Carolyn Coit Dancy

Almost Paradise

Our family of six piled into grandpa's Studebaker and headed to the northern-most town in New Hampshire. Two days later, we stock up with supplies at Pittsburg’s general store and pick up keys for a lakefront cabin. Another ten miles by dirt road and finally Back Lake. A cast-iron stove dominates the kitchen. By the soapstone sink, a hand-pump draws clear, cold water from the lake. Bare bulbs dangle from long cords; the only modern convenience, an old refrigerator. Even so, this water’s edge cabin on a remote lake seems idyllic. But we have to agree with Dad, “There’s not a comfortable chair in the whole place.”

daybreak
beneath a mackerel sky
the splash of oars