How long had I been laying in this pool? My entire span of vision was taken up by a perfect blue sky. The pool was so big that I never hit the walls, I just floated endlessly. The sun must have moved, but I hadn't noticed. My bathing suit was cute AF.
Caroline’s voice called out in the distance, and I heard her walking towards the pool. Caroline was technically a friend, but she was more like a butler to me. Caroline wasn’t from the neighborhood, and can you ever really be friends with someone with a low economic status? They will always be clawing at you for something. I had trained Caroline at least not to claw so obviously. I heard her stop at the edge of the pool. “I’ve made some fried pineapple for snack time and it’s going to get cold.”
“Caroline! I’m in the middle of this giant fucking pool! Honestly, what do you want from me?”
I heard her heels clacking against the cement, and without speaking a word or removing her heels, she stepped down the stairs of the pool, her blouse and pleated skirt floating in the water. I heard her moving slowly towards me, gracefully.
“Oh, Caroline, what would I do without you? And what would you do without me?” I opened my mouth framed by bright red lips, as if I was posing for a magazine spread. My eyes were closed as her shadow passed over my face. I smelled the sweetness and felt the warmth of the fried pineapple before it entered my mouth. “Ooofff, Divine!” I exclaimed and splashed some water on the upper half of Caroline that was still dry and in perfect makeup. Caroline looked annoyed by this, but she knew that I had Appreciation Aggression, it was a condition.
“I have a few questions about your homework assignment for tomorrow.” She pulled a notepad and pen from her breast pocket. “The writing question is: What do you want to be when you grow up? I thought you might want to comment before I write something up.”
“Ahhh, it’s cute how grown ups ask these questions. It’s always so easy for them to imagine that the world is going to last so much longer, because the world was so different when they were in second grade... a time so full of hope… well, please softly inform my teacher that I gave up on that dream when the climate refugees stormed my father’s vacation house in Cabo, just looking for something to eat. I’ve been sitting here, comfortably watching the world crumble around me as if it was a bad movie my entire life. My only plan is to run out my parent’s money for the next few years, maybe I will make it to fifth grade. Every year, I will watch as these Southern California fires edge their way towards our property, and when we all go up in flames I won’t be surprised, or angry, or sad, or feel anything at all. I went through my stages of grief at the last school shooting. And tell my teacher that I’m not angry at her for asking such an ignorant question, because she will assume that I am. I could give of flying fuck about how she seems the world.”
Caroline turned away to do my homework. I looked back up at the empty sky. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but I wasn’t going to be fooled by the upswings of life any longer.
©2020 by Shelsea Ochoa. All rights reserved.