summer

At 7:59 tonight we've drifted into Summer...

...She was out on the lake by herself, drifting and leaning back with a large white cross-stitched lake hat shading her light Garbo face with one leg kicked over the side, big toe dipping into coldness, and she was re-reading a favorite book. On the shore she could hear children laughing. Some were pleading with ice cream chins to venture out onto the lake as well.

She wasn’t alone really. She imagined Holden and Phoebe Caulfield adrift with her, astern and balancing the boat so it would never sway off course or tip over. Holden adored his sister. She held the book briefly against her heart, closed her almond eyes and thought of that wonderful phony-less relationship. But she didn’t think too hard. It wasn’t like Einstein’s Theory Of Relativity. Something easier on the noodle such as the Theory Of Relatives. She laughed quietly as she thought: “hey, that’s pretty good. Now who would come up with that?” Her mind glided as she made up the silliest names she could imagine. Dr. Herman C. Whalefish. Or Professor Percival R. Klingtonbird, Jr. Or how about Dr. Fritz J. Beakersniffter. "Yes", she laughed, Dr. BeakerSniffter’s Theory Of Relatives. She must remember to attend his lecture at the University. She promised herself she would not snore too loudly and upset the good Professor.

She opened her luminous eyes and went back to her beloved story. Peering up and over the edge of the well-worn book she noticed a puffy white cloud up in the sharp blue sky that resembled a blooming rose. She set the book gently down by her side, pushed her lake hat back a bit, raising an arm imagining she could touch a sulfur pedal....