It took a bit of doing, but eventually I jimmied the lid off with my pocketknife, to reveal a small waterlogged red book. I sat down and sifted thru the waterlogged pages, to see what, if anything, had been spared. Most had been lost, but some of the last few pages were still legible, so I began to reread words written in a past era. Feet and hearts racing, careful not trip on the rocks underfoot, we cut straight thru the trees, losing sight of the ranger's station and carefully avoiding the pavilion to the north, where the parents were schmoozing their colleagues and bosses, while a DJ was blaring C.W. McCall's Convoy , drowning out the screams and splashes of the kids swimming in the lake above. We skipped across the new wooden footbridge to the tree, and took turns boldly carving out each letter, our faces glowing with anticipation and excitement in the midday sun.
Lets go for a walk in the woods.
I know this groovy trail up along the creek past the lake. Wordlessly we headed up along the lake, past where a ranger was planting a couple of pine trees. We had to stop once to laugh, as some older kids who were horsing around accidentally tipped their canoe, splashing a sad, lonely-looking girl in a paisley sun dress who was staring into the water. I saw your big sister up the trail with my brother Allen. She's likely had another bummer.