There's a pool of sweat in my belly button hollow. It's coming from an invisible well between my breasts. It pushes its way up and out of my skin and runs steadily downward to the pool. I trace the stream with my eraser tip and watch my hairs straighten. Fat drops of sweat begin to run fast down my neck, across the well cave, into the river and down to the pool. I feel them forming at my temples and under my arms and behind my knees. The heat forces me to take shallow breaths.

Why did he send me flowers? Those flowers annoy me. They say, "reciprocate. reciprocate."

My son is quiet and good swimming in circles in Aunt Louanda's pool. Aunt Louanda's pool is full of light blue beautiful water so soft you feel you are swimming in yourself. I can't tell where my skin ends and the water begins.

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Other works by Laura Goldman