She slid down into the water and stood in front of him , watching his eyes intently . He realized he had no desire left in him anymore , even as her breasts bobbed on the surface of the water , a tease for his eyes only . Alarm rose swift within him as reality came crashing back .
water .
Suddenly it felt very important to get out of the
“ I ’ m really tired ,” he said . “ Maybe we should head back to the cabin .”
She regarded him silently for a moment . “ Sure . I ’ ll race you to the dock .”
He meant to shake his head , or perhaps to say , “ I ’ m too tired to race ,” but neither of those things were possible . His throat felt crowded , like a vase crammed with vines . When he tried to pull his feet up from the bottom of the lake , they remained stuck in the mud as though he had stepped unknowingly into a bog . He looked for her in a panic , needing her to see him , but she had already turned away and was stroking toward the dock .
As a cloud passed over the moon , his vision went dark and didn ’ t return . Had she poisoned him ? Slipped a psychotropic drug into his food ? He felt changed , stiff , his muscles twisted into painful ropes of compressed sinew .
He couldn ’ t see at all , yet he still had some measure of perception . He could feel the water below and the air above , could taste the oxygen coursing through his veins . A brief memory rose up : five black trees , gnarled and rooted . Some ancient intuition , now immortalized in the shape of rings , muttered of metamorphosis .
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