,,»††$$$§§                                          §§$$$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,
,,,,,»»†§@                                          @§†»»,,,,,
,,»»»††§§§                                          §§§††»»»,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#               WINDS ESKER                #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$$§§@ »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» @§§$$††»,,
,,»††$§@@@                                          @@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@# THERE WAS THIS PLACE THAT FOR TWO  YEARS #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@## I  COULDN'T  GO TO.  REGARDLESS HOW MUCH ##@§$††»,,
,,,,»†††§@ 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 §§†††»,,,,
,,,,,,»†$§          BEEN DIFFERENT INDEED.          §$†»,,,,,,
,,,,»»††$§                                          §$††»»,,,,
,,,,,»†$§§ »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» §§$†»,,,,,
,,»††$§@##                                          ##@§$††»,,
,,,,,»†$§@ ON  THE  LAKE,  THERE  WERE  PEOPLE   IN @§$†»,,,,,
,,»»»†$$$@ BOATS. I  WONDERED, COULD THEY EVEN  SEE @$$$†»»»,,
,,»††$§@@# ME?  IF I SHOUTED,  WOULD  THEY TURN  TO #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#          STARE RIGHT THROUGH ME?         #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,
,,,,,»††$§                                          §$††»,,,,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,
,,»††$§@@#                                          #@@§$††»,,