Swimming Stairways

When I am swimming I pay attention to who is in the pool with me for safety, since there are no lifeguards. There are two yellow plastic staircases on opposite ends of the pool. They sit inside the water and reach the dry deck with two metal railings. There's a lady, a swimmer who loves to walk up and down the yellow stairs as part of her exercise when she's at the pool. The metal railings squeak as she grabs them and this catches my attention. I see her climbing the stairs. My brain says, "Oh, she's leaving. Oh, she's not. Oh, she's leaving. Oh, she's not." Then she swims across the pool and grabs the railing of the opposite staircase and then it squeaks. "Oh she's leaving. Oh, she's not." This goes on for an hour and all I can think of are the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge. I can't seem to disengage my instinct to pay attention. I am relieved when she's leaving for real.