The Slice: A confession you’ll dye to hear

Maybe it would be therapeutic if we took turns confessing.

One at a time, we could all describe something dumb we did many summers ago. And perhaps this would help us keep in perspective the antics of certain young people in our midst. You know, kids whose whole existence seems designed to prompt adults to ask, “What were you thinking?”

I’ll go first.

When I was about 14, I legally came into possession of a sealed foil pouch the size of a lunchbox bag of potato chips. It contained a solid object about the dimensions of a hockey puck.

Intended for the use of downed military air crews, this was a water marker. According to the instructions on the bag, all you had to do was rip open the wrapper and release the disk into the water. Supposedly this would result in a dye being activated that would color the water and make it easier for airborne search teams to spot the flier.

If you wouldn’t have been curious about how that looked in action, well, you have more restraint than I did.

So I brought the water marker to a popular public beach at a little lake near where we lived. Concealing it about my person, I waded out until the water was chest high.

The sun was out. Lots of people were swimming and frolicking. Picture a scene in “Jaws” before things took a turn.

Without ever holding my secret package above the water, I opened it and waited for something to happen.

Not actually seeing the disk, I can only guess it looked like a giant Fizzie tablet or maybe a big SweeTart.

Soon the water near me turned a brilliant shade of lime green. I let go of the marker and quickly stepped away, trying to look innocent and puzzled. “What on Earth is that?”

A few people nearby freaked. One or two girls screamed. And the lifeguards ordered everyone out of the water. I was happy to oblige.

I didn’t stick around to see how long it took the spreading green mystery to dissipate. I was already beginning to rethink the wisdom of the experiment.

But boy, if I had been a downed aviator in that lake, the guys in the helicopters sure could have found me.

Today’s Slice question: What wild animals have taken a dip in your swimming pool?