Feeling like I had no choice but to follow the path, I wrapped my arms around myself and walked down it. It began as grass and quickly became sand. The landscape beyond startled me as I realized how large the body of water in front of me was. It wasn’t a lake. It was something much bigger. I was at a place I knew nothing of. I could be anywhere on the planet.
Walking down the shore, I found a dock, but there were no boats moored there. I didn’t know what to do, other than to continue along and see what I could find. There might be other houses, other people, a boat—something to help me find my way back.
***
When I was a little girl, my mom read me a story. I stood there at the shore and the haunting tale came back to me.
It was a fairytale about a man who won a parcel of land. The size
