It’s summertime and Nora is speeding home from the Florissant, Missouri community swimming pool on her bike: a flash of classic red bathing suit, tanned, lithe limbs, a sheen of dark brown hair drying in the wind, and a blue beach towel fanning out behind her like a superhero.
She’s headed home to an apartment over an alterations business on Peachtree Street: cozy, with one bedroom for her mother and one for her, a shared bathroom, a living room, kitchenette, and balcony. She will spend the next few hours eating an apple while sprawled out on the couch reading, not even bothering to remove her swimsuit.
This lull in the middle of a hot July day would normally leave Nora feeling a little restless and empty, oppressed by an inescapable stretch of heat and boredom. But this summer was different. The last at home before leaving for college in Boston, Nora experienced random bursts of overflowing excitement enough to power her enjoyably through the day.***I've been digging through a lot of half-begun writing attempts from high school and college on my computer, pretty entertaining stuff. An apartment over a business on Peachtree Street is so something I would have fantasized about at 17.
