Welcome to Envy Park

Matilda

It took an hour for the fire drill to wind down, but I learned my lesson for the day. I had to get moving again. So after a quick brunch that consisted of salad greens and a soggy tomato, I headed over to the Tower 3 pool on the fourth floor.

It was before noon and no one else wanted to be at the outdoor pool with the sun so high. So it was just me and the Fabulous Matilda.

Matilda from the fifteenth floor spent a lot of time by the pool, but never in the water. She instead acted like she was sunning herself, except her skin was actually quite pale, because she would pull a lounge chair into the narrow shaded area by the pool and stay there. She was in a gold bikini that day, when I met her, but apparently she had more than a dozen different types and wore a different one every day. So it was like my sweat pants thing, but with less fabric. And better abs.

I didn't think she'd be the type who would be friendly, but then again I shouldn't have been surprised. Roxie was the same way, and I seemed to be a magnet for female friends who had a bit of an edge to them. Matilda was gorgeous and it looked like she spent a lot of money to maintain it. Not the kind of friend I met at school, at work, or anywhere, but NV Park was the place to start I guess.

She'd been living there for three weeks too and was itching to talk to somebody, anybody. Lying on her stomach, she lifted her sunglasses and peered at me as I waded into the shallow end of the pool.

"I have a halter style suit that'll look great on you," she said.

"I don't think we're the same size," I replied.

"It'll fit you," Matilda insisted. "I know what I'm talking about."

She watched me, humored me maybe, as I swam several laps and tried to be all athletic about it. I gave up after fifteen minutes, and instead pulled another chair into the shade next to her.

"I'm here every day, at this time," she explained, "Too hot for the kids and the nannies."

"Do you have a job?" I asked.

"I work from home," was her answer.

What exactly could that job have been, when she was hanging out at the pool in the middle of the day? That I wanted to know. So I asked.

"I bake. Or sometimes I make candles, or soap," she said. That didn't sound like real work, not the way I defined it. Which made me want to know more about her, but she instead kept asking me questions.

"I'm surprised you didn't stay there," she said, about my recent move, pausing to rub baby oil on a flawless left leg.

"Singapore? It wasn't for me."

"Five years isn't long enough to decide that. And you're what, twenty-five?"

"Twenty-seven, but thanks."

"You're my age. We don't know anything. Can you go back if you can't find a job here? Because I know people, I can ask around if they know any jobs."

The sun was touching the very tips of my toes, and I busied myself with wriggling them. "Thanks, but I'm going to try somewhere else I think."

She rolled to face me and took off her sunglasses. I wouldn't have guessed she was my age; her face carried the signs of plastic perfection, which I associated with middle-aged women. Still, she looked like a doll, and would probably be frozen in this ageless form for as long as her doctor could manage it. Her forehead barely moved, but I could see her judgment. "Did something happen there? Did they kick you out of the country?"

"Of course not."

"Just asking. I won't be able to help you if you don't tell me the dirt about that."

"I'm not planning to stay in Manila that long anyway. But I don't think the next move will be back to Singapore."

"Up to you." She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. "Is it a guy? Is that why you're hanging around? If you want to hook up with anyone I know someone on the eighth floor who'd be willing. What's your type?"

"I like...I don't know. Smart guys."

"That's funny. You don't really mean that. Maybe Ethan from the ninth floor is smart, he's in IT consulting or whatever. But he's good in bed. Great kisser."

I coughed, or maybe just in my mind. "How do you know that?"

Matilda stretched a flawless arm over her head. "It's the quiet ones. They've never disappointed me."