Clinging to the Edge

Karen’s knuckles turned white against the bullnose coping.

Chlorinated water poured from her ears and nose in thin streams. The stiff helmet of hair she had sprayed that morning lay collapsed against her skull like soaked straw. Dark mascara ran down both cheeks in crooked tracks, pooling in the creases around her mouth. She kicked her legs beneath the blue surface, fighting the heavy drag of her saturated clothes.

“You assaulted me,” Karen gasped, spitting pool water across the flagstones. “You struck an elected board officer.”

Alicia stood two feet back from the wet line, her weight centered. Her bare feet remained flat on the dry stone, untouched by the sloshing edge. She did not offer a hand. She did not reach for the skimmer pole resting against the cedar fence.

“Get me out,” Karen choked, her floral blouse ballooning around her chest like a torn parachute. “Pull me out right now.”

Alicia looked down at her. “The shallow steps are twenty feet to your left.”

“You are going to jail.” Karen’s fingers slipped on the wet sealant before she clawed back onto the stone with a dull slap. “I have patrol on speed dial. I will take every cent of your equity.”

Water slopped over the flagstones with every kick of Karen’s soaked slip-ons. The damp violation notices on the patio tore apart as the puddle expanded, printed bylaws dissolving into gray pulp.

A heavy silence settled over the yard, broken only by the hum of the pool filter. The midday sun beat down on the flagstones, baking the rim of spilled chlorine into chalky white rings.

Alicia kept her voice level, refusing to match the pitch.

“You forced a locked gate,” Alicia said. “You committed battery on private ground.”

“I have right of entry!” Karen shrieked, water spraying from her lips. Her voice cracked into a jagged whistle. “I decide who stays. You’re nobody here.”

Alicia took one measured step forward, stopping just short of the puddle. She looked straight down into Karen’s bloodshot eyes.

“Keep screaming, Karen,” Alicia said. “When you learn who I am, you will wish you stayed under.”