Pond

When we purchased our house in 1987, the spring peepers chorused their mating songs in the wild swampy areas around our neighborhood for a few weeks each spring. Once these areas underwent development, these sounds faded until they ceased altogether.

Late one winter, I bought a round black tub at the garden center on15-501, as well as two water plants, corkscrew rush (Juncus effussus) and golden club(Orontium aquaticum). I set up the tiny pond and waited for months, but no spring peepers appeared.

In the summer, my friend Ellen found a green frog in her own small pond. The frog attracted the attention of her cat, so Ellen scooped the frog into a bucket and released him into my pond. He seemed happy enough. Ellen and I celebrated our success at lunch at Shanghai, but when we returned, the frog was floating in the water, dead.

When Ellen returned home 30 minutes later, there was already another frog in her pond. She didn't offer to bring it to my pond, not that I blame her. She assured me that another frog would find its way to my pond before the end of summer. But by October, my pond was still barren. In the winter, I moved it to a shady part of the garden, where it was partially hidden by cinnamon ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea) and common daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva).

This spring I bought goldfish. They disappeared into the black water. After a week, one fish was discovered floating on it's side in the pond. That night, I brought a flashlight to the pond and tried to pierce the darkness with light. There was only the reflection of the round white beam. I wondered about the still water. I plunged my hand deep into the black pond. It was colder than I imagined. I felt around for goldfish, but came up disappointed.