Curse Lake

They say that something is not right about the lake near my Grandfathers house. They said the dam was the worst thing to happen to the river system.

My Grandfather would always tell me stories about when he was a young fella. He would tell me stories about the lake close to our house and how his father worked on the plans for the dam. He would often say his father, my great grandfather, was a brilliantly smart man he just worked for some corrupt people.

The lake next to the house wasn’t always a lake, in fact when my Grandfather was a young boy, it was a raging river that had been dammed to help farmers irrigate their crops and to water their livestock. Although there are not many farms still running around the area, because they say the water is tainted and often killed the crops and gave diseases to the livestock. My Grandfather says it is not the water that is cursed it’s the just the people who don’t look after it.

My Grandfather is just about the only person who seems to not mind being around the lake and I often find him standing at the waters edge, hands in his overall pockets, staring out to the lake that is looking more and more like a swamp than a beautiful pristine lake.

One day my Grandfather got a phone call from a neighbor that someone had been Illegally dumping rubbish in the lake near the dam wall. My Grandfather was angry, I had never seen him so angry about something before. He was ropable! He was so distressed that in trying to get everything ready to go out in the tinny to clean up the rubbish, I missed having my breakfast.

The cold wind propelled off the water as we rushed to the other side of the lake where the cold dam wall was. We slowed down to a stop as we pulled up near the mess. There were black garbage bags, takeaway containers and plastic bottles bobbing on top of the water.

My Grandfather took in the horrid view and inhaled a deep breath clenching his fists at his sides. I heard him swear under his breath before trying to pick up some of the rubbish and put it in the tinny.

It was freezing cold and windy, and I remember my Grandfather was bending over the boat with an oar trying to maneuver as much rubbish towards the boat to scoop it up with the fishing net or his hands.

I sat in the tinny, at first, shivering and hungry, watching my grandfather muttering to himself. I told him I was starting to get cold and he suggested I help as ‘many hands make light work’. I began helping by bending over the side of the boat grabbing a big bag of rubbish and chucking it in the boat when I thought I heard something. It sounded like a faint voice almost weak and quiet. I stopped what I was doing and looked around.

The Lake started to get a light fog on the surface of it.

My Grandfather noticed my lack of helping and asked what I was doing. I told him it was nothing and mentioned to him how foggy it was starting to get before getting back to work.

I put the sound down to be the wind as we were literally the only people out on the water around this area, and no one works the dam at all now.

My Grandfather maneuvered another garbage bag over towards me. I leant over to pick it up to put in the boat when the bag felt heavier than the other ones. It was so heavy that I couldn’t get it on to the boat. I tugged it really hard to lift it into the boat when I don’t know exactly how it happened… but it was as if the bag I was holding tugged me… SPLASH! I was in the cold dark murky waters. In a panic I swam to the surface and looked up at my Grandfather who had his hand out coaxing me back to the boat. I swam to him when something big hit my leg.

My Grandfathers eyes widened, and I could see a bit of panic in his pale green eyes. He beckoned me more towards the boat and pulled me up into it. I flopped around the boat like a fish in a bit of a panic.

When my Grandfather had grabbed a towel and threw it around me and calmed me down. He told me he will have to come and pick up the rubbish later and for now we will be going back to the house and get me warm and dry.

As we headed back, I looked back at the rubbish in the water and felt bad that we couldn’t finish what we started, although I was kind of relieved that we were on our way back home. I was still stunned at what just happened. Did I just imagine it, or did something pull on the bag to make me fall into the water? What knocked into me while I was in the water? More rubbish? Tree branches? A big fish?

Whatever it was maybe I don’t want to find out…

To be continued…