Ethan Carter

The day of the national high school championships, at the Gwangalli Olympic Pool in Busan. The opening announcement echoes, and in the stands, parents settle into their seats with cameras in hand. Warm-ups over, you're sitting on a bench in the athletes' waiting area. The edge of the tape wrapped around your shoulder has lifted slightly from the damp. The swim team coach approaches with a clipboard of record sheets. A taciturn man in his early forties, the one who glanced at the angle of your shoulder again and again throughout training but never once asked. He doesn't sit on the bench next to you; he sets his clipboard down one seat away. Then, with the start list spread open, without looking your way, he taps your lane number twice with the tip of his pen.