Lake Girl

At both entrances to my neighborhood there are two big lakes. At the end of last summer I left for college and my trips home were mostly for holidays and the occasional weekend. This past semester as I pull into my neighborhood I drive past the lake I began to notice that there is a girl standing there listening to music. She stands on the corner by the bench and just stares at the lake and occasionally looks at the cars that pass. She’s probably in middle school or early high school, but come rain or shine; I can usually guarantee her to be out there when I drive by during the afternoons.

Now I am not the only person to notice this girl. My mom and my brother have also developed this weird fascination with this girl, coining her Lake Girl. Sometimes my brother will even declare when he gets home from school “Saw the girl by the lake on my way home” nonchalantly.

The other day I had fallen asleep watching T.V upstairs in my game room and I had left the doors open. So when my brother came home from school I woke up and just kind of laid there on the couch and I could hear my brother talking to my mom. All of a sudden I began to pay attention to what he was saying. Apparently when he drives by he always waves to the lake girl, and that day, she flagged him over. She asked if he had gotten a new truck and he said no. He asked her how she was doing and she said “good” and then a few cars were waiting behind him in the street so he had to leave.

I was shocked. My fascination with Lake Girl was suddenly renewed. I asked him questions about what their conversation entailed and “Why didn’t you ask her why she stands out by the lake all the time?!” he said he didn’t really think to and mostly because he didn’t have time.

I don’t know what it is but I like having something to daydream about. I like to have a routine, something that I can guarantee, no matter what, will always be there. Like the sound my fan makes at night or the way my mom’s car air conditioner smells when you first turn it on or how goldfish taste so much better after swimming. I don’t know what it is but Lake Girl has become one of those routines to me; I can count on her to be standing by the lake when I drive by. Maybe I should wave to her instead of watching her out of the corner of my eye when I drive by. Perhaps shed wave back.