Summary

First-person, present-tense narration reveals the discomfort of a woman in a yoga class with the presence of a class beginner, an overweight black woman who does not seem to know how to dress. The instructor has to tell the narrator to relax her face.

The narration then shifts into past tense as the narrator describes her childhood in Northern California, and reveals that she is the Fatima from “Belles Lettres”. She describes how difficult it was for her when she was growing up – specifically, how a combination of factors, including stress, led her to developing a condition in which she sweated constantly, thus earning the nickname “Sweatima”, given to her by Christinia.

The narration then shifts back and forth between past and present as the adult Fatima moves through her yoga class, all the while self-consciously making sure she does...