Chapter 22
The fragrant aroma of the pinewoods flew through the open windows and I sat back, eyes closed, taking it all in. When I opened them I saw that Jack was talking glances at me, a smile on his face.
“This feels great”, I said, turning my head towards him.
I closed my eyes again.
“Something was worrying me today”, I said, and told Jack what had happened at work.
“You said that the polymer triggers the growth of unknown bacteria?”, he asked puzzled. “I would come to have a look if I could, but I think the regulations wouldn’t allow me to”, he continued.
I nodded. “We’ll keep monitoring the sample in the next days, and I will tell you what we see”, I said in a conclusive tone.
I didn’t really want to discuss the matter, but I had felt the urge to let Jack know. Now that I had I felt like a weight had been taken off me.
I hadn’t focused much on the landscape up to that moment, and when I did I realized that we were driving on an unfamiliar stretch of road.
“I thought we were going to the lake”, I said.
“We are”, Jack replied, “Just wait and see”.
After a few moments he pulled up in an area where the road broadened and Jack stopped the engine.
I arched my brows, smiling, “So?”, I asked.
“So, let’s go take a bath”, Jack replied with a sly grin.
I tilted me head, pouting, my sense of orientation completely off key at this point. Jack laughed and jumped down from the truck. I looked around hesitantly, till I noticed a thin trail making its way through the woods. We were opposite to the shore where I usually swam, and seeing the lake from another perspective filled me with the amazed happiness that the unfamiliar vision of familiar objects brings about: like the clouds from a plane, the sky flickering across the leaves of a tree, a grain viewed under the microscope.
“I didn’t know there was another road leading to the lake!”, I exclaimed, and rushed towards the water, removing my clothing and making a hasty ball of them.
The coolness of the lake felt good on my feet. I was about to splash Jack with water when I caught a pensive look crossing his face, a veil of sadness cloud his eyes and go, like the shadow of a plane in the summer sky.
Jack saw my frown and said “This is the first place where I came when I moved here”.
I stepped out of the water and took his hand.
“Come on”, I said, tugging him gently.
“Do you want to swim all the way to the other shore”, he asked.
It was a long swim and I hesitated, but Jack defied me, and so I began paddling fast, and raced besides him for a while then passed him, my muscles pushing and my blood throbbing, before I finally slowed down, out of breath. We were only halfway, so I turned on my back to rest to save some energy. Jack did the same, and we let ourselves float silently for a while, before slowly sliding through the water still separating us from the shore.
When we finally arrived I sat on the rocks, legs folded against my torso, my arms wrapped around them. I rest my head on my knees, smiling at Jack.
“Are you cold?”, he asked.
“Maybe just a tiny bit”, I said.
He stood for a while on a rock, staring at the lake, then said “I wanted to swim with you at the sunset since a long time”.
I looked at his slim, muscular back without answering, feeling peaceful. The scene felt familiar, as if I had been there before or always knew this would happen. Jack kneeled in front of me, and cupped my face in his hands. I saw his green eyes come close to mine, then felt the roughness of his unshaved beard brush my face, and his soft lips touch mine. We kissed and plunged into one another, losing track of time, and when the sun began melting in the sky we swam back, enveloped by the scattered reflections of its multicolored melancholy.