Pini, the playboy, the unchallenged “king” of the Gordon Pool. He travels daily from Lod and has been doing so for the past 50 years. He satisfies his libido with the women swimmers, 3 striding through the pool areas as if it were his personal kingdom, feeling special, sexy, and valuable. The pool is his home, a place to tell his stories (whether fictional or true): “When I was a kid, I snuck into the Gordon Pool, and in exchange for making older women happy in bed, and my corkscrew jumping (which I learned in my birthplace of Rabat, Morocco) I would be given some coins for food and bus fare.”
Jonathan and Roman, both professional swimmers and good friends, met at the pool. They are a bonding of opposites: Jonathan is Jewish, a real night owl, an extrovert, with a challenging manner and an aggressive physical presence. Roman is an Arab, modest, a gentler mirror image of his friend. The pool is their athletic challenge and the arena for releasing the tensions of the day. We encounter them at their peak, performing their “dance” on the stormiest day of the year.
Kneller is a successful literary agent. For him, the pool has been a therapeutic space since he was a young boy – a refuge for his soul, and his encounter with his “oxygen,” a substitute for psychologists and their drug prescriptions.
Kochav, a lovely divorcée, a femme fatale in her late 40s, relates to the pool as if it is her own personal ritual bath in which she asks God to grant her wishes, clears her mind, and is re-purified daily. Miriam is about 80 years old. She arrives from Ramat Gan at 5 a.m. on the first bus every even-numbered day. On the odd-numbered days, she prepares herself for the next day. Miriam’s rituals are feeding the local cats; changing her 4 bikinis while in the pool; and turning in the direction of the sun. Her rituals, over and above her swimming, is what fills up her life and her daily schedule.