lake shore · forty years · last opened august 1986
it was for the weeks after the school holidays ended. one family, then the daughters of that family, then no one. the key was on a nail by the door of another house, which was sold to people who did not ask about the key.
now: the porch is the colour of dry tea. the door swells in september and shuts itself, very slowly, against the jamb. inside, an enamel kettle on a cold ring, three plates upturned in a rack, a calendar from the year the youngest daughter married.
a birch has come up through the front step. the chimney has gone slightly to one side without ever falling. the lake is closer than it used to be by three feet of bank.
field-note: in winter the cabin is colder inside than out, because of the way wood holds its dark.