Illustration Friday: "Adrift"

Marty and Christine Geraldson saw Tim  wade out into Lime Creek at about 10.30 pm. The thirteen year old boy was fully dressed except for his shoes. Clutched in his hands were three strange dolls; one dressed as Santa, another as a medieval squire, the last as a well dressed explorer - Stanley Livingstone in turned out later. 

"Oh.... and he had something else ... a small wooden boat," Christine told the girl from the big city newspaper the next day. " Tim waded out into the creek till the water was waist height. We watched him put the toys in the boat and then he just stood there, staring into the darkness, not even shivering, but humming this strange song, like a dirge...  My husband Marty wanted to call the sheriff, but I .... I don't know why but I stopped him. There was always something odd about Tim, something adrift, as we say up at the hospital. But I never thought this would happen...."