Pictured Short Stories, #2

Svetlana’s secret was out: she had been a lazy sunbather, skipping afternoon practices not to study, as she had claimed, but to join the Americans at the hotel pool. Her mother sat behind her at the trials, stopwatch in hand, both well aware of the nasty fight ahead. If Svetty didn’t place at least third she’d have to go back to the little town of Rudinska where a diet of blinis, caviar, and borscht would stretch those tan lines to their limit.