02.52

Campo dei Fiori was flooded. In the distance, children were playing into the warm water. A blue fish, a school of fish, a few steps from Julia. She put one foot on the pavement, holding her breath while the water filled her shoe, then the other and advanced in the Campo dragging her feet in the water. The sun lit up the yellow façades, the open and closed windows smiled. People inside the windows, were sitting, talking, eating, cleaning, dancing, standing on a ladder, reading, looking out the window at the flooded city. Julia walked faster, splashing water at each step, pulling her feet from the water and pushing them fast, slowing down when the pavement became slippery, then picking up speed again. The canals had disappeared, bridges were arches out of the water and in again on the same inundated island.