It was 8 bongs now, dark, cloudy, and windy. There were whitecaps on the pond. The wind direction had shifted slightly, and spray from the pond was occasionally hitting the windows. They continued to rattle. Unlike most cottages, this one had no storm shutters. Morris meant to add them, but he was always too busy. Burton couldn’t help but notice the missing shutters and offered to build and install them after the storm ended.
“That is very gracious of you. Thank you,” Morris responded.
Belva was watching the storm from a front window.
Suddenly she yelled, “Come quick. I think I see something!”
They rushed to the windows.
Her father asked, “What do you see, dear?”
“There, to the left of the dock, there is a big shape in the water. I think it’s moving. Can you see it?”
Everyone squinted, trying to see through the storm. Indeed, to the left of the dock was a large dark oval shape, apparently partially submerged. It was not smooth but had a number of parallel ridges on it. It wasn’t floating on the water because leaves and other debris were moving by it.
“It’s probably a log,” her father said.
Then, the “log” turned and looked at them with, what seemed to be, two large red eyes. Belva screamed.
Birk yelled, ”What is it Papa? Let’s go out and see!”
“You will do no such thing!” said their mother.
“Your mother is right. We’re not going out in this storm,” agreed their father.
They continued to watch from the windows as best they could. Soon the shape with eyes, sank below the water and disappeared. The children were scared and fascinated at the same time.
A Snippet from: Tales From The Glades Of Ballymore
