posted it to Mr. Bailey’s YouTube account within a minute of completion.

After school Mr. Bailey excitedly checked his account. Jimmy’s video had already been “clicked on“ 247,890 times. “The Waterboy” was going viral.

It was supper time when he knocked on the Jefferson’s front door. Mrs. Jefferson answered. Mr. Bailey joined the family at the dinner table to explain what he had done. The video had been watched over two million times now, and the number was quickly increasing. The producer of, “The Ellen Show” had already contacted him. They were prepared to pay Jimmy to come on the show. Jimmy “The Waterboy” Jefferson was about to hit the big time!

And so he did. Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, Jimmy did them all, tossing his partially filled bottles to land perfectly while the adult show hosts bumbled about with theirs, looking all the more foolish with every attempt. And Jimmy achieved some fame, and he made some money, and some attention, and he liked it all.

But fame is a fleeting thing. Within weeks the water bottle craze dried up. The shows stopped calling. Jimmy ceased to be “The Waterboy,” and was only Jimmy Jefferson once more. Jimmy’s folks fought over the money before finally splitting up, dividing their time with Jimmy just like they divided the money he had made. A young life that was so recently on top of the world was rolling downhill fast.

Only a few will ever know what it’s like to be fourteen years old, and to know that your best days are behind you. Fame is sweet on the tongue, but leaves a bitter taste once swallowed. Jimmy still tossed water bottles, he tossed them right up to the very end, but no one watched. No one made videos. No one cared.

And so Jimmy Jefferson tossed it all away.