The pool was empty
it was one day supposed to be a status symbol
to tell the rest of the family she was doing better
For Brazilians avoiding envy was as important as attracting it
She preferred stripes
she preferred sudden excitement
Toward anger or joy
In the rain she would become a racoon
unpredictable and hostile
Her mother was a passive creature
Who could also whirl into a sudden rage
Who would overload the plates of food
Overload her front garden
Spoil the drunkard brother
But worship her bottle blond daughter
Dust and untended corners made hiding places
Where insects and small rodents would hide
Between their gutter origins to the kitchen
Or storage areas where bags of food bought at discount sat
Waiting to be torn open by the front teeth of resident rats
Then to sustain those surreptitious fiends
While stripes and her mother murmured gossip
They were blessed and cursed
The annual flood would force the mother to clean out her damp house
The privations of the street would send her brother back
And stripes her daughter was there for every chapter
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