EXCERPT FROM BOILING LAKE
Islands
Salt Hill Journal, Issue 27, 2011
She had always wanted to go to the Galápagos Islands, though she didn’t really know why. She couldn’t remember who lived there--turtles maybe or penguins. They were far out in the ocean and her daughter told her she would have to ride in a zodiac. That sounded fun but a little scary. Her heart was bad and her legs swelled. She had high blood pressure. She thought, though, that she’d leave it all up to Susanna who was a very clever girl. Her other daughters were clever too-a doctor and one who had married well for love. She knew Darwin had discovered what he later understood on the Galapagos. She was hoping at seventy that she could learn some new things too. She had been sad for so many years. What was a life like without sadness? She imagined the salty spray--Susanna told her that she’d have to put on a big suit to ride in the zodiac. She thought maybe the young man who drove would drive very fast and tilt the rubber boat up on its side to show off. She liked that idea.