Back on the Lake

This morning I got up early, had my coffee, and walked out on the dock to look over my little lake. I say my lake even though it doesn't outright belong to me. I don't know if there is a term "editorial mine" like the editorial we. I love the quote by Mark Twain that goes something like: The only people who have license to use the editorial we are monarchs of nations, editors of newspapers, and a man with a tapeworm. Anyway, I couldn't wait to get out to survey my lake after being out of town for a few days. I must have stood there for close to an hour watching ripples on the water, the effect of a slight breeze on the trees, and the old osprey that lives somewhere out in our woods searching out his breakfast. He would fly high, almost out of sight, then swoop down to the glassy surface of the water. Often he would pull up like a plane on an aborted landing and circle again. Then success. He spotted a big one  and dropped his talons below the water deep enough to grab his meal (it happened so fast I could not identify what kind of fish it was.) The he was off to the tree limb where he often goes to eat. Sometimes when I am walking the property I find the biggest mess of fish parts left over from his dining. It is obvious he is unmarried. If I left a mess like that after my dinner Dorothy would have my hide. Anyway it's nice to be home again.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle