Scene IV – Shakira and the Mini Pool

Now I was at home. Shakira’s voice was playing on the TV. Mom asked what it was, and Alex, my brother, replied: “It’s Shakira.” Without transition, I found myself in a water park. To my left, a dark sky-blue wall cast a shadow. Beside it, a long and narrow mini-pool stretched across the floor. People sat with their legs in the water while swimming from one end to the other. In the background, Shakira’s voice kept playing, as if there were a screen behind me. She was giving advice on what to do when you divorce a husband who’s “basically a piece of crap.”

As I passed a maid inside the pool, I heard Shakira say: “Don’t trust the maid.” The maid opened her mouth, offended. I kept swimming to the other end, about twenty meters away.