Sample Seven

The pool closed at nine. Anselm liked that hour best. The music stopped and the last children left. The water became flat and quiet.

Anselm was the lifeguard on the late shift. He walked along the edge and checked every lane. He picked up a towel and one blue sock. Then he saw something pale at the bottom of the shallow end.

He took the long net and reached down. The thing came up slowly. It was a small brown envelope, closed with tape. It was not soft. It was not wet. It was dry.

"That is strange," Anselm said.

He held the envelope up to the light. Something small and hard moved inside.

Piet came out of the cleaning room with his mop. Piet cleaned the building every night. He was tall and slow, and he never hurried.

"What did you catch?" Piet asked.

"An envelope from the bottom of the pool," said Anselm. "Look at it. It is completely dry."

Piet touched it with one finger. "There is tape on every side," he said. "And a plastic bag inside. Someone wanted it to stay dry."

On the front, someone wrote two words in blue pen. SAMPLE SEVEN. Under the words was a drawing of a planet with a ring.

Anselm loved science fiction. He read one space book every week. His heart beat fast.

"Piet, this is not normal," he said. "Someone left a sample here. Maybe it comes from another world."

Piet looked at him for a long time. "Maybe somebody dropped it," he said.

"No, think! Who writes Sample Seven? That means six more samples are out there."

"Or it is one very long game," said Piet.

They carried the envelope to the small office. They put it on the desk. Anselm did not want to open it yet. He found a pen and a notepad.

"A good detective starts with clues," he said. "We will not open it until we understand it."

"I want to go home at ten," said Piet. But he sat down.

"Clue one," said Anselm. He pointed at the writing. "Look at the letters."

The letters were big and round. None of the letters stood in a straight line.

"A child wrote this," said Piet. "Or a very bad alien."

Anselm wrote on his notepad. Clue one: a child, or a bad alien. He underlined the word alien twice.

"Clue two," he said. He turned the envelope over. In the corner was a number. It was a small black four with a circle around it.

"Four," said Piet. "Lane four?"

"What happens in lane four?"

"Swimming lessons for the little ones. Every Thursday at five."

"Today is Thursday," said Anselm slowly. He wrote it down. His hand shook a little.

Piet pulled the envelope toward himself. He looked at the tape. The tape was plain. But at the end there was a small sticker. It showed a green shark with a big smile.

Piet did not say anything. He went to his locker in the hall. He came back with his phone and looked at the screen. Then he closed his eyes.

"What is clue three?" Anselm asked.

"The shark," said Piet. "I know this shark. It is on our fridge. It is on our front door. It is on my lunch box."

"Why is it on your lunch box?"

"Because my daughter puts it everywhere." Piet held up the phone. "My wife sent six messages. I left my phone in the locker."

Anselm read the last message over his shoulder. "Did you find her envelope? She lost it at swimming. She will not sleep."

"Your daughter is the alien?" Anselm asked.

"My daughter is eight," said Piet. "She swims in lane four. At school this week, the teacher gave her a game. A visitor from space comes to Earth. The class must collect eight samples to show the visitor."

"What are the samples?"

"Sand. A leaf. A drop of lake water. She told me about it all week." Piet rubbed his forehead. "I did not listen well. I was tired."

Anselm looked at the envelope again. Now the planet with the ring looked like a child's drawing. Of course it did.

"Sample seven," he said.

"Let us open it," said Piet.

Anselm cut the tape with great care. Inside the envelope was a small plastic bag, the kind for sandwiches. Inside the bag was a folded note. Next to the note was a tiny white tooth.

Piet took out the note and read it aloud. "Sample seven. Baby tooth. It fell out on Monday. Please do not lose it. From Earth."

Anselm laughed so hard that he had to sit on the floor. Piet laughed too. The laugh was loud in the empty building.

"I thought it was a message from another world," said Anselm. He wiped his eyes.

"It is," said Piet. "From my daughter's world. It is almost the same thing."

"Why was it at the bottom of the pool?"

"She took it to show her friends. Then it fell out of her swim bag. She wraps everything in tape so it stays dry. She does that with all her treasures." Piet shook his head. "Her mother says she cried for an hour."

Anselm stood up and looked at the tooth. It was so small. It looked like a grain of rice.

"There is one more thing," Piet said. "She also wants it for the other visitor."

"Which other visitor?"

"The one who brings a coin for a tooth," said Piet.

Anselm smiled. He understood now. For her, the space game and the tooth game were one game. In her head, both visitors came at night.

He gave the envelope back to Piet. Piet closed it with new tape. He put it in his shirt pocket. He patted the pocket twice.

"Go home," said Anselm. "I will turn off the lights and lock the door."

"Thank you, Anselm. I owe you a coffee."

"You owe me a story. About your daughter and the alien."

Piet laughed again and left with his mop and his bucket. His steps went down the hall and then the door closed.

Anselm walked to the edge of the pool for the last time. He turned off the big lights one by one. The deep end was dark now. The water looked like black glass.

He stood there for a moment and listened. The pump hummed. Then, from somewhere under the surface, came one small sound.

Blup.