This 439-word flash began as a micro called ‘Ice Swimmers’ and was expanded during a SmokeLong Quarterly workshop with Michael Czyzniejewski. It’s a hybrid piece, interleaving factual information with elements of fiction.
It’s dedicated to FLOWS, the Fabulous Leeds Outdoor Wild Swimmers – and especially to Caroline who introduced me and many others to the lake, the Knicker Tree and the sand martins.
BREAKFAST AT THE LAKE
Three swimmers crack the skin of ice at the lakeside, wade out through reeds in a pink-streaked dawn. Andy, the novice, is fully wetsuited. His breath comes fast and ragged as icewater finds the space between neoprene and flesh. Tim and Morag are in Speedos, fine mud squidging between their toes.
Read the whole piece here at Brilliant Flash Fiction (it’s the 8th story down)
Fiction Writing by Patience Mackarness 