“Fat bodies float.

Or at least that’s what Ethan Gaines reassures himself as he dips a toe off the swim ladder into the shallow end of the YMCA pool. The clock above him reads 8:16 p.m. He pauses to watch the glare of the facility’s fluorescents dance upon the surface of the water, bouncing reflections of rippling light onto the pale blue walls. His breath catches in his throat. The scratchy nylon of his swim trunks has bunched uncomfortably between his meaty thighs, though he doesn’t dare extract it with the eyes of others upon him...”