Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Lake



Down the hill she walked, a short descent that had little indentations in the soil where streams of water from last week’s rain had carved a narrow path. She walked carefully, gripping her camera with both hands, moving slower that usual.
She didn’t want to put the camera in her bag, she knew she would need it in another minute, but she didn’t want to fall and drop it again like she had a couple years ago, so she took little tiny steps and watched for little pebbles on the ground. 
The bottom of the hill was level and covered in short, tender blades of green grass. There was the aroma of Indian food coming from somewhere near by, but she could not place it. She looked around for a tree with little berries or a small, pungent shrub, though there was nothing immediately obvious. The scent of spices was carried by the breeze and meandered over the dirt path and over the cement bridge not too far ahead.
As she approached the pedestrian bridge, which hung over nearly still lake water, she noticed the garbage can under the canopy of a tree. It was piled high, almost exploding with debris and plastic bags.  
On the bridge was a middle aged black man. He stood looking over the bridge, a fishing pole at his feet was balanced against the cement waist high wall. 
A younger man, perhaps his son, walked towards him in knee-high black rubber boots that squeaked with each step. Another fishing pole was balanced against the low bridge wall, twenty feet from the first one she had seen. She noted that they seemed content to let the lines hang by themselves, perhaps the size of any expectant fish was too small to requite constant vigilance.
The bridge was flanked by thin reeds and green grasses which rose from the water triumphantly. 
The men talked. She tried to snap a few photos of them.
As she stood with her glass eye open to their encounter, the older man turned towards her, sensing her attention over his shoulders and face. She could see the white of his teeth and then realized it was a smile coming at her from a distance. Her mouth widened as well. She kept looking through the glass eye as he turned back to the younger man and went back to fishing. 

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