A sunny Saturday at Lagoa da Italianinha. Scorching heat.
Malu and her twin sister Wellia made a plan early on: "Let's go to the lagoon?"
Wellia brought her daughter, Alice. Braided hair and a unicorn floatie in hand.
The three of them arrived at the water's edge together. Same faces, different ways.
Wellia took off her sarong and stood in her bikini. Yellow with a floral print. The kind a mom wears when she still wants to catch some sun.
Alice took off running: "Auntie Malu, come on! The water's nice and warm!" Wearing a pink, sparkly swimsuit.
Then it was Malu's turn.
She looked at the lagoon, looked at her sister in the bikini, looked at her niece in the swimsuit... and stepped in.
Wearing a top and a hippie skirt. A long, patterned skirt swirling in the breeze. A cotton top with embroidery and fringe. Barefoot.
Wellia stopped at the water's edge. "Malu?! You're going in like that?"
Malu laughed and stepped into the water. Her skirt floated like a flower. "I am. A hippie goes in like a hippie."
Alice stood there watching. Then she laughed and shouted: "Auntie Malu turned into a skirt-wearing mermaid!"
Wellia and Alice swam. They dove, built sandcastles, and splashed water.
Malu didn't swim. She floated. Skirt spread out, arms open wide, letting the lagoon carry her. Her top turned sheer and clung to her, but she didn't care.
"That's how I feel the water," she said. "On my skin and on my clothes. With no rush to dry off."
People at the lagoon looked on. Some found it odd. Others thought it was beautiful. One lady even remarked: "She went in there to bless the lagoon."
Wellia swam over to her sister. "Tired of being different?" Malu splashed water on her. "Get tired? A real twin has to be different—otherwise, what’s the point of having two?"
Alice climbed onto Malu’s back. "Auntie, take me for a ride in your 'boat-skirt'."
And off Malu went, with Alice on her back, spinning around in the shallow water. Her skirt turned into a sail.
When it was time to leave, Wellia and Alice dried off in two minutes.
Malu stood there wringing out her skirt; her top was dripping wet. It took her three times as long.
"Was it worth it?" Wellia asked.
Malu looked at the lagoon, at her sister’s laughing daughter, and at the setting sun.
"It was. I didn't go in just to bathe. I went in to remember that you can be happy even with your clothes on."
In the car, Alice fell asleep in the back seat. Wellia was driving. Malu sat by the window, her skirt still damp.
Two twins. One in a bikini. The other, a hippie.
And a little girl in the middle who learned that the lagoon has room for every kind of outfit.
As long as there’s joy along with it.
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