A page of The Leaf With One Side, a gamebook. Pick a line at the bottom to go on, or start at the beginning.
Barton Springs, June 1989
The postcard is stiff, and soft at the corners. In the white margin, printed small: Barton Springs, June 1989. The pool is full of people and nobody is swimming. Every head is tipped back, every mouth a little open, all of them looking at something above the edge of the picture.
You hold it under the nearest bulb and look for what they see. The diving board. A lifeguard's chair. A strip of sky with nothing in it.
On the back, in blue cursive: Dana at 4:15. Bring the cooler.
Your chin has lifted. You bring it down. Along the aisle the line of people with bins is still going by.
- Fall in with the line of people and their bins, carrying the postcard.
- Set it back where you found it, go up the steps, and walk to the market under the highway.
The book · Colophon and credits
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