Moments later, Reshaleh contemplated, ice-still below the pool surface, the pink blush of a rose petal. Thick streams of sunlight penetrated the watery glass, illuminating microscopic filaments that sparkled in undulation of their watery goddess, their mermaid, whose olive skin glistened like fresh maple and whose black curls glinted plump-purple in the syrupy afternoon light. When the petal's papery thin edges gave into a sudden pucker, Reshaleh painfully regarded another creature's presence--a wriggle approached her from the pool's misty, moss-swirled depths, flattening flowering adolescent curiosity with its smooth, green body: a tadpole. Reshaleh tilted her head to better observe the strange animal as it thrust forward in a jagged line while her glossy curls hissed like snakes, escaping to the silver, sun-streamed surface.

I wasn't allowed to do this

(shh)