My mother inched the linen sheets back
trying not to wake dad
The cottages hardwood floors creaked under her weight
She moved on her tippy toes
bunions high in the air
A hush trailing behind her
Heavy eyes open
I see a mess of dark yellow locks over me
Shhhhhh
My sister Juliana in tow
Walking slowly, holding the screen door carefully
the kind that only slams
We scurry off as if leaving a crime scene
Towards the deck up the green scratchy stairs
Spiders, webs and flippers dwell underneath them ya know?
Overlooking Lake Winnipesauke
daunting and humongous it seems to my 5-year-old self
Deck lights dance and play in the dark water
didn’t they notice the hundreds of creepy crawlers gathering around them
trying to join in on the games
I hear feet hitting fast paced on the dock
My mom goes airborne her golden mess trying to keep up with her plummeting body
Juliana sequels with joy
But I worry, her brightness was engulfed by the dark
Yards away from her original point of entry
she emerges
Her arms indicating, she wants us to join
Juliana pjs and all cannonballs into the water
Crazy bitch
I nervously walk down the green steps as I clutch the railing
Past the secretive monster’s underneath
Onto the huge beach
I tentatively dip my toes in the water
Slowly inch by inch I enter
Dad’s huge t-shirt I always wore to bed
Blooming around me
Floating
It breathes like howa Jelly Fish swims
Mom sneaks up on me in the water and scoops me up going further from the safe beach into the unknown
She allows the water to hold us up
Floating
Our hairs leaving us going their own way while we stare up into the sky
The swirling of the dusty stars
“We don’t have these back home”
“The city shines brighter”
But the buildings that scrap the skies cannot compare
Juliana gets jealous
The attention is not split evenly
A splash from her and I swallow what seems like half the lake
We splash back unsettling the water
Waking up the poor fish
We scream and laugh
The cabin glows
Dad’s in his boxers walking up the deck
“It’s almost 1 o’clock in the morning Christine!”
Busted.