Page 5 (1/2)

Atlantia Ally Condie 17440K 2023-09-01

Aldo’sto have to redo all the race brackets for this weekend now that she won’t be swi here for me?" I ask

"What would she leave?"

"A note," I say "Or so else I’ear with her We don’t have roo lanes themselves use most of the available space, and the spectator stands take up what’s left There is a small bank of rent-by-the-hour lockers pushed up near the here Aldo posts the brackets; we can keep our things there while we race

"Could there be anything in the lockers?" I ask

"No," Aldo says "I went through theht They were all empty"

He says it in a disinterested tone, and I believe that he tells the truth My heart sinks

So She didn’t leave anything here, either Aldo turns and walks away

The water slaps against the walls of the cement canals Steely thin bleachers rise up on either side, calling to an racing here after my mother’s death, and they turned a blind eye to it We needed the money The temple takes care of all of its students’ room and board, of course, but all our work there is considered consecrated and we receive no coin in return Alive them pocket money and pay for books and buy new clothes But the Minister also takes noOurher personal possessions e needed soh most of those items by the ti, how clearly she knew exactly what to do After I prorieved deeply, but she was back to her old self in other ways--calh

"They have races in the deep ones People bet on theh up until then Bay and I rarely watched theed it "But those people have been swi for years," I said

"We can learn fast," she said "It’s in our genes"

Bay and I both take after , while my mother was sht and kept on growing; she laughed that she had to look up to the two of us

My father was a racer, back when it was an approved sport and they had fancy sleek swi lanes erected in the plazas on weekends That’s howone of the races, and he ca and looked up and saw her In a crowd of people stirring and shouting there was one spot of stillness: my mother She stood up because that’s what everyone else was doing, but she kept on reading the book she’d brought with her That intrigued hi that she couldn’t even be bothered to watch the race? So he clio to one of the cafés with hi is what ," I protested

"They’ve never proven the link," Bay said

She sold one of od statue--and used the coin to buy each of us a training suit and practice time in the lanes

"I feel naked," I told Bay the day we first tried on the suits

"You shouldn’t," she said "These things are almost as modest as our temple robes We’re covered froh, which I hadn’t done often since ether, and the teacher shook his head "Aldo didn’t tell me you were so old," he said "It’s no use for me to teach you"