They said it wasn’t safe
They said it wasn’t safe The water in the lake was black, even on sunny days, and there were devils. They are different from fish: if the poison spreads, they can dive to the bottom and hide, or they can wrap their belongings in bits of cloth and seaweed, dig into the earth and move to a safer country. But on that day, they floated close to the surface, and Natasha and I floated above them on big logs. There must have been a sawmill nearby, because there was a hoard of logs just where the river entered the lake. We ferried the sun on our backs across the dark water. My dog’s head was like a seal’s; she panted and chewed on small fish. Natasha’s log drifted beside me, and we talked slowly the way you do in water. Our bellies were hidden by the warm logs, so to the devils we looked like tree creatures with splashing legs. They didn’t mind us. In June, they lure particles of light and gather them in old cans. I let go of the log and dove in, and their gossiping was...