Alone on the Shield by Kirk Landers

Author:Kirk Landers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

By the time Pender got down to the lake, Annette had already launched both canoes and strapped them together in shallow water just offshore. Chaos sat in Annette’s canoe, tail wagging, tongue lolling, waiting.

“How did you do that?” he asked, impressed. Mostly he wondered how she did it so fast. He inspected her work in the dim light of the moon and the first stars.

Two poles, each about five feet long and as thick as a fist, lay across the canoes, one in front, the other in back. They were lashed to each canoe’s crossbeam supports with bungee cords, essentially converting the canoes into the twin hulls of a catamaran.

“It’s not very strong,” said Annette, “But it’ll get the job done for tonight.” She stepped into her canoe, carefully letting the water drip from each sandal before putting her foot in the boat. Pender did the same. There was something behind his seat. As he reached for it, Annette said, “That’s a poncho I carry for whatever. I thought it would make a good pillow for you if you want to lie in the canoe and look at stars.”

“Really?” said Pender.

“Well, it takes some agility. And you probably wouldn’t want to fall asleep in that position. But yeah, when you get that rare clear night out here, lying down in the middle of the lake and looking at the sky is like seeing creation. I never realized how many stars we had in the sky until I did that.”

“Billions,” said Pender as they paddled slowly out to deep water. “Maybe hundreds of billions. I read somewhere that astronomers say there are billions of galaxies, or maybe that was solar systems. Either way, it really blows the notion of an interactive god watching over us right out of the water.”

“Not for me,” said Annette. “When I see all those stars and think about all those galaxies and planets and all of that coming from one big bang that started everything, it makes me realize there is a greater power.”

Pender laughed softly. They had debated God in college. It was like old times.

“Okay,” he said, “but why would whoever touched off the big bang be hovering around churches and bedrooms on one stinking little planet to hear what each cosmic nit wants for Christmas or listen to someone beg for help to win a football game?”

“You’re such a cheerful son of a bitch, Pender,” said Annette. “Anyone ever tell you that?”

“Alas, yes. I don’t usually talk so much, though. It’s been close to a week since I talked to another person, so I kind of lost control of my mouth there. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I always loved your bullshit. It was one of the things I missed about you.”

“You missed me? When?”

Annette stopped paddling and turned to Pender, paused, put her hand on his wrist. “Let’s not get into that right now. Let’s take in the stars.” She squeezed his wrist affectionately.

They drifted like weightless leaves floating on water as serene as a baby’s lullaby.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.