Sunscreen Optional - Part 3: Float Night
“Dave,” she said. “Are you with me?” He was not. Unchlorinated water occupied his mind, currently dripping from the ceiling in the cramped manager’s office. This was a semi-regular occurrence, as in: whenever the tenant who lived in the second-story apartment above the pool’s front office flushed his toilet, water dripped onto Dave’s desk.
Sunscreen Optional - Part 2: Still Here
“It’s gonna pass,” Sarah told him. Aiden stared at the weather app on his phone. “Says rain until ten.” “It’ll pass.” “Wanna bet?” “Sure.” She swiveled in her chair, elbow propped on the front desk. Aiden wondered how it was possible to be so casually beautiful. Maybe scientists were studying it right now.
Introducing SUNSCREEN OPTIONAL
Last summer, my wife started working at our town’s public pool in order to escape the chaotic house (but mainly to get our family a free membership). By the end of her first week, it was clear that the goings-on there—the absurd comedy of member behavior in a service industry, the employee inside jokes, the tireless manager’s constant fear of baby pool defecation—would constitute a show to rival Parks and Rec. Here is part one: Hoagiefest.
