by Joe Solmo

               Jacob dragged the old aluminum canoe out of the bed of his rusty old Ford truck. The thing was as dinged up as he was, and every summer he came to the lake and spent a week in that canoe. The weathered, wooden bench seat had more hours used than some of his kitchen chairs.

               “How long has it been now Jessie?” he asked in his gruff voice. His beagle looked up at him, questionably. “Almost sixty years, I reckon,” he answered his own question as his gaze fell onto the scenic view. 

               His cabin wasn’t much, it wasn’t even a lot of land, but that wasn’t what was important to Jacob. Location was key. His uncle, Greg had a cabin on the other side of the bay, hidden from his view by a bunch of pines, when he was just a boy, and that was why he bought this dump. That fishing trip back then changed his life forever, in more ways than one.

               His uncle died that week he came to spend time with him. Fallen overboard while fishing. They never did recover the body, and blamed the accident on alcohol, even though Jacob didn’t think he drank that much. He remembered his uncle falling over backwards, his work boots, worn from years of use, the last part of his uncle to disappear into the cold, dark water.

               If Jacob was being honest with himself, he would have to admit that his uncle drowning was the second most memorable thing to happen to him that day. The first, was the girl. It was the reason he returned year after year. About an hour before his uncle’s accident, he saw her swimming in the bay. She glided through the water like she was born there, her red hair flowed around her pale face. Jacob was only a young boy of eight when he saw her, but he couldn’t look away. She captivated him in a way that no girl, before or since ever could. 

               He remembered her friendly wave; a big smile crossed her face. The way the fading light reflected on her wet skin. She was maybe eighteen or so, and so beautiful. That smile was so full of vibrant life.

               After the police took him home to his parent’s house, he ran away, back to the lake to find the girl. Her family must have a cabin on the water, he remembered thinking. He wandered the lakeside for two days before his parents found him, but he never saw that girl again. He remembered his father asking him why he came back here, but he didn’t want to tell him about the girl. It was almost like a pang of jealousy when he thought of someone else seeing her. When he didn’t speak up, his parents believed it was because he was searching for his uncle. He let them think that, but honestly, he didn’t even think about Uncle Greg when he came back to the lake less than twenty-four hours after he had drowned in front of him.

               He slid the canoe into the water, breaking up the reflection of the early summer sunset pastels painted by mother nature. Jesse leapt in, causing the small boat to rock. The old dog paid it no mind; he was used to it. He made his way to the front, where a small pet bed waited for him. Jacob put the fishing gear into the canoe and climbed in, getting ready to spend the night on the open water. It was a cool night, the trout should be rising for the evening hatch, he thought to himself looking at the small bugs that crashed into the water.

               With a gentle push off the sandy bottom with the wooden oar, Jacob began another season of searching. His old blue eyes scanned the surface for any ripple, it made him a better fisherman for sure, but not for the catch he was looking for.

               He did the math in his head, and once again thought about how unlikely it would be that the girl he saw back then would be alive and back at the lake now. Even though logic told him there was literally no chance, his heart wouldn’t listen.

               “She has to be in her eighties at this point,” he whispered and swung his nine-foot fiberglass flyrod, the colorful fly line sang as it shot out and into the fading light.  He aimed near where he saw some ripples a few seconds ago, and watched as his caddis fly landed softly from years of expertise. It only took a second for the dry fly to disappear under the surface, and Jacob tugged on the line to set the hook.

               He imagined the girl’s hand on the other end, playing with him, toying with his emotions. That vibrant smile of hers having a hint of mischievous intent. He began to reel in and the image in his mind disappeared as he realized it was just another rainbow trout. One of thousands he has caught out of this lake.

               He pulled the fish out of the water, using a rubber net and carefully took the hook out of the fish’s mouth, its barbless metal sliding out easily. Jacob looked the fish in the eye and whispered. “If you see a redhead around here, can you let her know where I am?” He slipped the trout back into the water and watched it dart away.

               “Nice catch, I would name him Tony,” came a voice from behind. Jacob nearly tipped the canoe over as he spun around. He blinked several times, and rubbed his eyes, damn near impaling one on the hook he still had in his right hand. It was her, he thought. How could it be? She didn’t look any older than that fateful night. Her red hair flowed around her as she treaded water next to the canoe.

               “It.It can’t be. You can’t be real,” Jacob said.

               “I can’t? Well no one told me,” she said, her voice the sound of angels. That familiar smile raced across her face, and he felt a warmth inside of him. The same warmth he felt that night.

               “You haven’t aged a day,” he said staring at her.

               She placed a hand on the side of the canoe and pulled herself up a little, placing her crossed arms on the edge of the canoe. Jacob shifted his weight to counterbalance as he noticed that he didn’t see any bathing suit straps on her shoulders.

               “Yet the boy I met has grown up. I may look the same on the outside, but on the inside, I have grown up too,” she said in a sultry voice. “What brings you back here?”

               “You. I have come here every summer since that night to find you.”

               “The night your uncle left you?” she asked with a sad expression on her face.

               “Yes. That was the night I first saw you. I was captivated. I bought a shithole cabin just to be closer to you, even though as the years passed, I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Jacob explained. He put the rod down carefully in the canoe.

               “Well, you found me, was it worth it?” she asked.

               “Oh yes, I thought maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I spent most of my life trying to figure out if I was crazy or not.”

               “You might be crazy, but not because of this,” she smiled. “You uncle always said you had a sense of humor.”

               “You knew my uncle?” Jacob asked.

               “For many years. He lived with us,” she said and shook her head, her wet red hair slapping the side of the canoe. The sun was now behind the mountains, and the light was fading fast.

               “Which cabin is yours?” Jacob asked. “I practically knocked on every door looking for you.”

               “You want to come to my place?” she asked looking back across the lake.

               “Just a thought,” Jacob said.

               “You uncle loved my place. He was there for years,” she said and turned around.

               “He used to visit your folk’s cabin?” Jacob asked and looked at Jessie laying there sleeping. “Can my dog come too?”

               “The more the merrier,” she said and pushed off the canoe into the growing darkness. “Think you can keep up?” He heard her giggle and splash, just barely making out her pale skin in the fading light.

               Jacob grabbed the oar and started to paddle after her, frantic not to lose her again. He felt his heart racing, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the paddling, or from seeing the girl again. He wasn’t crazy, it was such a relief to him.

               “You still there?” he heard her call out from the darkness in front of him, he had lost sight of her at this point, but could hear her still splashing as she swam away. 

               “I am right behind you,” he yelled out, waking Jessie. “What’s your name?”

               Jacob heard her giggle from the darkness. “Thana,” she replied. “Now will you hurry up?”

               Jacob pushed harder with each stroke of the oar, he had no idea how fast his canoe was cutting through the dark, cold lake water but he knew he couldn’t keep this pace much longer. His lungs burned for oxygen and his gasps couldn’t take air in fast enough.

               “Almost there, now,” He heard her call out. She seemed so far away; he couldn’t let her get away again. He pushed harder and harder. Jessie whined as the canoe rocked back and forth from Jacob’s efforts.

               A fog began to creep in. Jacob first noticed it as Jessie started to disappear, it was only seconds before he couldn’t see the front of the canoe. Fog was common at night on the lake, so he didn’t think much of it, and just paddled as hard as he could. His shoulder’s burned with lactic acid as he pumped them harder than he ever had.

               “I can see the shore now, come on! We are almost there. Catch up slowpoke!” she called out with some playfulness in her voice. He pictured that smile and it helped him push through the pain, it would all be worth it when he spent the night with Thana. What kind of name was Thana? he wondered as he paddled even faster.

               With a jarring stop the canoe came into contact with something. Jacob was thrown forward and landed on Jessie’s bed, but Jessie wasn’t there. His neck hurt, he had landed wrong and couldn’t move, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He could feel it in his head and he couldn’t catch his breath. Where was Jessie, where was Thana?

               “Jacob, are you still there?” he heard her call out, but he didn’t have the breath to call out to her. Her voice sounded so far away; he was losing her. He tried to get up, but had no energy. It was like his body was weighted down. He felt cold all over.

               He thought he heard a splash somewhere far off, but his own heart beat was so loud he couldn’t be sure. He tried to raise his arm to wave to her, to signal to her to wait. He did manage to move it into his own view and saw that his sleeve was wet. Then he realized where the cold came from, his canoe was sinking into the water.

               A surge of adrenaline allowed him to get to his knees, he tried to crawl to shore, but there was no shore in sight. His canoe had hit a rock, almost completely submerged in the cold, dark lake water. He peered into the fog, but couldn’t make out anything other than the canoe sinking and the jagged rock.

               With the strength he had left, he tried to climb onto the rock, but it was slick with some kind of algae. He slid below the surface, much like his uncle did so many years ago. He felt the cold rush over his body until he was fully submerged. He looked up, and thought he saw the smile one more time, before the darkness took over him and he lost consciousness.

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