TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

German Robledo remembers his 8-year-old son, Benicio, or Beni, as a spirited boy who loved to suit up in superhero costumes and battle the bad guys. He liked Captain America and the Avengers, but also Elvis and Johnny Cash.

He had a pair of black boots like Cash's he wore whenever he wanted to impress, his parents said.

Neighbors once saw Beni running down the sidewalk wearing swim trunks, those black boots and a cape, with his head turned to watch the cape flap in the wind behind him. He loved to play, read and use his imagination, German said.

Alma Robledo remembers the 20 to 25 random hugs and kisses Beni would give her every day. He'd blow her a kiss when he walked by, letting his mom know she was constantly loved, she said.

"He loved to give love and receive love," German said on a recent sunny, breezy day as he sat on the family's backyard patio.

Just 25 feet from that patio -- and six days earlier -- the Robledos tragically lost their little boy. Beni drowned in the family's above-ground pool.

It wasn't about being careless, German said. Beni had nut allergies and asthma, and his parents protected him at parties and restaurants from coming into contact with the wrong foods. German and Alma were trained in CPR.

"We made sure that they were protected from strangers, allergies, everything," German said. "Still, it happened to us, in the blink of an eye."

TOGETHERNESS

As teachers, German and Alma had the same vacation schedules as Beni and his sister, 10-year-old Sophia. That meant a lot of time together, but it came naturally to the Robledos. They'd spent 205 days at Disneyland over the years and always found something new to enjoy, German said.

They read together every night and reflected on the day and planned their future fun. If Alma or German were in another room doing chores, all four would gravitate toward each other, and Beni would say, "no matter how small the room, we are always together."

Alma said one of Beni's special rituals with his parents was to pounce into the middle of their bed in the mornings and they would roll him up in the blankets and squeeze him and he'd grin and say, "I feel so loved."

The backyard was a playground for Beni, his sister and their friends, with a big swing set, slide and a tetherball court. (Beni was constantly practicing to defeat kids older than him, his dad said). A depression in yellowed grass marked where the pool had stood until friends took it down for the Robledos two days earlier.

THEIR LAST DAY

Beni had had a wonderful Saturday on June 16,, his mom said. He'd started with jamming on a drum set with his dad in the morning, the two of them playing something like "jungle rhythms," German remembered. He turned to his dad when they were finished and said, "'That was awesome!'" German said.

Then all four of them went to Alma's parents' house for a barbecue, and Beni's grandfather gave him a photo of himself as a soldier during the Vietnam War, sitting atop a tank. Beni loved it, and when the family returned home, he raced upstairs to clear a place for the photo on his nightstand.

As the day was winding down, Beni played in the pool with his mom. He wanted to stay in a few minutes longer when Alma got out and joined German on the patio nearby. After a few minutes, Alma noticed it sounded too quiet, German remembered, and she got up to check on Beni.

Beni was a great swimmer and enjoyed being in the pool, German said. He did not drown because he couldn't swim.

He had tried to swim through the rungs of the A-frame ladder and gotten stuck. German pulled him out with the ladder and started CPR. Alma called 911. The police arrived shortly, then the fire department, then the EMTs. They all worked tirelessly to help Beni, German said. He was taken by ambulance to Mercy Southwest Hospital and later flown to Valley Children's Hospital in Madera, where he died the next morning, Father's Day.

"I enjoyed every moment with Benicio," German said. "And I miss him."