NATCHEZ — Tyvon Morton, 12, has the right idea.

“All I wanted was a pool for my birthday,” he said.

With the mercury boiling as temperatures approach 100 degrees, finding ways to escape the heat is paramount.

So, Morton’s grandparents, with whom he lives, obliged him with a 15-foot temporary pool for the backyard.

When The Dart landed on Marquette Avenue in Natchez on Sunday, he was putting together the pool that Alex Mayberry and Carolyn Williams gave him with the help of his aunt Alexis Mayberry and her daughter Kalaya Woolfolk, 2.

Morton didn’t waste any time before starting to swim as the pool was less than a foot deep and he was already practicing his breaststroke.

For Morton, the pool serves two purposes — to cool off and to have friends over.

“I’m going to be the guy with the pool,” he said.

None of Morton’s friends have a pool, so his house will immediately become the place to be, he said.

“Once this thing is full,” Alexis said. “There’s going to be a bunch of kids from around the neighborhood wanting to swim.”

Carolyn Williams has a different idea for the pool. She sees it as a way to keep her grandson under her supervision.

“I want him where I can see him,” she said. “This way, he can have his friends over and they can all have a good time close to home.”

Williams said the boys were going over to the Riverbreeze Apartments to swim, but could not do that anymore because none of them were living there.

“They just want to swim somewhere. They don’t have anywhere,” she said.

Morton and his family have big hopes for the pool. They have a pool party planned for Aug. 8 as a birthday and back to school bash, but Morton is planning to use it much more than that.