Plot
When Sarah, a promising young swimmer, was adopted by the rich Mrs Jones she thought her dreams had come true. That was until Mrs Jones told her the real reason for the adoption was to stop her swimming ever again. But Sarah was determined to keep swimming no matter what the obstacles.
Notes
- Art: George Martin
- Reprinted and translated to Dutch as “Sarah kan zwemmen” (“Sarah Can Swim”) – Debbie #30 (1982)
Appeared
- No Swimming for Sarah – Debbie: #419 (21 February 1981) – #430 (9 May 1981)
Adopting someone to stop them swimming? Well, that’s pretty weird.
Yes, I didn’t get a chance to read story in detail when I was at library, so I don’t know the reasons for it, but yes very odd! I’ll need to go back and read it sometime.
Sarah defies Mrs Jones by being coached secretly for a swimming contest by Tom Burns. Mrs Jones sends her to her room, telling her that she will be a prisoner in the house until she realises that swimming will only bring her poverty and misery. Tom apparently thinks that Sarah is a spoilt little liar. Sarah exits her house by a secret route, which requires her to be in a swimming costume because she has to dive into a pool with a sealed plastic bag containing her outdoor clothes tied round her waist, in order to get to a wall, climb over it, and then catch a bus into town. Mrs Jones wonders whether she is being overly harsh on Sarah until a phone call from Tom asking her to inform Sarah that the swimming final will be an hour later than billed so there is no need for her to rush. Realising that Sarah clearly intends to swim in that final, she goes up to Sarah’s room, only to discover that Sarah has already left the house. She gets in her car to try and catch her up. Unfortunately when she sees Sarah she takes her eyes off the road and crashes into a lamp post. She does get to the baths in time to see Sarah win the final, and in an unexpected volte-face she tells Sarah that she has asked Mr Burns to coach Sarah for the Olympic Games, and as he is sure that Sarah has reached the required standard, he agrees.
Thank you, Derek.
Translated into Dutch as “Sarah kan zwemmen” (“Sarah Can Swim”) and published in Debbie #30 (1982).
Regards,
Ramon