backstroke

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The hotel I was staying at consisted of four rooms that were located on the top floor of a gym. I walked past the weight room and the exercise rooms every day, but I never went in. I didn’t want to lift any weights or do aerobics or take part in a karate class.

Here’s the thing, though:

There was also a pool:

It reminded me of the night I had spent in an upscale hotel in Iran a few months earlier, and also of another night I had spent in a hotel with a pool in China more than ten years ago. So today I went down from my room and into the warm water:

And I swam around for a little while, feeling the weightlessness, enjoying the soft sounds.