Future Views Magazine www.futureviews.co FREEPOST @ futureviews co © Future Views Magazine 2022 Zadkiel Irpe Eudaemony Lethe a Jig-Word Puzzle(LX) for brilliant minds DECODED: Tanya And The River Tanya walked through the forest but went much further than Rosemund. Tanya was an attractive but shy girl who kept herself to herself She walked for several miles until she came to a special spot secluded from view and, she imagined, known to no one but herself. It was quite difficult to reach. The river fell in a waterfall down the rocks into a small but deep pool; from there it flowed out between a wall of boulders into a long stretch of still water before dispersing into shallow rapids with overhanging grassy banks. The trees stopped about a hundred yards from the water's edge and the clearing was soft and springy with grass and mosses. Tanya lay in the warm afternoon sun, she could hear the insects and birds and the occasional scratching of a rabbit or squirrel. She had seen a deer on her way up, always a good sign that there was no one else about. She sat up and looked around, she listened for the noise of distant traffic but could not hear any. She looked for an aeroplane or helicopter but the skies were clear and quiet. She stood up, she wanted to stop the waterfall in order to hear better. There was no one else around for miles. She slipped off her clothes and stood naked in the sunlight. She threw back her head and shoulders and took in deep lung-fulls of clear air, the sun beating down on her closed eye-lids. She felt free, vulnerable and exposed. In a moment of anxiety she thought she had better put something on at least but then consoled herself that in many parts of the world everyone wore nothing all the time. 'If it's alright for them,' she mused, and walked towards the water. With each step that took her further from the safety and propriety of her clothes she felt more daring. She stood at the water's edge and watched her reflection in the ripples. She could still go back. She held her hands under her chin with her elbows tucked together as if this would serve as protection. She prodded the water with her toe. She had slender legs and smooth, dark skin. The water was cool and pleasant. Carefully she lowered her foot into the water, it sank into the soft, fine mud. She could feel it oozing up between her toes and settling on top of her foot. It was a comfortable, warm feeling. She looked around once more to make sure she was still safe before putting her other foot into the water. She began walking slowly towards the middle of the river. A cool breeze swept over her making her shiver. The water crept up her calves and her feet sank deeper into the mud. She looked down to see if there were any stones or sharp objects but the river bottom looked perfectly smooth. She could see the clouds of fine silt swirling around her feet and, behind her, her footprints traced a path to the shore. The water crept up past her knees and up her thighs, it was an exhilarating sensation. Tanya continued wading into the river, the water rose over her hips and up to her ribs. As the coolness surrounded her chest she took air in gulps rather than breaths and held her elbows clear of the surface. She waded forward until the water tickled her armpits then pushed herself forward and began to swim. A shoal of fish darted beneath her. She swam towards the waterfall, the river gushed down between huge boulders from the upper pool. She could feel the sun on her back, she rolled over and let her hair tumble into the river. She closed her eyes and floated face up, the rays of the sun gently warmed her skin and the water lapped over her legs and arms. After several minutes of blissful drifting Tanya rolled over and swam upstream again. She had floated almost as far as the rapids. She let her face fall into the water and lay perfectly still, letting the slow-moving river carry her. When she could no longer hold her breath she looked up and swam furiously towards the waterfall. She closed her eyes and did a duck-dive down to the bottom, it was deeper than she had expected. When she re-surfaced she spluttered for a moment then tried to touch the bottom with her toes, it was too deep. She had a moment of anxiety and began breathing in short, rapid breaths, she had never swam where she could not touch the bottom before. She started swimming towards the shore but then consoled herself that she had been swimming perfectly safely and there was nothing to fear. Tanya resumed her swim towards the waterfall. She was not sure whether she would be able to climb the rocks into the deeper pool nor whether she would have the courage to dive in but it gave her a direction to swim in. When she reached the line of stones that stood between the two levels of the river she swam alongside them until she could walk on the bottom. She held onto the boulders and picked her way over the stones that were strewn along the river floor until she came to a place where she could climb out. She hauled herself up onto a large boulder and sat in the sun to dry, looking down at the view spread out beyond the river. Her clothes were lying untouched where she had left them. There was no sign of anyone around. A large wet patch formed on the dry grey stone where she sat. She drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them as she began to shiver in the occasional breeze. She was summoning the courage to dive into the upper pool, the water was turbulent and she wondered whether there was any danger of being sucked under by the falling stream. It was not a big waterfall, it fell quite a long way but it was not very wide. The pool might not be any deeper than where she had just been swimming. She looked around and stood up, stretching her arms and baring herself to the elements once more. She took a deep breath, swung her hands up above her head, bent her knees and leapt into what should have been a graceful dive. Her legs kicked a little and she did a bit of a belly flop but she congratulated herself on having tried it at all. She spouted out a mouthful of water and thrashed her arms and legs in order to keep her head as high out of the water as possible. She could feel the thundering of the waterfall vibrating around her and small waves were constantly rushing past. She was being pulled towards the opening in the rocks and suddenly worried that she might not have the strength to prevent herself from being swept over. She swam as hard as she could towards the foaming water beneath the waterfall. Her ears were filled with its sound, it was much louder here than it had been in the lower pool, louder than she had expected. The water began frothing around her, she could feel the currents swirling around her feet and legs. She had to swim hard in order to keep her chin out of the water. She studied the waterfall to see if there was a cave or hollow behind it, maybe bandits of long ago had hidden their hoards of treasure and contrabrand there. As far as she could make out it was plain rock, covered in green slime. The froth splashed around her and tickled her skin, water spouted up under her armpits and over her shoulders making her laugh involuntarily. She felt drawn towards the waterfall and wanted to stand underneath it but when she tried to touch the bottom with her toes she noticed it was a long, long way down. She held her breath and sank vertically as far as she dared but the pool seemed to be bottomless. She kicked and swam frantically back up and shot through the surface gasping for breath. The waterfall was nearly upon her, she turned and swam away as quickly as possible. In moments she was being pulled towards the opening in the rocks, she started to swim for the side but then changed her mind; she held out her hands and allowed herself to be swept towards the widest opening, the water carrying her ever faster. She took a deep breath and next thing she had hurtled through the gap and plunged into the calm pool below. It was a drop of less than two feet. Tanya had made a discovery, she had found a place that was better than any swimming pool she had ever been in. Her heart was pounding. She swam down the river until it was too shallow to swim comfortably, turned and swam back towards the waterfall. She rolled onto her back and swam the back-stroke, she rolled over and dived down until she was skimming along the muddy bottom. She dared to open her eyes under water and glimpsed flashes of silver as fish darted past, curious, no doubt, about this unusual mammal visiting their domain. She broke the surface and gasped for air, then looked around to make sure she was still really quite alone. She spent several moments bobbing in the water. She had only been there for half an hour or an hour at the most, there was no reason why she should be disturbed. She ducked down and held herself below the surface by pushing up with her hands, imagining what the scene would look like to anyone appearing now: her pile of clothes, the deserted river. She stayed down for as long as she could then pulled herself vigorously to the surface, once again popping up with her head and shoulders clear of the water. She was beginning to feel cold, she noticed she was shivering and had been for several minutes. A lecture on hypothermia came to mind where it had been described how one ceases to notice the cold. Tanya was definitely not at that stage yet. She swam towards the bank and, as she drew close to the mud-bank beach, lay still with her hands held out and floated forward until she sank into the mud. She pretended to be a crocodile and crawled forward on her belly, the soft black mud sticking to her all down her front. She liked the feeling and decided to roll around until her body was completely covered, she pushed herself into the mud and started smearing it around her neck and shoulders, then she rubbed mud onto her face. She laughed to herself and hoped no one would see her like this, anyone would think she was crazy; she didn't know why she was doing it, it just seemed like a good idea and sort of, well, it felt good. She lay on her stomach in less than an inch of water, then rolled onto her back. The water had washed off the mud in some places, she sat up and began smearing thick dollops of mud onto all the bare patches. Then she stood up and walked towards her clothes, dark mud dripping onto the grass leaving a trail behind her. She sat by her clothes, her elbows hanging loosely around her knees. She was naked and yet clothed in mud, she could feel it drying already. The sun was beating down, she stopped shivering. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her. Several minutes later she opened her eyes and sat very still; she looked at the river, it was just as it had been before. She glanced from side to side without moving her head, everything was as it had been. She listened acutely for sounds of feet breaking branches or voices, she thought she had dosed off and was afraid she might have been woken by someone approaching. She slowly turned her head and looked around. There was no one in sight, she could scarcely believe her good fortune. She felt that with each passing minute the risk of discovery increased. She imagined what people might say if word got around - it was no big deal really, but she could come in for a lot of teasing at school. The sense of danger increased her excitement. She stood up and felt the mud cracking, she stretched and chunks of dried mud dropped off. In her mind she shouted, 'come on then, come and stare at me if you want! See if I care!' She grinned, she was happy. She jumped in the air and kicked out with her legs, then she did it again. She jumped up and down flailing her arms and legs a few times then stood panting. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees. 'What if the whole class came here and we were all naked together?' she thought. She burst into a laugh at the thought of it, she was luckier than some. Then she went a bit red, it would be fraught with its own problems. Once again she looked around, she was beginning to feel like an animal, constantly on the alert for danger. She ran across the springy grass towards the waterfall. The mud was making her back feel itchy. It held her in a scratchy embrace all over, in some places it was pleasant, in others it was uncomfortable. Tanya picked her way along a narrow path that took her to a ledge beside the waterfall, trying to avoid the tiny stones that stabbed her feet. She edged her way along until she was a few yards from the tumbling water, looked down and felt like changing her mind. Her stomach knotted, the water seemed a long way away. Her heart was pounding, she had never dived off a board before let alone off the rocks but she could not allow herself to turn back. She relaxed and stood erect, shaded her eyes with her hand and looked down the river, she could see the mountains through the haze in the distance. What if there were someone with a telescope who had been watching her all the time? She decided it was not possible. Turning her attention back to the water she took a deep breath, bent her knees and did a magnificent dive down into the bubbling pool. The rush of the water, the sudden change in sound, the coldness and wetness took her by surprise, she felt as if she had just been woken. She wanted to gulp down a lungful of air but there was water all around her. She swam deeper, her stomach heaving as she strained for breath, she swam under the water until she could not hold her breath for moment longer then fought her way to the surface. She exhaled loudly. All the mud had gone. She held her head above the water by kicking furiously with her feet and saw the stain of mud as it drifted below her. She turned in time to see that she was about to be swept through to the lower pool and only just prepared herself by holding her breath and stretching out her hands. She shot between the rocks and was momentarily submerged. The river felt different second time around. This was to be her last dip before drying in the sun and making her way home. Tanya swam languidly to the shore, drifting into the bank and allowing herself to be carried downstream until she became caught under a grassy overhang. She pulled her way back upstream to the beach of silt and left the river. She walked towards her clothes shaking the water from her hair. Tanya was enjoying herself in a way she had never enjoyed herself before but it somehow seemed unfair that she should be alone; and yet, if she were with company it would not be the same. Her clothes were exactly as she had left them; it felt odd, as if she had unconsciously been expecting her mother or someone to have tidied them up for her. Tanya wondered what she should do, she was still dripping wet. She shielded her eyes with her hand and gazed at the edge of the wood, she was looking for a hunter's hide. She saw a deer watching her from the shadows. The sound of birds flying made her look up, a flock of geese flew cackling overhead towards the lake several miles upstream. She was nearly dry. Tanya ran fifty paces towards the waterfall then turned and ran another fifty paces past her clothes. By the time she reached her clothes again she was slightly out of breath and completely dry. She was about to start dressing when she changed her mind; the air was warm, the sun was shining and she had all the time in the world. Tanya lay down on the comfortable moss and grass, put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. It was a blissful, quiet afternoon. In a few moments she was asleep. The sun crossed the sky and began to descend behind the hills. A breeze wafted over the grass from the river. Tanya awoke. The birds were singing their evening songs, insects buzzed. She could hear the waterfall. She had a moment of disorientation then looked anxiously for her clothes. They lay as she had left them. Her arms were stiff. She shivered slightly. She could smell the grass, the earth and the trees. She lay quite still for several minutes; the sun had disappeared from view but the sky was still very bright. She got up, put on her clothes and went back the way she had come. (3000 words) (end) Future Views Magazine www.futureviews.co FREEPOST @ futureviews co © Future Views Magazine 2022