On a Friday morning, thirteen minutes past six, Lucy Atterberry opened her big blue eyes. Snapped them open like the eyes of a sleeping doll. One blink. And in one blink she was wide-awake. Exactly like Benn, the Airedale terrier sleeping next to her bed. She stretched the remaining tiredness from her body and clapped her hands a few times. Today she would marry Henry Atterberry. The man she loved. It was of no consequence that she had already been married to him for the past ten years. Better safe than sorry, Henry had said and grinned in his familiar way, which always made her smile. And then, all his ideas for the party were just pouring out of him. Lucy hadn't listened very closely. She had watched the sparkle in his eyes. Those mud-brown eyes that on some days gleamed like dark, heavy earth after a summer rain. She had only paid attention again when Henry said that she shouldn't be alarmed. The lake wasn’t deep. It was beautiful, nestled in the Soltinger Heath. And it was small. Pocket-size, he added and around his mouth appeared those two creases. The boat would be gliding through it on some kind of track. And he would welcome her on the other side. With all their wedding guests. Lucy had nodded and simply swallowed her fear of the water ...

On a Friday morning, thirteen minutes past six, Lucy Atterberry opened her big blue eyes. Snapped them open like the eyes of a sleeping doll. One blink. And in one blink she was wide-awake. Exactly like Benn, the Airedale terrier sleeping next to her bed. She stretched the remaining tiredness from her body and clapped her hands a few times. Today she would marry Henry Atterberry. The man she loved. It was of no consequence that she had already been married to him for the past ten years. Better safe than sorry, Henry had said and grinned in his familiar way, which always made her smile. And then, all his ideas for the party were just pouring out of him. Lucy hadn't listened very closely. She had watched the sparkle in his eyes. Those mud-brown eyes that on some days gleamed like dark, heavy earth after a summer rain. She had only paid attention again when Henry said that she shouldn't be alarmed. The lake wasn’t deep. It was beautiful, nestled in the Soltinger Heath. And it was small. Pocket-size, he added and around his mouth appeared those two creases. The boat would be gliding through it on some kind of track. And he would welcome her on the other side. With all their wedding guests. Lucy had nodded and simply swallowed her fear of the water ...