Mark's day

Mark swims the bay at St Kilda at six, the wind off the south-west, the flags on the lifesaving club pulled flat. The catch moves through the water and the arm follows and the shoulder clicks clean on the fourth stroke and does not separate. He drives to Apex and holds pads for Rob and a new fighter named Hannah, twenty-six, who has come back from a year off and is sharp but tentative on the back foot. Mark gives her three rounds of notes. At Lygon Street by four the receipt is on the fridge and the drawer is closed, and Mark opens the fridge for a beer and looks at the two objects, and the autumn list now has two dates on it, and Mark does not move either of them.