It was a sunny day at my parent's house in Houston. S, R, J were all hanging out with me, and of course, X was there too. They all decide to go out for a cigarette. The magnificently lush backyard impresses them even though it's half the size it used to be. S has two dogs with her. I turn of them upside-down on his head, and his fur falls out in fire ant chunks. They walk ahead of me out the back door, so I grab my loose tobacco from upstairs to join them. I am left behind, in a way, so I pet the dog for a second. They smoke X's Marlboros as I try to roll a cigarette out of too-moist tobacco. It gets into my eye and I freak out a little, thinking it is some sort of mossy bug. All of us walk toward the little pond that used to be in the middle of the larger backyard, but had to be moved closer to the side to accommodate the yard's new size. The pond is perched on a small hill overlooking the side of the garage. A large cover of ice lays on the pond's surface, and frozen so solid that I when I lift it to slide my legs underneath, it's quite heavy. To the others, I feign effortlessness. With my feet in the empty pond, I smoke my cigarette with the others. The sun is shining and it's a mild day. A few minutes go by before I get up to walk back to the house. Passing by an enormous rectangular swimming pool with no borders, just earth and grass, it seems like a good idea to go for a swim, so I start slipping my top off. It occurs to me that there are others around and solitary skinny-dipping may not be the best idea right now, so I just dip my foot in. As I stand on its clear, blue brink, I consider the possible consequences of taking a swim, but the overwhelming feeling of getting lost in the water and drowning abates the desire. I become aware that the others might be watching me in my pensive state, so I goof around and pull my sweater off my shoulder, teasing to strip. My attention turns back to heading toward the house as I walk away from the group. Another pool appears on a sub-ground level and I am suddenly standing on a half-circle concrete balcony of Tuscan design overlooking the second pool. X is standing beside me as we watch the second pool's water start moving, generating force and momentum. The water of the lower pool builds into a massive tidal wave, which soars over our heads and into the first pool. The first pool receives the wave, its waters activated by the wave's throw, and the wave returns to the lower pool. So large a wave, it blocks the sun and creates a dark shadowy tunnel around us.
We don's see things as they are. We see them as we are. ~ Anais Nin
