
The bones of the trees around me are stark. Bare. Hardwoods free of their canopies, because there’s no more need for shade. What needed to be hidden is now gone. Passed on. Only the beech trees retain any leaves. The jagged oval shaped sheets clinging to the greying branches. So yellow. Yellow like the street signs warning there’s a bend in the road ahead. A change coming. Author note: This is a free read of 1,000 words available on Payhip. Sometimes a story comes out of nowhere. This is What a Cold Lake Looks Like, written in two hours while my mind worked faster than my fingers, definitely fits that mold. The title came first–a reaction to the way the lake (the one I’ve been coming to as a family retreat my entire life) looked as we turned the corner toward my grandfather’s house. It’s a short 1,000 words. I think that each reader will bring a different interpretation of the events hinted at. It’s meant to be that way. It’s not a romance, not sexual. Perhaps bittersweet. I’ll let you decide.
Author
