The House on the Lake
Teresa Clements
ENG 121: English Comp I
Instructor: Jennifer Wells
September 16, 2013
As we round the corner, all of my senses stand at attention. The smell, the sound, the view, it is almost too much to take in at once. It is a place I know all too well. The air is thick with the aroma of fish, bait and coconut suntan oil. The sound of ducks quacking fills my ears. The view, oh, the view is heavenly. The sun glistens on the water as if to say, “Welcome back.” It is a place where memories were made and where I spent every summer as a child all the way up to adulthood. It is….the house on the lake.
It is a pale green (almost a hospital green), two-story house sitting on an acre of land. Pecan and pine trees fill the yard. Off to the right is a small, rickety shed filled with fishing poles and tackle. The door squeaks when you open it and inside it smells of bait. Beside it is another shed, a bit bigger yet still rickety, with life jackets and every kind of blow-up float you can imagine. The lake is approximately 50 feet from the house and has a 20 foot u-shaped pier with round, metal railings. Sitting on the ground beside the pier is a small, metal, two-person boat with no trolling motor and two wooden oars, which we used often for fishing. A few feet in front of the pier is what I like to call a “gutting station.” It consists of a 4’ X 5’ table with a built-in sink for skinning and gutting fish and it smells of fish guts. Despite the constant smell of fish, the pier is where I spent most of my time, laying out and diving.
The house is set up in such a way that makes everything easily accessible. The lower level consists of two 750 square foot rooms. The front room has a wall of windows (with no window coverings) which overlooks the lake. Along the back wall are two double beds that face those windows so you can see the lake at all times. There is a doorway in between the two beds...