May, 1986
"No, no, that's not the answer," Michael muttered to himself as he struggled through a particularly difficult problem on his math homework. "Dumb, dumb Michael."
He was distracted by the sound of splashing outside and looked out the window. Lindsay was still down below, swimming furiously across the pool. She must have been out there for an hour. He set his pencil down and got up and went downstairs. He stepped outside and walked to the edge of the pool. The smell of chlorine mixed with the warm night air. He waited for her to reach the end and turn around.
"Oh, hi," she said when she saw him. She stopped and held onto the edge of the pool, breathing heavily. The orange glow of the porch light reflected on her wet skin and the water around her.
"Hi," he said. "How long have you been out here?"
"I don't know," she said breathlessly. "A while."
"Yeah. Don't you think that's enough for tonight?"
"Uh, no, I'm not done yet."
"Come on, Linds, it's unhealthy."
"It's swimming, it's not unhealthy," she laughed.
"It is when you do it for hours every night and don't eat anything!" he said in frustration. The smile slid from her face.
"I'm fine," she said stiffly. "Anything else?"
He stared at her, taken aback by her indifference. "Uh, no, I guess not," he said.
"Okay, then," she said, and dove back under the water and continued swimming across the pool. He stood there for a moment, but he didn't know what else he could do so he turned away and went back inside.
