Things begin to change for the swimmers when a small crack appears on the pool floor. It doesn’t grow or change for several days, yet its outsized influence on the pool patrons sets the tone for the crack’s symbolic relevance in the story. Some swimmers avoid the crack or refuse to acknowledge it, while others gawk at it. Their conjectures about the crack’s implications range from carefree dismissal to predictions of catastrophe. Anxiety permeates the group’s psyche. Nobody is daring enough to dive to the bottom of the pool to inspect the crack. The questions the swimmers ask themselves and each other about it reflect existential questions about life: “Is the crack brief or enduring? Banal or profound? […] Why us?” (38).

According to the pool’s Aquatics Director, experts are looking into the matter. No water is leaking from the pool, and the foundation beneath them remains sound. The swimmers attempt to figure out who saw the crack first, but nobody remembers being the first to notice it. The swimmers go about their lives aboveground, but something feels off. They’re distracted by thoughts of the crack and what it means.