He could just feel it in the air. The white sun was taking all his juice, draining him senseless from where he sat around the pool. The humidity was so stifling it gave him a dizzy head, the kind you get when you smoke too much in places without enough oxygen. He cursed the relentless heat, his miserable headache, and the general state of confusion in his life. Stripping out of his jeans, he raced across the bricks, their heat burning his feet, and plunged into the pool. Instead of cool refreshment, it was like a lukewarm bath. He quickly got out and dried himself off. Lying in the shade, he still couldn't stop sweating in the oppressive heat. Nor could he think sanely this morning. There was that trapped feeling again. But trapped by whom? Leonora? Lola? Ralph? Anne? Himself? He couldn't blame the heat entirely for the dullness in his head. First, there was that gnawing reality of last night spent with Anne.
