The lake mirrored the sky and the pines that studded the surrounding hills. The melancholy cry of a mourning dove echoed across the water to their rowboat.
Once, Lester would have remarked on the beautiful surroundings, the songs of the birds. Now he sat bundled in a blanket, his gaze on her unblinking.
“I wish you hadn’t, sweetheart,” she said, breaking her promise to herself. She swore she wasn’t going to keep bringing up the moment her perfect marriage collapsed. Let go and move on, she kept telling herself. You aren’t the first woman with an unfaithful husband. Get past it.
“You proposed to me on this lake, sweetheart, remember?”
His cold stare unnerved her.
“I’ll always love you Lester,” she said.
Leaning forward, she kissed his forehead, then with a twist of her wrists, toppled him over the side.
She had weighted him well before she wrapped and tied the blanket around him. Getting him into the pickup had been a little tricky but she managed. Unloading him hadn’t been difficult at all. She simply backed the pickup to the water where the rowboat waited.
The lake was bottomless.
Now he and his girlfriend could spend eternity together.
THE END
* * *
Judith Kelly Quaempts lives and writes in rural eastern Oregon. Her short stories, poetry, and poetry reviews appear in several online journals, most recently Corner Club Press.
Lovely piece, Judith. You had me fooled, in a fun way.
Lovely piece, Judith. You had me fooled, in a fun way
Great story! Nice prose as smooth as the surface of a mountain lake that conceals nasty things in its depths. The reminiscence about their proposal met by his cold stare pushes the story beyond the level of its initial (slightly predictable) premise, and the final line gives the story an extra vicious turn. Good work, Judith.