Flowing WaterFlowing Water

I first found the lake by accident. It was spring. Id just bought a new hiking outfit and had been hiking in the hills near town for several hours. I was just about to start back for home when I saw a clearing. The grass was tall and the trees were close. I sat down beside a still, deep lake and filled my water canteen.

Then, I bent over the water and splashed my face a little. I was surprised by how warm it felt on my skin. I dried my face with a rough rag in my pocket. As it rubbed my face, the roughness slowly changed to smoothness.

I shouldve felt the rag brushing against my three-day growth of facial hair. I held it and looked at it. It wasnt my rough rag anymore. It shined off the afternoon sun with bright sparkles. It looked like satin.

Turning it around in my hands revealed that my hands had changed as well. My first reaction was to jerk and shake, to cast off these strange hands like a pair of gloves. They remained there with their long, pearl-l