do you still think of me as a lighthouse?
[pictured: do you still think of me as a lighthouse?]
I saw a facsimile of spacegirl standing on top of the oredocks today. Nervously I approached her, of course I did because I wanted it to be her. She had an astronaut's helmet on with scribbled pigeons and sharpie buckets all over it. This wasn't her. Spacegirl would never wear an actual astronaut helmet. We never hung out at the oredocks because everybody who hasn't grown up know that the oredocks are haunted, they know that big maura the lake monster shows up before something big happens.
Several bodies have shown up on the Lakeshore. Spacegirl's mirage is spray painting HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? Onto the docks. I got out of my car then and walked over to her. There were three people with her, one smoking, one playing the harmonica, one sitting back.
"I think you know the words," the first one said. "Hey do I know you?" Spacegirl asked. "I think you know the words," the second one continued. "Do you know?" the third one said. "Because lighthouses aren't for sport," said Spacegirl's facsimile. "Thank you."
I knew then that this wasn't Spacegirl but this was Spacegirl as I knew her before. The three students walked into the mouth of the lake and disappeared, the lake never gives up her dead they say, lake superior, devourer of all things. I have the sense neither this Spacegirl nor the three were alive nor dead.
"Hey," I said. "Hey," replied Spacegirl's facsimile. "You should really watch out for this man. You know what lives in the valley of death and eats everything inside?" "Huh?" "A tiger." she paused then and looked at me. I saw myself reflected in the dark of the helmet. "Do you still think of me as a lighthouse?"
I stood there for a long time thinking about this. By the time I had stopped, Spacegirl was gone. I stepped back into my car and looked at my phone. Only a minute had passed.
7/22/2026