Three Day Summer(35)

Cora laughs. “You know Gloria Steinem?”

“Sure,” I say, but leave it there. I don’t need to continue and tell her that it’s because there were a couple of months when Amanda would bring her up at least once a conversation.

I touch her arm. “That’s what the music is saying, Cora,” I say in all seriousness. “You can be anything you want to be. Anything at all.”

We pause and listen to the guitar sing. It’s clear as day to me; I hope she can hear it too. I think by the smile creeping across her face that she can.





chapter 39


Cora


At some point, someone hands us each a wrapped sandwich, telling us it’s what the military has dropped off. It’s been a long time since we ate, unless you count the handful of peanuts I saw Michael sneak at the hotel bar.

The sandwich is bologna on two pieces of white bread, with just a dab of mustard. Michael claims it’s one of the best meals he’s ever had. I’m starting to suspect he might be feeling that way about everything he’s eaten here, no matter what random thing it’s been. I wonder if the sound track has anything to do with it. Or the fact that he is half starved most of the time.

The girl who gives us the sandwiches tells us there’s some drinkable water on one side of the lake, and Michael suggests we go to it.

The girl says to look for the sign, and I laugh when I finally see it.

NO

SOAPING

SHITTING

PISSING

SWIMMING

ETC.

IN THE

DRINKING

WATER

(OR YOU MITE

COME DOWN

WITH THE SHITS)

TRY FURTHER

——>

“Lovely poem,” Michael says as he walks to the edge of the water and scoops some up with his hands.

“Very poignant,” I agree, and follow suit.

After he’s gotten his fill, I watch him go back to the sign and read it again thoughtfully.

“Come on,” he says mysteriously as he goes in the direction of the sign’s arrow.

We follow a dense tree line and then turn the corner where I know the lake expands out.

Only I’ve never seen the lake like this before, filled with splashing, writhing, bathing, laughing flesh. There are naked men, women, and children scattered in all parts of the water, washing off mud from their bodies and hair. There’s even a familiar-looking redheaded guy who is scrubbing a sheep. He passes his soap off to a father and son once he’s done.

“I think I could use a bath, actually,” I hear Michael say.

When I turn to him, he has already taken off his shirt and is unbuttoning his pants.

“Oh!” I exclaim, more breathlessly than I should, considering I work in a hospital. I turn away. Within moments, he’s in my sight line again, running into the lake, just miles of pale flesh stretched across his lanky body. This time, I can’t help but peek.

When he’s a few feet in, he immerses his whole body, head too, eventually coming back up with a grin.

“Come on, Cora!” he yells back to me. “It’s amazing in here.”

A beautiful naked girl hands him something and he nods in appreciation. She swims away and I squint at him before realizing she’s given him a bar of soap. He is now scrubbing himself vigorously with it.

He grins at me and yells out again. “Come on!”

“I can shower at home, Michael,” I yell back.

“Yes. You can,” he says simply, and then holds out the bar of soap in offering.

I stare at him and the smiling faces all around him. Of course I can shower at home. But when else will I ever have the opportunity to bathe in the middle of Filippini Pond with fifty other people my age all smiling and swaying to the live music that’s blasting from behind us?

I get an idea and scan the area behind me, quickly finding what I’m looking for. I walk over to a shirtless guy wearing countless love beads around his neck.

“Could you spare a hit?” I ask, pointing to the glass pipe in his hand.

“Of course,” he replies, and generously offers it to me.

Suddenly, I feel a little shy. “Um, could you show me how?” I may know the vernacular, especially after the past few days of hanging around in my tent, but I have never actually done this before. He smiles, but not really in a patronizing way. Taking his lighter, he puts a flame to one end of the pipe, then shows me how I have to hold my finger down on a small hole while I inhale. “Hold your breath for a few seconds before you exhale,” he instructs.

I do as he says. It burns my throat as the smoke fills up my mouth, and I cough it all back out almost immediately. He tells me to try one more time. “Breathe in a little slower,” he advises.

It stings a little less this time and I do manage to hold my breath for a few seconds before I let the smoke out. “Thank you,” I say with a small cough and a smile. I give the pipe back to him and make my way to the edge of the lake again.

And then, before I can talk myself out of it, I strip down to my bra and panties and jump in.





chapter 40


Michael


Is it possible to find a corner of a lake? That’s where Cora and I seem to be. I suppose that there must still be people around us, but when I reach over to touch her neck and pull her close, it’s like a magic trick. They all disappear. When we kiss again, there is nothing but me, her, and the water reflecting a cloudy sky and a sinking sun.