MUD.
… And it was perpetually chilled in that room, like the morgue, come summer OR snow. We- Terry, Joe, and I -were exiled to it during mealtimes or if we had happened to be ‘too much’ that particular day. On one such day, Joe was not himself…
“COME DOWN TO THE LAKE.”, Joe said as Terry drew and I colored.
“COMMMME…”
“What..?” Terry said.
Joe gurgled a response, “COME ON, NOW. TIME’S TICKIN’...”
Terry and I looked down to the lake. The sun told us we still had time, but Joe WAS an adult, after all… He was our collective voice of reason.
Joe was Terry’s twin. No one had seen Joe in the flesh since ’52, since that day he took his last leisurely stroll around Sellers Lake. No one had seen him, no… Not as he had been, then, anyway; an adult mentality stifled within the confines of a child's mind, wrapped in soft, chocolate skin, a little smile curving around the innocent joy of catching that Blue Racer… A kid.
"PLATOONERS STICK TOGETHER…" Joe reminded us, a bubbling scream through water.
"... AND PLATOONERS GET THE JOB DONE, yes.. We're aware. But what's your point..?" asked Terry, his harsh tone a tactic to cover the fear etching down his scalp.. His spine.
I brought my little hands to my tearful eyes, sniffling. I could feel Terry's fear… … I COULD FEEL THAT JOE WAS PRESENT.
"DOWN TO THE LAKE." Joe said, but in two voices; his own wet, waterlogged tone overlaying Mother's always velvet, subdued one.
"Momma!!" I shrieked, pointing down to the lake.
A woman, stunning beyond belief, stood in a long, flowing dress, red lips like two flames burning a careful smile into her face despite being knee deep in freezing water. She was sinking slowly into the mud…
"WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, SHE CALLED." Joe said, simply.
Terry abruptly stood up. I, crying, followed suit. The sliding door to leave the room opened, a small child's handprint made of mud dripping down its glass…
In single file- in order -Terry, Joe, and I walked down to the lake that late afternoon on March 15th.. One, a boy, the other a specter of the boy he once WAS, and a little girl, lost, to honor their mother's call.
"COME TO UUUUSSS… " Mother urged, arms outstretched, hands blue and dripping.
Robotically, against all reason and with no fear, Terry and I were seen stepping ever-deeper into the frigid water of Sellers Lake from the living room window by our Grandparents; both of us with arms reaching for SOMEthing- SOMEONE -unseen.