The drive is long
just like it always is but it doesn’t bother me. For me it’s a time to unwind
and remember. Remember the memories that I have created in the lake house I
just left. Remember the sights, the smells, the joy and laughter and the hard
times too. This drive home is my safe a place to lock away the memories before
I leave, not knowing if I will come back again. It’s the time for me to pull
out my key and open the safe.
***
“Wake up its time
we’re here.” Calls my mother from the front seat. My sister and I shuffle in
the back lazily opening our eyes. Immediately my heart fills with joy as I see
my grandparent’s beloved lake house. The small two story building made of wood
and brick with a pointed roof, the window sill’s frail and the paint coming off
near the ends, brings back all the memories and joy from ties before. I jump
out of the car my feet landing in the soft grass and sand mixture below. I walk
around the car carefully watching out for the aunt hills that spot the ground
like a chocolate chip cookie. We pull out our suitcases and pull them along
until we hit the small wooded deck. My grandma rushes out of the house to great
us helping us put our bags in the house. Quickly I run up the narrow steps to
the top floor being careful not to bump one of the many pictures that line the
wall. I turn the corner quickly and throw my bag on to the small futon bed.
“It’s mine.” I
yell down the stair to my little sister who shoots me a look. I laugh at her
and crawl to the end of the bed where a rail meets the sofa. I carefully peak
over looking down on the living room below. My mother sits on one of the
couches resting her feet.
“Honey be careful
up there we don’t want you to slip through!” she yells up to me and I nod.
“Here put this
pillow in the crack,” says my dad from behind me tossing me an old pillow. I
take it and stuff it in the crack.
“Can we go down to
the water now?” I ask him.
“Not tonight it’s
too late. We’ll go tomorrow.” I put at him but nod and unpack my suitcase
pulling out my PJ’s. I put them on and slip into the soft sheets of my bed.
“Come on hurry
up.” My sister yells at me from out side the bathroom.
“I’m hurrying girl.”
I yell back, pulling on the last strap of my bathing suit. I fling the door
open and rush out of the house with my sister. We run along the deck our feet
echoing on the wood. Descending the concrete stairs, we rush past the hammock
tree and down the hill to the dock. My sister and I stop abruptly at the
invisible boundary line. “Daddy come
on.” Kate yells up to my dad who is descending the concrete steps painfully
slow.
“I’m coming did
you put on the sun screen?” both of us sigh in annoyance and go to grab the
bottle from the metal table on the dock. We help each other put it on and I
spit out a glob of the gross tasting substance that she accidently shoves in my
mouth. Finally, my dad reaches the dock and sits on one of the three lounge
chairs. Kate and I pull out our little chair to the edge of the dock and look
out on the lake.
Our dock area is
one of the only spots on the lake with a beach, something both of us have pride
in. The water laps the shore as a boat passes by avoiding one of the many
stumps that sticks up from the lake. Suddenly the bringing of a timer fills the
air and we jump into the water. I open my eyes under the murky water and
immediately find a shell.
A few hours pass
before our neighbors come out to play. Sally, Tom, Grant, and Elen run into the
water, Tom tackling me on the way. I laugh as I reach the surface and shove him
down. Eventually Grant and Thom disappear like they always do and we wait in
anticipation for them to appear and pull us under the water. As the minutes
tick along, agonizingly slow, I begin to wonder if they left. Suddenly, two
hands grab my ankle and I sink down below the water. I try not to gasp but fail
and taste the muddy fish water fill my mouth. When I reach the surface shouting
out the water, I hear Tom’s laughter. Glaring at him, I jump on to his back and
we begin to fight. The dinging of a bell fills the air and we all turn to my
house. My dad stands on the porch.
“Dinner is ready!”
he shouts and we spring from the water going our separate ways. Dad has made
ribs my favorite. I pile on a rack and go to sit on the deck. I brush off the aunts
crawling on my seat cushion and sit down. Papa Ed and Mimi come out to join us
and Papa Ed convinces me to join him in singing an old war song as we watch the
sun set over the lake. It colors the sky with a yellow orange glow hitting the
trees above my head shining rays down on us.
“It’s beautiful.”
My dad says from behind me. I nod.
“I wish I never
had to leave.”
***
The familiar
statue of Sam Huston speeds by and I smile sadly. Another year has come and
gone at the lake house. As my grandparents get older and our time with them
gets shorter. I will cherish these moments more and more because I will never
know if I will come back again.
