¨¨¨¨^~††&§                                          §&††~^¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^~††&                                          &††~^¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††                                          ††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨^~†                                          †~^¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††                                          ††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^~††&                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?         §&††~^¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^~††&                                          &††~^¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††                                          ††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨^~†                                          †~^¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨¨^~††                                          ††~^¨¨¨¨¨¨
¨¨¨¨¨^~††&                                          &††~^¨¨¨¨¨