A Lake Will Never Be an Ocean

Chapter 29 of Snowbirds, a serialized novella-in-flash by Margo Rife

Apr 02, 2025

∙ Paid

Thank you for reading Snowbirds, a serialized novella-in-flash by Margo Rife. Go here to start at the beginning. You’ll find the linked table of contents here.

Lake Worth Beach is picture perfect with surfers riding a tightly formed tribe of cyan waves. I smile thinking about the summer my sister and I rented a surfboard on Lake Michigan. We stood on a sea of calm for an hour with only a few small waves being blown up by the west wind. The vendor listened to our complaints and took back the board with a dismissive gesture. “Girls. A lake will never be an ocean.”

Wading out into the world’s second largest body of water, I ponder the vendor’s words. The lifeguard with sleek shoulders and squinty eyes yells instructions to me on the safe way to enter. “Do the Stingray Shuffle. The rays feel the vibrations from your feet.” I take his advice and shuffle into the shallows.

This post is for paid subscribers

A guest post by

Margo Rife

Margo Rife is a playwright and fiction writer. Her work has been published by New World Writing Quarterly and other literary publications. Margo’s novella-in-flash Snowbirds will be serialized at Fiction Attic Press.