I go down with the two women as they walk to the water to cast the net in. I want no part of the fishing, but there is nowhere else to go. Wouldn’t be much help, anyway. All I can seem to do is swallow and shiver. I keep my eye open for a pool that might have clean water in it, though.

There’s another woman, lying in the water there. She’s wearing a mask, too, though she’s a stranger to the woman whose coat I’m wearing. I offer her a hand, since mine are free.

Beyond us, the water ripples against the current.