RED 2: A Trick of Mirrors [#Wattys2017]

8. An Unexpected Encounter

In other circumstances, Marisa wouldn't venture set foot there in such a state. Her self-preservation instinct ordered her to run to the cabin and only come out once she was presentable. But her attention burrowed in the large room, sweeping the buffet islands, leaping over the miniature compasses and anchors on the bar shelves. It then glided across the glass wall separating the main area from the patio with its tables under a white awning.

In the patio, Marisa's attention brusquely stalled at a blonde with long hair and an upturned nose sitting across a man with his face hidden by a column. As Marisa moved forward among the tables, she saw him stroke the woman's hand and recognized his watch—a sophisticated titanium model with a blue face that Marisa had purchased last Christmas and cost her an arm and a leg.

The five senses of the human being capture eleven million details per second. From those, only forty are processed by the brain in order to avoid an information overload. In Marisa's case, data was filtered in this manner: 1) man with a familiar watch; 2) mucus-green-eyed blonde wearing a jewelry collection and low-cut beige blouse, C-cup bra; 3) the shortest route to their table followed a transversal line.

In the delicate limbic system of Marisa's brain, nearly ninety billion neurons made one hundred trillion synapses. The left hemisphere identified the external stimuli and the right hemisphere interpreted them. The amygdala diagnosed the situation by retrieving memories from the hippocampus. The hypothalamus increased the heart rate, arterial pressure and breathing rate. The dopamine level in the body plummeted. The cortisol level exploded.

In short, Marisa was furious. She planted herself next to the table and poked the man's shoulder.

"Marco."

The nearly ninety billion neurons in his brain took a few seconds to process that data just coming from the external environment. Something damp on his back, the vigorous touch on his shoulder and a subtle smell of salt. Next, the sight of a woman that he knew and at the same time was totally out of line with the one embarking with him hours earlier: smeared makeup, messy hair and a blue towel cape over her wet dress.

Marco assessed her from top to bottom.

"What happened, Mari?"

"I have the same question for you. I was waiting at the pool and you didn't show up."

"The place was packed and I couldn't find you. I stumbled across my friend Eliana," he indicated the blonde, "and we came here for a cup of coffee."

"Ah."

"You're soaking wet. Be careful not to catch a cold in this air conditioning," advised Eliana.

Marisa scrutinized her. Marco had never mentioned that woman, and yet the two seemed intimate. Who was she? Her nails were impeccably pale and her wavy hair shone like a shampoo ad. Slender and tall, she must lose a few pounds after removing all the gold she carried around.

"What happened?" Marco repeated, frowning.

"A guy took me for a dance and we fell in the pool."

Marisa hardly paid attention to her own words, ashamed of her state before the irreproachably well-tended Eliana. She smelled Eliana's delicious jasmine fragrance and, in a lapse of insanity, almost asked her what perfume she was wearing.

Marco crossed his hands on the table and observed drily: "So the show was a blast."

She disdained the reproof in his tone and Eliana's polite smile.

"I'm going to change. See you later in the cabin?" she fumed.

"Okay."

"Enjoy the coffee. I hear the macchiato here is great."

Marisa trained one last glare at them and departed, leaving behind a trail of spatter and exacerbation.