As the day drew to a close and the lake guests went their separate ways, Devon and Amber pulled themselves out of the water to rest lazily on the dock and watch the sun set. It wasn’t often they got to enjoy those quiet moments together as the lake grew busier and the responsibilities of their lives pulled them elsewhere, so they made sure to enjoy the sunsets they could. They knew life was too short to squander those fleeting moments.
It had been another magical day. They’d each saved a couple lives as they patrolled the water. Their assistance had been vital for the young and old alike. Sometimes all that was required was a push towards shore to get little legs back on solid ground. Sometimes it was a steadying hand or calming influence for tiring bodies. Sometimes it was giving someone a boost up from the depths when too much playing had sent them floundering below. Whatever the need, the couple were their to offer aid.
When not needed elsewhere, Devon and Amber were able to steal moments together to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the cooling kiss of the water, their touch, their companionship. Then duty would call and they would rush off again to help one of the visitors, one of the many thankless tasks of their daily lives. Sometimes the youngest ones would know enough to say thank you, but it was a rare occurrence and seemed to be getting even more scarce with each new sunrise.
From their perch on the dock, as they reflected on the day, their arms intertwined, their bodies leaning towards each other, they marveled at the stillness of the lake. So many people were playing, splashing, rowing, swimming, from sun up until the moments before it set into the horizon that the lake seemed normal only when it was choppy. It was easy to forget that calm was normal too.
That didn’t deter them from letting their fins dip into the water to create a few tiny ripples swirling away from them as they kissed. Then they slipped back into the water as the sun disappeared to rest up for the next day. The ripples in the water were the only evidence they had been there at all.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Since I was a bit late this week, and had already read a couple other responses, I wanted to do something a bit different. Hopefully, you didn’t catch on that they weren’t human until the very end. Anyway, this was my response to this week’s Once More with Feeling prompt provided moi.
What do you see when you look at the picture? Write it, link it, post it!
Awesome. nice touch putting them as Mermaids/man
Woot. Thanks.
No, I didn’t pick up on that until the end. Well done!
Woohoo! Thanks!
Very nice and magical.
Thank you.
Ah, young love. regardless of species.
Exactly. Love is love. Nothing else matters.
Even fish love. The love of fish. The love between fish. My love is like a red, red, herring. (With apologies to Robert Burns.)
You’re not going to believe this. The first thing I do when I come to a new post is to scroll down to see how long it is. Not just you. Anyone. Do I have the time? Can I pay the proper attention it deserves? I scrolled down to the bottom of this post and the first thing I read was, “Hopefully, you didn’t catch on that they weren’t human…” Boy, did THAT take the air out of it! Otherwise, a lovely, effective piece.
Hahahaha
Oh man. Okay, lesson learned. Put word counts near the top (or in the subject) so that you know what you are getting yourself into. No more stories spoiled!!
Don’t go through all that just to placate my neurosis! I guarantee I’m the only one who does that. I’m not bragging about it. I hate it!
Well, then knock it off!! 😉
I wasn’t going to do that, but I know some bloggers who do put the word counts in their subject… That always confused me, but I guess it makes some sense from this context.
You’re darn tootin’ it makes sense. Listen…if you have a 1,700 word post–and I’ve seen them–I need to know up-front. I don’t want to speed through it and miss the gist because I have to be somewhere in :15 minutes. I’m being respectful to the material.
Hey! My posts aren’t usually that long!
Okay, sometimes they are around 1,200. And I know there is at least on 2,000.
What can I say, sometimes I get wordy. 😛
And, no worries. That’s awesome that you make sure you can give the proper time to something before starting it rather than just diving in, getting halfway done, running out of time and clicking like to call it good enough.
I didn’t catch on until you said they weren’t. I was thinking about the pic at the top of post and when you mentioned fins, I was thinking of the kind humans use…lol Sneaky man you!
Do not underestimate the sneakiness. 😀
Apparently I must keep my eye/s on you!
That might be smart.
i think so!
You had me fooled til the word fins! Nice and sweet.
😀
A couple days of levity. Perhaps I’ll bring back the darker stuff tomorrow….
Didn’t see that coming… well played. And love the photo. Reminds me of summer, back when it actually existed.
You can have my winter… it’s basically a summer. Ugh. Wore shorts and t-shirts this weekend. Where is my winter?!?!
I think I may hate you.
I get that a lot, but most people smile while they say it, so I don’t mind.
No worries, I’m smiling. Also a bit tipsy.
Good times. Do you have enough to share?
Always.
Great.
What are we drinking?
Do you mind scotch?
Mind it? I damn near insist upon it.
Next time I’m out, I’ll bring short and a t-shirt… and a nice big bottle. We will share. But my rule is that once a bottle is started with a friend, it has to be emptied.
That is a fantastic rule. I’m game.
It can be painful at times… but always worth it.
The best games carry the threat of pain with them. If there are no consequences, then the excitement is missing.
Of course I’m kidding… just jealous. I just shovelled again, in preparation for the rains that are coming. Flooding guaranteed, so time to loosen up the catch basins.
Ew. That sounds like a lot of work… But, it keeps you young and full of life, right?
If you mean that it makes me hit the bottle hard, yeah.
That works. We all have our own definition of a full life.
Or a mostly empty life. Or everything in between I guess.
Well, of course. That’s how life works.
sweet whimsical ending to this romantic tale of tails )
😀
Not too bad of a life… get to help others, have each other, idealic setting…
Yep, not too bad at all.
I did not catch on they were not human until the end – I thought they were lifeguards until the very end. You said you didn’t mind if I corrected your boo-boos, so here comes Grammar Nazi: Last sentence, 2nd paragraph: “their” s/b “there”
Great catch, thanks! I’ll get it fixed when I get a minute.
Glad the twist didn’t hit you until the end. Was hoping to give them a lifeguard feel regardless.
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I kind of saw it coming but only because I remember once reading a story someone wrote about spring break and the girls on the beach, and it could have been from the POV of two boys or two older men or two sharks checking the girls out.
That sounds familiar, actually. I’m going to have to try and find that again…
I couldn’t remember if it was you or Rich of Brainsnorts who had written it. Bad me!
Probably Rich… I’m not sure I wrote it, just that I agreed it sounded familiar.
It’s difficult to remember who writes what when following so many who write fiction! I should try to write some more myself at some point.
Agreed, you should write more!
I’ll make an effort and plan my time, and probably remove some crappy apps off my tablet to reduce the procrastination options. That should help.
Hah, yeah, those pesky apps. I have the same problem.
My sister told me to download flappy birds. Fortunately I’m not very good, have only managed to score a 7 by sheer fluke, so I don’t play it so often. There’s a gem swap thing that I’m quite addicted to, and also coin dozer, both of which I should delete as they can cause me to lose hours!
I do that whole words with friends thing… and that’s about it. But, it is enough.
I dare not add that app. Nor half the apps my family have – but they’re all on iPads and I’m on an HP slate7 so I’m saved from some of them! The add the book of faces into the mix, and keeping up with some of the prolific writers on here and it’s bye-bye writing time!
I’d say stop reading so much so you can write some more… but, I can’t actually tell you to do that. 😉 It’s hard finding that compromise of time. I have the same problem.
I have it set so that certain blogs only email me once a week, rather than on every post. I’ve spent today catching up on the reading, but I have no idea if I’ll be able to keep on top of it. The thing that knocks me back is having to have retreat days (once a month) which mean no internet, and then the emails start to build up.
Twice a year I step away from techonology to spend a week in the mountains… and, yeah, the pile of emails when I get back is always more than a bit daunting.
Last time I managed to catch up was when I was on rest with my family. Fortunately they didn’t think me anti social for being online as they all were too. Maybe next time you go away, set it so you only get weekly emails from each blogger? Then again, you’d have to remember to change it back which is a total pain. At least with the WP app I can now rely on that for comment notifications, so I only get the ones addressed to me and not the comments made by others after I’ve commented on a post.
I don’t get that many emails from bloggers right now… I mostly just rely on my readers. But, I have several sites bookmarked that take me forever to get caught up on when I miss them for a couple days. And, I get a ton of emails from everything else I’m subscribed to. Yes, most of it is junk but there can be gems hidden in there too.
Am I one of the once a week ones? 😉
Not presently, but if you get any more prolific you may end up there.
More prolific? I already more than once a day on average? Some weeks it works out to twice a day… Yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever post more than that.