COLD OCEAN WATER, clear, so clean I can see the sand and pebbles through the waves. I wade in in all of my clothes, a black, button-down shirt, khakis, belt, they say it will keep you warmer and the other swimmers swear by it. Lea’s father up in town keeps promising he’ll find me a good job, a steady job, something in tech. He sits on his stool at his favorite coffeehouse and makes these kinds of promises. But now I am in the water, floating around in my clothes.
Later, Brynhild arrives and descends the wooden steps that lead down to the ocean beach. Platforms of steps built into the dunes and cliffs. Brynhild’s wearing her blue bathing suit and looking like an Estonian incarnation of Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative British MP, who is also famous for filling out bathing suits and is leader of the House of Commons. Step by step, Brynhild descends, ocean wind in her hair. I’m terrified to see her but just keep swimming.
north! 