The new walk in town is a flirt, a tease. You never know exactly where it will take you.

You stop at a crossroads. A path leads to the left, tree-shaded, inviting, but something tells you to stay straight. You realize a few paces up that it wouldn’t have mattered if you’d taken that turn because the two trails flowed together anyway. But when you’re first getting to know each other you don’t know that, and it’s exciting.

The new walk in town is of indeterminate length. Or at least you don’t know how long it is the first few times you take it. It seems to go on forever, but that’s just because you don’t understand it.

The new walk in town is a feast of discovery. Sudden glimpses of lake water, enchanting townhouses tucked away on treed lots, a pair of swings in a meadow. All new, all precious.

In time, this trail will be as calibrated as all the others. You will know just how long it takes to walk around Lake Thoreau. But until then, it will be shiny and bright: the new walk in town.