Question -
Answer -
When Douglas was learning swimming at the YMCA pool at the age of ten or eleven, one day while sitting beside the pool waiting for other people to come, a muscular bully picked him up and threw him into the deep end of the pool. As Douglas realized that he may drown, he made three attempts to come up to the water surface, but failed and fell unconscious.
Ultimately he was rescued by someone, but this episode in his life reinforced the fear of water in Douglas’ mind which he had first felt when, at the age of three or four, he had been completely swamped by a huge wave at the seaside in California. His father held on to him at that time to save him from drowning, but at the YMCA pool there was nobody.