The Vanishing Lake

‘I’ll see you up at the lake,’ I said,

As she backed on out of the drive,

And that was when, if I’d only known

I would last see her alive.

But Sandy gave me a cheery wave

As she drove on up the hill,

If only I could have stopped her then

My wife would be with me still.

 

I had some errands to run, so I

Would go, the following day,

When she had settled us in, I’d go

To the cabin, ‘Come What May!’

We’d called it that, it was always May

That we dropped our tools and went,

Nothing would stop us, come what may

For that was what ‘Come What’ meant!

 

The cabin stood by a gorgeous lake

That reflected a pale blue sky,

Two miles long, and a half across

It was plenty, for her and I,

We’d row the skiff to the deepest part

Then lie, and we’d laze all day

Maybe we’d throw in a fishing line,

Or maybe just read, and play.

 

I didn’t arrive ‘til four o’clock

On the Friday afternoon,

Her car was there, parked under the trees

But the cabin was locked in gloom,

I scanned the lake for a sign of her

And then I began to frown,

The skiff was floating out in the lake,

But floating there upside-down!

 

My heart jumped into my mouth and I

Took off for the lakeside shop,

I knew that he had a motor boat

He was also a part-time cop,

I ran in there in a panic, said

‘My wife was out on the lake.’

I asked him if he had seen her, but

He just gave his head a shake.

 

We took his boat and we motored out

To look at the floating skiff,

I said, ‘It’s just a flat-bottomed boat,

So what could have made it tip?’

We cruised around and we searched for her

We searched ‘til the sun went down,

Then hooked the skiff and we towed it in

And turned it the right way round.

 

Her bonnet, lodged in a cross beam was

The one thing left of her,

We called in the river police, who dived

And made a most thorough search.

‘She’s nowhere down in the lake,’ they said,

‘Perhaps she ran away?

We’ll try again when the sun comes up

But can only give it a day.’

 

The cop said Sandy was not the first

Gone missing, out on the lake,

They’d never recovered a body yet

But the water had swallowed eight,

And every time from a boat, upturned,

When there wasn’t a cloud in the sky,

They’d simply vanished without a trace

And everyone wondered why.                                

 

I sat and cried for a week up there

In the cabin, ‘Come What May’,

For Sandy was the love of my life

In a quaint, old-fashioned way,

Then something snapped, and I took the skiff

When my mood was raw and black,

I rowed on out but I took with me

A precautionary baseball bat.

 

Something had tipped that wooden skiff,

Something was really wrong,

Could it have been a giant fish?

Whatever, it must have been strong.

I lay out there for an hour or two

With the bat clenched in my fist,

And then the surface bubbled and boiled

And a hand grabbed for my wrist.

 

A head came up with a mighty roar

It was green, and covered in weed,

I took a swing with the bat, and cracked

Its skull, it started to bleed,

But the blood was green, and the monster screamed

As I went on the attack,

I swung and slashed at the monster’s head

‘Til I heard the skull go ‘crack!’

 

The skiff was rocking, I kept my feet

And I stomped all over its hand,

Smashed its knuckles and heard it squeal

From a mouth that was full of sand,

The teeth, like razors were bared at me

And the bat got stuck in its throat,

I thrust it down with the baseball bat

And it sank, right under the boat.

 

You’ve never seen anyone row so fast

As I made it back to the shore,

I spent the night in the cabin awake

And I kept my eye on the door.

When I wandered out to the pale grey light

In the first full flush of dawn,

I looked on out where the lake had been

But the whole of the lake had gone!

 

There was just a muddy sediment there

Where the lake had been pale blue,

The cop came out and he scratched his head,

Said, ‘God! What happened to you?’

I looked on down in my horror, found

What the cop at first had seen,

The lake had gone with the monstrous one,

But the whole of my skin was green!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[David Scott]

I really enjoyed this read David! You gave your old bard's song a modern feel and gave the story classic feel with contemporary vagueness. The emotions rushed through the whole piece. The pulse naturally quickened as I read toward an ending that could mean so many different things... I'll never tell what the inspection revealed to me, but I know it will be unique to every reader.
Very fresh write! Brilliant!

[minisla]

Very strange twist at the end ... enjoyed the flow of it as the tale unfolded

[TL Boehm]

What a fascinating twist in this! Yes, I agree with the other reviewers - it leaves the reader with so many questions.

[Patricia B. Hepler]

Another "Gotcha!!" at the end :-)
Superb.
~pat

[Tate Morgan]

We have met the enemy and it is us .

[TPK Stories]

Very horrifying. Great tale! ;-)

[Marie]

He must have run into something really horrible out on that lake. Poor Sandy.

[Simphonia Hale]

I could not believe how much awe I am into right now! There's just so much in this poem aside from seeing your craft! So deep. Profound ending stanza! :')

[Tarry Franck]

I so agree with Veronica - I couldn't keep my eyes off this write. What a great journey such a gripping thrill.