Black mud and minnows

Liberty Samuels Amanda Matney and Sydney Beam (from left to right) play at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. The girls collected clams and interestingly colored rocks and kept bait minnows alive in small pools they formed in the mud. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Do clams live in a lake? Maybe it’s oysters. Maybe they’re the same thing. Marley Compton is pushing mud out of the way, forming holes full of black water. She gently lowers her minnows into the murky water, then she scoops them out and puts them back into their live tank. Amanda Matney wades out almost to her knees to find “caramel and fudge” rocks. They are two-toned. Black and brown. There’s some excitement that one of the girls found a sea cucumber, but after some discussion, that claim seems highly unlikely. Their hands are covered in black mud and their feet stick as they walk along the receding shoreline on the west side of Lake Hefner.

Justyce Samuels wades through mud as she plays with her friends on the shores of Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Sydney Beam, Justyce Samuels, Liberty Samuels and Marley Compton (from left to right) play in the mud on the west side of Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. The girls collected clams and interestingly colored rocks and kept bait minnows alive in small pools they formed in the mud. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

-John Clanton