The mother spreads a towel in the sand while the girl wades into the water, and the men paddle out to the middle of the lake. The girl wants to swim but gets nervous when she can’t see the bottom anymore, then gets bored looking for shells. Slowly working her way out of her mother’s sight, she walks along the beach, stopping once to remove her shoes, which have become heavy with water. She stands on the shore and waves to her father who doesn’t see. READ MORE fiction at Necessary Fiction