Matthew thought he had the perfect job.
As park ranger at Twinkle Lake, he just had to man the information centre, receive complaints from the cottages and campsites, and do coastguard duty when the call came for it.
It was a little lonely, he had to admit, seeing as the more permanent residents were rather reclusive, and the information centre was usually overlooked by the campers- who wanted to go learn when you could just go swimming or biking or waterskiing or anything else fun? Indeed, Matthew had only had one visitor that day, a woman who came in to ask if they sold firewood. Giving her directions to the closest store, the ranger watched her drive off and sighed.
At least he had his dog Kuma to keep him company. Well, as much company a dog that sleeps all day could.
-0-
Kuma seemed agitated. Usually, the labrador would lazily look out the truck window on he way back to the cabin from the centre, or doze, but today he was all jumpy.
Matt attributed it to the changing season, as the fish would be migrating back into the lake through the rivers this time of year, swimming back up to the lake from where the lakes fed into the ocean to spawn (and also be caught and eaten by humans and animals).
Pulling up to his cabin, Matthew expected Kuma to jump out and run to the dock, and maybe jump in. It had been a really hot day, the sweat evaporating off the ranger's back as it formed.
"I could use a quick swim too," he thought aloud, opening his door. Before he could get out however, to open the passenger side door for his furry companion, Kuma scrambled over his lap and out, skittering up the path and under the porch, barking.
Matt started to scramble out, when his seatbelt yanked him back. Cursing softly, he unbuckled it and dashed off after the had just arrived at the porch when he spotted movement out the other end of it, around the back of the cabin. Kuma had chased something out from under the cabin, and was following it around. Matt couldn't see what though, as the large wood structure blocked his view. He sprinted around and managed to grab Kuma right as he circled back around to the porch, whatever he was barking at escaping underneath the cabin again.
"Hey! Be quiet!" Matthew urged the labrador. He didn't want to annoy his neighbours, though the odds of that were pretty slim, considering they were at least a kilometre away, on the other side of some dense underbrush and forest.
Wrestling the dog back by the collar, the ranger didn't realize his glasses were coming loose until one violent tug from Kuma sent his glasses flying. It was a big struggle to keep the dog contained while he reached down for his glasses.
"Darn racoon better run off, I don't think I can hold Kuma back," Matt thought, thinking that a furry bandit had curled up under his cabin while he was out, to get some sleep.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a dark beige blur go running by the side of him. Startled at the size, he accidentally let go of Kuma, who bolted, yapping louder than before.
Matt quickly scooped up his glasses and slid them on as he heard the thrashing of the reeds by the water's edge, right by the dock.
It was as his eyes finally adjusted to the corrective lenses that he saw the last bit of the shape dive into the water.
A pair of dirty feet, human in nature.
Matt watched as Kuma jumped in after the kid (Matt assumed it was a kid, seeing as the blur hadn't been too big), and swam after the receding outline, barking the whole time.
He ran down to the end of the dock and yelled at Kuma to come back, all the while waiting for the kid to emerge. They had gone in a straight line straight out towards the middle of the lake, so Matt had a fairly good view of them- and they looked like they were going deeper and deeper, by the way that it was getting harder to see them.
Worried, Matt watched, but no sign of surfacing. After a while, even Kuma had given up, and came swimming back to the dock. Matt hauled the dog up, and turned back to face the water.
Nothing.
He debated going out in the boat, but he wasn't sure that the kid hadn't turned, and he would take ages to scout for them. Besides, had it really been a human? Kuma never behaved like that around anyone, and only barked at other creatures.
He shook his head in disbelief as Kuma shook off the salty lake water. Those feet had to have belonged to a human, there was no doubt. But where had they gone?
Matt decided not to worry, and followed Kuma back up the path to the cabin.
He didn't see the head emerge halfway across the lake, looking at him from the water. He didn't see the arms move bangs out of the head's eyes, or the head dive back under, pulling behind it a slim torso and a long, wet fin.