Marc was in the bathhouse changing room. He spent almost 2 hours in the water prior, and God, it felt good. It was a grueling day at work and he really needed a pick-me-up. The hot water was just the ticket. He always was under the impression that sitting alone in the water would be boring and he will not be able to handle it, but he was proven wrong about a year ago, when he decided to give it a shot regardless of expectations. Turned out that he loves it and ever since then, he was hooked. Just being still in a silent, hot pool of water really managed to turn off his otherwise busy mind. Each bathhouse session was like a comfortable nap, and after it Marc was ready to tackle whatever. But today was especially hard, and he needed the extra time just to recharge.

 As he got dressed, he noticed a guy he never saw there before. Its not like the other was famous or particularly good looking. Marc was not really interested in any of these aspects. What really made this guy to stand out was his back-piece tattoo. It was a black and white, but otherwise photo realistic depiction of a sand castle. The full back, nothing but the sand castle. No sea in the background, or clouds. No small plastic buckets and shovels in the foreground or a playful little crab. It was just the sandcastle, done in the richest way possible. It was the best sandcastle Marc had ever seen. Not like he was into sandcastles in general, but still. He must have starred at it for some time because the other guy got somewhat uncomfortable.

 “Just so you know, I am not into guys” he said out loud. Marc needed a second to make the connection that the statement was aimed at him and a second more to realize why.

 “Uh, no, sorry. I didn’t meant it like that. Sorry. I wasn’t implying anything either, just got stuck on your…. sandcastle” replied Marc in a haste, hoping to high heaven that his words will not be mistaken for a euphemism.

 “Ah, that…” said the stranger, “should have guessed it really. I know that its unusual and all, but in a place like this its more likely to get hit on than one might think.”

 “No, no… its just the sandcastle, I swear. I don’t think I ever saw a better one than what you have got there.”

 “Oh… Thanks, I guess… my kid made it. The sandcastle I mean. The tattoo was done by some alien looking dude downtown. It had cost an arm and a leg. But it was worth it. This was the thing my kid was the most proud of, like ever. He even said it out loud after he finished it building.”

 “A sandcastle as the highest achievement? Isn’t that somewhat strange?”

 “Well, not if you are a 6 years old. He was run over by a car about a week later, so its not like he could carry on with the surpassing of achievements.”

 Upon hearing this, Marc has shrunk to half his size. His mind just froze and was unable to utter one more word in his own defense. He just shook his head uncontrollably and finished dressing up as fast as he could. Whatever energy he managed to conjure up after the 2 hours long bath session, it was gone. His only thought was to get out of there and fast. Outside was raining, a general shit weather, but he could not care less, he just wanted to lock the door behind him and to forget those two short sentences that he blurred out into the world. Needles to say, he had a horrible nights sleep, and was a general wreck for days to come.

 About 2 weeks after the unfortunate event, Marc had found himself in the waiting room of a dermatologist. Apparently, he managed to pick up some sort of fungus on that ill fated day. There was an old saying that bad things usually come in company of 3, or at least he had heard something of this likeness, sometime, somewhere. Normally, Marc would “walk” something like this off, but for whatever reason, this fungus became quite annoying. His regular doctor didn’t know what to make of it, so he referred Marc to a dermatologist for some expert advice.

 He has been waiting for over 40 minutes by now, but then again, the waiting room was full before his arrival. Who knew that dermatologist are in such high demand? Finally, the nurse calls his name and tells him that he can go in, the doctor will be there shortly. Marc enters the office and sits down on the chair in front of the doctors desk. Not 20 seconds go by and the doctor enter the office through the door behind Marc. Marc hears him, stands up and turns around to greet the doctor. Little did he know that the doctor is the same person as the guy with the sandcastle tattoo…