The placid surface of Devil's Lake hides a secret within its icy depths. I lie in the murky bottom, my body decomposing within a soft bank of algae and lazy crustaceans, my spirit refusing to free itself for reasons unknown.

A hungry catfish nibbles at my decaying fingers. I watch him feed, wondering if he can sense me. Two long whiskers gracefully dance with the gentle current as he appears to acknowledge a human presence.

But my shell of humanity is no longer animated, so can I honestly still call myself a man? What am I now? Why do I remain entrapped beneath seventy feet of unforgiving waters?

I can picture her: safe within my house, laughing with her lover. How foolish she must think me. Their duplicity earned her a million dollars by making my drowning appear accidental.

The scavenger bites and pulls, swimming away with my putrefying thumb.

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