Hydro Team: Shoreline Townspeople Massacre

As they rowed gently toward the shore

Sherry in the front of the boat, facing Jack

And Jack watching the forested shoreline

Framing Sherry as if she were in a painting

Jack thought it wouldn't be a very good painting

Because with Sherry in the absolute center

With the horizontal shoreline behind her head

The whole composition would be pedestrian and kludgey

Jack was thankful he was a singer-songwriter and not a painter

He began to sing softly, using the rhythm of the oars to keep tempo:

The Bad Painting Love Song (Pussywillow)

If I called you "Pussywillow" and made you a sandwich

Would you move in with me?

When we get to shore

Could we drive straight to my place and eat a sandwich?

I can picture you in a painting

A painting I don't like

Not because of the subject matter

But because of poor composition

So rather than a bad painting

Maybe we could perform a symphony

With me as the bow

And you as the violin

What do you say, Pussywillow?

Sherry, though facing Jack and hearing him singing

Could sense the imminent threat awaiting them on the shore

As if each of the townspeople threw off a heat signal or a beacon

Of fear mixed with hate and the intoxication of righteousness

She shushed Jack and told him to stop rowing

Looking hurt, he said "it doesn't have to be a sandwich"

Before being promptly shushed again

Their boat was about twenty meters from shore

Sitting still with only the drips from the oars rippling the lake surface

Sherry felt more alive than at any other time in her life

As if each nerve and sense she possessed were completely synchronized

With nature

She pulled the utility knife from her dive kit and ran the sharp blade

Across her palm

Before Jack could say anything, Sherry held her bleeding hand over the water

And whispered, "Come towards me. Walk and breathe deeply of the heavy air."

Jack watched as about twenty townspeople stepped from their hiding places

Noisily dropping their clubs, knives, and yard tools

And began walking into the lake

The townspeople didn't panic or even try to stay afloat

Instead of struggling and gasping they were trying to breathe in the lake water

Until they were all floating peacefully

Sherry broke the silence and told Jack

"It's safe now. Let's row in. And yes, a sandwich would be perfect."