The Lake: A Short Story

A free short story from tor.com - here

Abbie LeFleur is a school teacher who leaves Boston to the backwater of Graceville, where she buys a large house on a private lake front. No one thinks to warn her not to swim in the lake during summer:
No one had told her, not the realtor, not the elderly widow she'd only met once when they signed the paperwork at the lawyer's office downtown, not Graceville Prep's cheerful headmistress. Even a random first-grader at the grocery store could have told her that one must never, ever go swimming in Graceville's lakes during the summer. The man-made lakes were fine, but the natural lakes that had once been swampland were to be avoided by children in particular. And women of childbearing age which Abbie LaFleur still was at thirty-six, albeit barely. And men who were prone to quick tempers or alcohol binges.

As so she did, and there were consequences - like webbed feet, scales and gills!

A fun short read - the only negative being the formatting errors - there are a lot of words which run together without spaces, which is just distracting.

4 short story stars

I have read and enjoyed other of Ms Due's short stories, but this one wasn't my favorite.