##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
#§†††^^...                                          ...^^†††§#
§£†††^....                                          ....^†††£§
§£††--....                                          ....--††£§
§††††††-^.                                          .^-††††††§
###¶§£†-^.                winds esker               .^-†£§¶###
###¶£††-^. ---------------------------------------- .^-††£¶###
#¶£††††-^.                                          .^-††††£¶#
##¶§£††-^. there was this place  that for two years .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. i couldn't  go to.  regardless  how much .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. discussed  with  others, or  pointed out .^-††£§¶##
§††-...... on maps,  i could not think of  it  when ......-††§
##¶§£††-^. alone.  i  would  often travel  past the .^-††£§¶##
###¶§††-^. fork, where  a right turn  would  surely .^-††§¶###
###§£††-^. take me there, but  even then, something .^-††£§###
##¶§£††-^.               kept me away.              .^-††£§¶##
¶¶§££††-^.                                          .^-††££§¶¶
##¶§£††-^. when  i  finally got  there,  after some .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.     heavy subconscious battle i must     .^-††£§¶##
¶§£££††-^. assume,  the   place  was  surreal.   an .^-††£££§¶
#§§£†††-^. esker,  like a needle-thin  rift out  in .^-†††£§§#
###¶£††-^. the  lake,  but   ten  meters  high  and .^-††£¶###
#§££†^.... adorned  in birch,  willow, bracken, and ....^†££§#
###§£††-^.               blueberries.               .^-††£§###
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
¶££†---^.. walking  atop  that  spine,  i  came  to ..^---†££¶
#¶¶§£††-^. notice  the view to  either  side. there .^-††£§¶¶#
###¶£††-^. should  be  shores,  of  course,  but  i .^-††£¶###
##¶§£††-^. didn't recognize  them. first off,  they .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. were much too close,  as the lake should .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. stretch for a  hundred  meters  more  on .^-††£§¶##
¶§§§£††-^. both  sides.  but  now  i  felt  i could .^-††£§§§¶
##¶§£††-^. almost  reach  out  and  touch them. and .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. then, when i realized  which shores they .^-††£§¶##
#¶££†††-^.           were, i had to stop.           .^-†††££¶#
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
§††-...... they were  of the  right lake.  but this ......-††§
##¶§£††-^.       lake is large, fractured, and      .^-††£§¶##
#§££†††-^. bipartite. like a  pair  of lungs carved .^-†††££§#
##¶§£††-^. into the granite, and with no less  than .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.   five communities anchored at various   .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.      points. and so, studying these      .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.     impossibly close shores, i slowly    .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. understood them as belonging  many miles .^-††£§¶##
¶¶§§£††-^.                  away.                   .^-††£§§¶¶
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
#¶§†††^... i  examined  the   ridge,  the  treeline ...^†††§¶#
##¶§£††-^. above. was this  what  you saw opposite, .^-††£§¶##
#§§†---... from  those  other  shores?  i  couldn't ...---†§§#
¶¶£†--^^^.                remember.                 .^^^--†£¶¶
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
#¶££†^.... carrying forward,  on the  very  tip  of ....^†££¶#
##¶§£††-^. the  esker, i found the  ruins  of  some .^-††£§¶##
§††^......    old building. there were overgrown    ......^††§
¶£†---....  marble staircases, stone floors beneath ....---†£¶
##¶§£††-^. the  moss,  and  strange  slabs inserted .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. into  the slope  like  dams  against the .^-††£§¶##
###¶§£†-^.              ground itself.              .^-†£§¶###
#§£†^^^...                                          ...^^^†£§#
¶§†-...... sitting there,  i  could  see across the ......-†§¶
#¶£†^..... narrowed lake my entire path to where  i .....^†£¶#
#¶§††††-^. sat: from the  stairwell  of  my  house, .^-††††§¶#
§§†-...... through  the  old  woods behind the tile ......-†§§
¶¶££††^^..      factory, the bridge over route      ..^^††££¶¶
¶£†††--... twenty three  and  then  back  under it, ...--†††£¶
¶£†^...... through  the  fancy  villas,  over   the ......^†£¶
##¶§£††-^. fields, and then that  right turn at the .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.                   fork.                  .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
¶£††^..... and then  the  stairs up  on the  ridge. .....^††£¶
§§§††††-^. thinking  back,  this was  probably  it. .^-††††§§§
§£†----... hidden in a  grove,  there  were  stairs ...----†£§
##¶§£††-^. much like  the  ones i currently sat on, .^-††£§¶##
§††-...... old  and  worn  down, that  lead you  up ......-††§
##¶§£††-^. onto the esker. the point  of entry. had .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^. i  insted opted to walk the path at  its .^-††£§¶##
§£££†††-^. foot,  i'm  sure my  experience would've .^-†††£££§
###¶£††-^.          been different indeed.          .^-††£¶###
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
#§££†--... ---------------------------------------- ...--†££§#
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
¶§†††--^.. on  the  lake,  there  were   people  in ..^--†††§¶
§££†-^^... boats.  i wondered, could they  even see ...^^-†££§
#§§†-..... me?  if  i shouted,  would  they turn to .....-†§§#
##¶§£††-^.          stare right through me?         .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
##¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶##
¶¶££†-^^^.                                          .^^^-†££¶¶
§§§†--^^..                                          ..^^--†§§§
¶¶¶§£††-^.                                          .^-††£§¶¶¶