John Persons Pool Party [exclusive] -

This was unavoidable. The neighborhood was full of people who had bought their houses in 2015 for $400,000 and were now sitting on $1.2 million of borrowed equity. They spoke about interest rates the way sailors spoke about tides—with superstitious dread and the quiet certainty that the water would eventually rise to kill them all.

“Like what?”

He did not swim. He did not float. He walked to the deep end and stood there, chest-deep, and looked up at the sky. The stars were small and distant and utterly indifferent. john persons pool party

John Person stood in the water.

The filter pump hummed.

The stars turned slowly overhead.

Linda appeared at the edge of the pool with a tray of margaritas. She was wearing a white cover-up that she had bought specifically for this party, and she looked beautiful in the way that a museum piece looks beautiful—preserved, deliberate, slightly sad. She handed him a glass. This was unavoidable