Changes

Margaret was nervous about going for the walk around the lake on her own, convinced until the very last moment that her husband would relent and go with her. She made it to the Blue Forge Club House where her friend Laura worked behind the bar, relieved that she'd managed to leave the drunken man who was Marty's master and some other suspicious-looking men behind her. Laura looked uneasy: her dead sister's widower, Avel, had remarried and his new wife, Elena, was in the clubhouse with Avel's children - three teenage girls and a boy who was little more than a toddler. Elena didn't look in the least pleased to be there and despite Avel's promises to pick them up, he was nowhere to be seen.

The plot has been carefully constructed: Suzanne Elizabeth Reed has made certain that there are no gaping plot holes and despite the fact that this is, essentially, a short story she does a good job of character development. You sense that Margaret could annoy with her nervousness if you were with her for long, that Laura isn't to be trusted. Is Marty's master really just a man who's a little too fond of alcohol, or is there something more sinister going on? And what about those men who are hanging around the margins of the lake, occasionally swapping something with the fishermen? The location of the Blue Forge Club House is excellent: it sounds impressive, but the interior, the staff are anything but top notch. It's a seedy situation where anything could happen.