John Persons Pool Party -

The pool was supposed to be the solution. Two years ago, when John’s startup—a food delivery app called Nosh —was valued at forty million dollars, he had installed the pool as a symbol. Look , the pool said, I am liquid in every sense of the word . But then the venture capital dried up. Then the co-founders left. Then the lawsuits started—small ones at first, like mosquitoes, then larger ones, like wasps. The pool was now a monument to a future that had collapsed.

John said nothing. He was thinking about the letter that had arrived that morning, the one from the bank. The one with the word FORECLOSURE printed in red ink, as if the bank thought he might miss it. He had hidden the letter in the garage, inside a box of Christmas decorations that no one had opened since 2019. john persons pool party

At five o’clock, John found himself standing by the grill with Kevin, flipping burgers that the caterers had already prepared. Kevin was talking about his boat. The pool was supposed to be the solution

“Like the pool.”

He took a breath.