The Foggy Magic

This photo was taken by Jason, and he is kindly letting me use it. I hope the story does it justice! You can see more photos of his at https://jasonfrels.com/2021/02/28/6644/

It was a foggy morning to go out in her canoe, but Jillian was eager to do it. She had tossed and turned all through the night. When she realized that she wasn’t gong to win with the battle of trying to go back to sleep, she decided that she may as well get up and start the day. Stepping into her newly painted kitchen with her fuzzy hot pink bathrobe on, she turned on her coffeemaker.

The past week had been a busy one consisting of re-painting the rooms in her house. She was so relieved to finally be finished. As she looked around her kitchen she was pleased at how it had turned out. When she was in the paint store and saw the tiger orange paint she knew that was the color she wanted. Her friends would probably shake their heads over the color, but they were used to her unique taste with color combinations. She laughed to herself imagining their expressions when they saw her bedroom. A pale lavender shade with fiery orange spots.

Jillian finished her coffee and blueberry English Muffin and got dressed to go out for a morning of rowing. She knew exactly where she wanted to go, it was her favorite spot. Putting on her bright orange jacket she went out the door, eager for a peaceful morning.

Ahh! She was glad that no other rowers were around. Coming under this bridge was a refuge for her and a place where she let herself dream as she stopped rowing, enjoying being still. This place almost felt magical, like she could row away into another world. After awhile of letting dreams fly through her mind, she looked at her watch and realized that she should probably soon go home. Later today she was supposed to meet Gary for an early supper at the at the Aki House restaurant. Her mouth was already watering thinking of the delicious food they had there. Picking up her oars she began rowing once more.

A strange feeling started washing over Jillian. She should be out from under the bridge by now. Many times she had been here, and she didn’t remember it ever taking this long before to row out from under it. She must have just rowed in farther than she had thought. Trying to ease her nerves she started singing as she rowed.

There was no denying it now, she looked at her watch and she had been rowing for quite some time, but she was still under the bridge. Stopping for a moment, she lay the oars in her lap, as her hands shook and her insides began to feel a bit like jiggly jello, but at the same time she had a sense of excitement. Jillian had always been someone that was up for adventure, not afraid of trying new things. Whatever was happening was bound to be a great story to share with her friends. With a sudden spurt of courage she picked up the oars and started rowing again, who knows where she may end up? Perhaps this really had been a magical place all this time and she was only experiencing it now! Or perhaps her lack of sleep was catching up to her and she was dreaming all of this? No, she had extra strong, dark roasted coffee this morning, surely she was awake!

Jillian hoped she didn’t run out of strength as she kept rowing. It was good that she worked out at the gym, to help keep her energy up. Rowing more she felt adrenaline pumping through her, and then before she knew it, she realized she wasn’t under the bridge anymore. She wasn’t under the bridge anymore but where was she, was the question that now weighed on her mind.

She was staring at a grassy meadow. Rowing to the meadow, she got out and drug her boat up onto the land. Well the sun was still high in the sky, what was to keep her from exploring? She saw woods in the distance, and started walking towards them. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, looking in shock at the sight before her. Now that was certainly something that one didn’t see every day!

… to be continued …