Guilt had maintained its pinch on my sassier self.

Johanna Wheeler, The Chick Palace

By late afternoon,though the heat still hovered like the morning’s mist. Physically and mentally I’d been hither and yon and now, with the sun glinting off the water, a need to postpone idle chatter propelled me to the end of our dock.

I kicked off my flats and walked the weathered boards. In fact I turned around and retraced my steps to hear it again. The so-often accompanying smack of a canoe paddle or clink of turnbuckle and halyard against the Sunfish mast played in my memory. …I dragged the paddle from under the Old Towne, flipped the canoe and eased it along the roller.

…Guilt had maintained its pinch on my sassier self. I patted my empty pocket …and glanced over at the public beach by the lifeguard tower then tried to clear my head …. Angst befuddled everything.

When no Two Rock drawl called “Wait up, Sugar!” I paddled into the sparkling light splintering and bouncing off the water.

Angst befuddles everything

The Chick Palace

Three Dilemmas, Two Friends, One Deserted Tree House

during a simmering summer on Lake Allamucy