Lake Martin



My friend took pictures of hyacinths, and wished sincerely we had a canoe or raft to take us out into the swamp. I wandered a few feet away, and as I took this blurry shot, a man in a white truck on the dirt road behind me stopped and asked if I knew where the boat tour was. It was supposed to be near a concrete picnic table.

I hadn't heard of any boat tour at all. Within four minutes, we were on the boat with its observant guide, being carried out into the swamp, soon to experience many of its mysteries.

The man in the truck disappeared. According to the two other boat passengers, women from Denmark, they had been lost, and the man in the white truck had led them all the way to the lake, and to the concrete table.

Gentle men. This week, there have been gentle men wherever I have turned.