Sea Pelicans Balcony and Jellyfish 

I entered the water but had noticed other people did not. Yet there were no sign or verbal warnings about anything. The sea in a storm season had somehow riled and stirred everything and people were getting almost immediately stung by jellyfish upon entry. And I was next. 

I didn’t realize at first, just that my body ached and itched and I got right out and tried different things. Water cold. Pool water.  Air. Nothing worked. A doctor came and gave me some medicine, and we could see the line on the arm that extended far across the inner arm that was swollen. After a while I felt well, not in crisis. 

But the doctor came back and said she was worried because that medicine is supposed to be liquid not solid, that it had gotten old. I said not to worry, and she stood watching the sea eating an ice cream cone. 

At the night I sat on the balcony and read For Whom the Bell Tolls under a soft yellow electric lamp. A lizard, the small type, watched this from the stucco wall. This was in Puerto Morelos. I slept a bit and began reading again inside the morning. Beautiful pelicans that looked like dinosaur things flew. I stood and stretched. Things would be okay. I’d avoid the sea for a while, certainly. But things would be okay. There were passages from the novel written so well I had to just pause and stare at the sky, wondering how Hemingway had done that. Ya, things were well enough, having Hemingway and that balcony. Besides, they had a good pool on the grounds.