Cottage Stories

“Eddie’s dead,” said the female voice on the other end of the line. My caller did not identify herself, but I recognized Emma Lawrence’s voice. She was engaged to my old friend Eddie Blake. “What happened, Emma?” I asked, dreading the answer. “He went paddling on the lake, Alan,” she said quietly. That alone was enough to make my face turn pale, but I let Emma go on. “I told him not to. I refused to go myself. But he stil...

Butterflies and bees danced under the summer sun as Gail walked to the raspberry patch. The heat was increasing as the day wore on but was still bearable. With the lake as her pool, the heat did not really matter to Gail. She would re-apply sunscreen and go for a dip later. Finding a bush with plenty of ripe, red berries, Gail started picking. Her husband Michael was grilling a trout he had caught for dinner. The berries...

Approaching the cottage from the long country lane, with the sunlight shining directly on it, it held so much promise. Behind it was an inviting deep wood, and in one corner of the garden hens strutted, clucked and pecked behind mesh. Across open fields, corn gold in the summer lay the farm where Frankie was staying. Rabbits appeared all the time, stoats and foxes could be seen from time to time, and birds, all kinds of b...

My parents were on a business vacation and we children were not eager to accompany them. My father convinced me to stay in our cottage where we have been spending our summer since the beginning of first grade. The cottage was located in northern Sweden, in the middle of nowhere. Our nearest neighbour lived 40 minutes away and there was not much to do either. The wildlife was the only surroundings since the cottage was bui...

With the blackout having hit the cottage a few minutes earlier, Ariel propped the flashlight on the kitchen counter, opened the oven and peeked in anxiously. She hoped the cookies she had made survived the power outage. They certainly smelled great. Nothing like freshly baked cookies to warm up a cold, rainy night. She took out the baking tray and set it aside on the counter before turning the flashlight upon it to inspec...

The Cottage I took a strand of mountain land where no one’s built before – on earth that’s piled a quarter mile above the valley floor. A patch of ground beyond the sound of busy humans’ tread – where breeze’s sway and birds of prey are sounds you’ll hear instead. A place to be where I can see, amongst the falls and streams – a cottage hewn from wood and stone, and shored with timber-beams. A roof of shake with ample rake...