Down at the Lake

Sitting down at the lakeshore watching my underground sprinkler system chik-chikking arcs of water out across my small patch of lawn is strangely satisfying for me.

Zen-like.

I particularly enjoy when the spray of two sprinklers swipe across each other.

We are working together down here.

I similarly enjoy finding a single ant and following it as far as I can before my stupid human size smooshes me hard against a wall or the ant’s path corners me amid impassible flourishes of juniper and sagebrush.

Having watched a half-dozen wake-boats slogging by—loaded down with obnoxious people—I have decided that women wearing long summer dresses are more alluring than women in bikinis.

Finally, I think I have a beer in the refrigerator down here.  That must be worth something.

—Mitchell Hegman