Friday, August 17, 2012

loons

Swam in the local pond today.

Beach nearly deserted, hardly anyone there. On South Beach, just a dozen people. Just the way I like it.

I finished The Alchemist, found it insipid and uninspiring. Read Oprah magazine, I'm up to February 2012. The magazines pile up during the school year and I read them at the beach.

So I swam. The water was cold and smooth, the bottom sandy. Loons popped up to my left, about 20 feet away. I could see the white dots on the black feathers. Wished I had my glasses on. They looked at me, three of them. They dove, and I noted the splay of black tail feathers. I hung out in the water.

They popped up in front of me. We looked at each other. They dove, then popped up to my right. For about 20 minutes I swam with the loons. I swam gently. They popped up beside me. I looked at the people on the beach. They were all busy loading kayaks, adjusting suit straps, or changing position on their towels. No one  was looking at the loons. There they were again, to my left. Three of them. Loons.

Finally they popped up far away, back in the deep, headed to the far side of the pond. Goodbye, loons. I packed up. Goodbye pond, goodbye summer.