<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Lake Ralphine</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Summer 2020</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">A gaggle of grey geese are lined up along</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the eastern shore of Lake Ralphine.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">One flaps her wings, joined</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">by another and another.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Now a dozen take off in low flight, soon</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">landing in the middle of a raft of unperturbed</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">ducks afloat on the shimmering water.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The late sun has colored the small lake in</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">warm shades of yellow and orange.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">From the shore the remaining </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">geese are watching intently. A few</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">wings make suggestive fluttering</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">movements. But no second</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">team takes off in formation. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">One by two by three by tens now</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">paddle their way toward the center of</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the lake and join the party. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I don't know what determines —in the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">moment — this choice of paddling or soaring.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Or, why the singular white goose (or is it</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">gander?) sits in the light of the setting sun,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">peacefully but alone. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Harmony reigns among the waterfowl at</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Lake Ralphine this warm July evening. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">A sudden interruption of loud honking signals a</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">flyover high in the mellow summer air, as if to</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">complete this spacious moment in my life, a life on</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">which the sun is also setting.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">It has taken more than seven decades</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">for my body to arrive — here.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Winnie Gravendaal Piccolo</div></div></body></html>