One

“The water was suspiciously turquoise in the twilight. The air smelled hot and sweet. Possibly someone was frying coconuts close by.” Ware whispered the words in a voice that no one could hear. His voice-overs were secret.

He patted the two bricks stacked next to him on the pool deck, scored on the morning’s ramble. Tomorrow, he’d bash them into chips to build the ramparts of his castle, but tonight he had another use for them.

At exactly seven fifty-eight, he snapped on his goggles and adjusted them just right. Eyes on the clock, he kicked off the seconds in the water.

Seven fifty-nine. He picked up the bricks, one in each hand. Then he slowly filled his lungs – he’d been practicing and could now hold his breath for over a minute – and slipped into the pool. The bricks seemed to double in weight, sinking him softly to the bottom.

He’d never been on the bottom before, thanks to a certain amount of padding that functioned as an internal flotation device. “Baby fat,” his mother called it. “It’ll turn into muscle.”

The past two weeks, witnessing his bathing-suited self every day, he’d realized his mother had omitted a crucial detail: how it would turn to muscle. Exercise was probably involved. He should probably start doing some.

But not right now. Right now, he couldn’t afford the oxygen – there were still about forty seconds before the big event.

He rolled onto his back and located the four huge date palms – each one anchoring a corner of the pool. Their chunky trunks staggered in the ripples like live beasts. A quick breeze spangled the water’s surface as though someone had tossed in diamonds.

Ware wished, as he always did when he saw something wonderful, that he could share it. You see that? Wow.

That, and what was coming next: The twinkle lights winding up the palm trunks were set to come on at exactly eight. Tonight he would see it from the bottom of the pool. Okay, the big event was not exactly a dazzling spectacle, but he’d discovered that everything looked more exotic from underwater. He’d have about fifteen seconds of air left to appreciate the effect.

Five seconds later, though – a surprise. The palm fronds began to flash red, as though in warning.

Ware understood right away: ambulance.