9:35 pm Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!
I wrote this short story a few years ago about my relationship with Kaitlyn, and every once in a while I go back and tweak it. It's not great (yet), but in honor of her 17th birthday, I tweaked (again) and am posting it. Every year she gets older, I find it more and more fitting.
It was a Sunday afternoon at the old yellow lake house – perfect for a family gathering. The adults talked and sipped drinks on the shady deck, pausing only to smile down at the breathless children who interrupted them.
Someone shouted there were dolphins in the water, and everyone stopped laughing and talking to count them. First one leapt from the water, then five, and soon it was a game. Who could count them all? Dozens of dolphins shot into the air with a cackle of delight at the people who were so easily entertained.
The evergreens swiftly faded to palm trees and the rocky shore gave way to a sandy beach. The dark water was suddenly clear. We huddled at the edge of the deck, ooing and aahing and laughing at the wonder of it all.
Then my sister, fully clothed, jumped in to meet the dolphins. The adults shook their heads and returned to their games, and I watched as the girl swam as hard as she could to be with the dolphins that were getting away. As she swam, the water became dark again.
The lake full of dolphins was too deep for the girl. The water was suddenly deeper and darker; the weather turned colder. The girl’s eyes were wide with panic as she looked to the deck at the men whose backs were turned. And the women were not affected by the girl in the water, except to shiver and ask aloud if perhaps it had gotten colder.
But I saw her panic, if the others did not , and no sooner did I wonder if I should dive in to save her and risk drowning us both, than did my feet leave the deck, and I was lifted up, up above the deck, my arms spread wide. It was the most natural thing.
From above, I watched as she mimicked the way I was floating, and I smiled as she moved toward the dock next to the house. I bobbed in the air as she bobbed in the water, and with a final grin she moved out of my sight and behind the house. I found I could not turn around and worried I should follow her, but as I listened to the tinkling of glasses and the laughter that floated up from below, I knew she would reach the dock, so I let her go.
Happy Birthday, Cindy :-P
Love,
Tara
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