The House on the Lake
Teresa Clements
ENG 121: English Comp I
Instructor: Jennifer Wells
September 16, 2013

As we round the corner, all of my senses stood at attention. The smell, the sound, the view, it was almost too much to take in at once. It was a place I knew all too well. The air was thick with the aroma of fish, bait and coconut suntan oil. The sound of ducks quacking filled my ears. The view, oh, the view was heavenly. The sun glistened on the water as if to say, “Welcome back.” It was a place where memories were made and where I spent every summer as a child all the way up to adulthood. It was….the house on the lake.
It was a pale green (almost a hospital green), two-story house sitting on an acre of land. Pecan and pine trees fill the yard. Off to the right was a small, rickety shed filled with fishing poles and tackle. The door squeaked when you opened it and inside it smelled of bait. Beside it was another shed, a bit bigger yet still rickety, with life jackets and every kind of blow-up float you could have imagined. The lake was approximately 50 feet from the house and had a 20 foot u-shaped pier with round, metal railings. Sitting on the ground beside the pier was a small, metal, two-person boat with no trolling motor and two wooden oars, which we used often for fishing. A few feet in front of the pier was what I like to call a “gutting station.” It consisted of a 4’ X 5’ table with a built-in sink for skinning and gutting fish and it smelled of fish guts. Despite the constant smell of fish, the pier was where I spent most of my time, laying out and diving.
The house was set up in such a way that made everything easily accessible. The lower level consisted of two 750 square foot rooms. The front room had a wall of windows (with no window coverings) which overlooked the lake. Along the back wall were two double beds that faced those windows so you could see the lake at all times. There was a doorway in between the two beds leading into the back room. The back room consisted of a large open space with a deep freezer stocked full of meat and a refrigerator stocked full of sodas and water and there was a small half-bath off to the left. To the right was a staircase that led upstairs.

The upper level was one large open room around 1500 square feet. It also had a wall of windows (again with no window coverings) that overlooked the lake. Lined against that wall were three double beds each with a night stand in between. Off to the left was a bathroom with a stand-up shower. It was where we washed the fishy smell of the lake off after a long day’s swim. The wall directly parallel to the beds was a fully stocked kitchen with two eight foot tables and chairs to go all the way around. I can still remember waking up to the smell of breakfast cooking. The smell of bacon flooded the room each morning during summer. I can still hear the sizzle and crack of the grease in the pan and the coffee percolating in the coffee pot.
It was a place to escape reality. It was a place to unwind and relax. There was no television for us to watch, but there was plenty to do. We would fish or swim and if we got tired of that, my grandparents made sure we had things to do. There were cards, jacks, puzzles and even coloring books to keep us from getting bored. I can remember one of the puzzles so well. It was a 500 piece Beverly Hillbillies puzzle and on the cover of the box, someone had drawn a mustache on Ellie Mae. No one would own up to it either. It was a much simpler time, but, oh, how I long to go back. Unfortunately, my grandparents sold the house on the lake shortly before I married and had children. I only wish that my children would have been able to enjoy it as much as I did. I wish they could have experienced for themselves the freedom from the electronic lifestyle that has overtaken our world.