Julia has been let go from her job of 20 years, as a ground water geologist in Eastern Washington and must find a new way to support herself. She decides to pack up her belongings and return to her family's cottage on Pine Island. There she hopes to find a new meaning to her life, while living in the peaceful and serene setting that she always experienced in the northern woods of Canada.

She is surprised to discover that her old buddy, Andrew, still spends every summer across the river on Brown's Island, where he spent his youth with his family. The two had always spent their childhoods playing, fishing and enjoying the tranquility of island life as children. Once again, they share time enjoying the love of the great north.

Julia had left for college over two decades ago, to make a life for herself working on the plutonium ground water cleanup project left from the atomic bomb processing, at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Richland, Washington. There she had made a life for herself; not returning to the island she loved so much. Destiny forced her to reevaluate her life and priorities encompassing many changes in attitudes and lifestyle.

Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Cynthia Haltom