“I’ll take you. Is that your boat?” she wrinkled her nose at the muddy vessel.

“Umm, I found it, it was kinda sunk in the mud. I guess I’m borrowing it.” she helped me climb into her maroon and white boat and tethered my dirt encrusted one for a tow behind.
I looked at the woman. She had tiny crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, bright white teeth, and tan skin. She expertly drove the boat past all the male anglers and she seemed proud of herself while doing it. She was the Queen of the lake. I grinned at her.

“You are smiling, that’s a nice change,” she remarked.

“You’re the Queen of the Lake.”

“Ha! What’s that?”

“The men all want you.”

“Do they? Hm. I never noticed,” she said jokingly while pretending to fix her wildly flapping hair. I realized this was the first time I thought about someone other than myself, or HIM, since I could remember. It felt good.

“Have you fished here a lot?”

“Since before it was so popular. I first came here with my Dad when I was a little girl.”