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Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 4341 Registered: 11-1998 |
Honorable Mention Martha’s Vineyard Portrait #2 Lisa Janice Cohen We ask the women if we could pet their dog. Her name is Mia, a mix: Border Collie and Jack Russell. She tears a track around the bench as we chat. I think they must be sisters. One lives year round with the dog. The other only here summers. Neil changes lenses with a certain hand. He wanders down the beach searching for better light. Small skiffs tug at their moorings. Gnats dance in the gloaming. Mia settles down, leans against my leg, hopeful. I scratch the soft fur beneath her chin, the feathers that line her wide chest. One sister tells me about a mystery writer who lives nearby. "Good summer reading," she says. "You can see his house when the trees thin." The other sister grips Mia's leash, looks across the pond. Two geese glide across the glassy surface. One has a foot tucked up beside its wing. I wonder if it's broken. Mia ignores the birds, rolls on her back in the sandy soil. Neil finishes a roll of film, packs his cameras away. We say our goodbyes. While we walk, I invent their story. Wonder if I could survive the winter here. In the distance, Mia trots happily between them, unconcerned. |
