Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks!
Tiri was a born traveler. Unlike others content to live out their lives on rocks at the edge of a dark watery world in the company of a few fellow creatures, Tiri wanted to follow the water to wherever it led. She knew the water moved. It passed over her body in a gentle flow, always in the same direction. Why only one way? Why never back and forth? And where was it going? Were there worlds out there different from her own? Tiri had to find out.
Like all her fellow creatures, Tiri had a long, lithe physique, off-white skin, vestigial eyes that distinguished only light and dark, holes for ears, a filter for a mouth, and dozens of feet—the perfect body for her world. She needed only two elements to survive—air to breathe and water to keep her skin moist and to provide nourishment. An easy, monotonous life, but there were dangers: the elders told cautionary tales of those who had crept too close to the edge of the rocks and vanished into the watery depths, where, unable to breathe, they met a quick death.
Thus, if Tiri wanted to travel, she needed a floating device that would keep her above the water. It seemed a flat rock would do, but when she finally dislodged a small piece, it immediately kerplunked beneath the surface. From time to time, bits of debris touched her skin, but they were too small to hold her weight.
One day Tiri felt a bump from something heavy. Her dozens of feet probed the object. It was big, coarse but not as hard as rock, and it floated. Tiri pulled it up onto the rocky ledge and continued to probe. Its curved shape would comfortably cushion her body, and the material was rough enough to give her feet purchase. The perfect float! Without communicating her plans to anyone, for they would undoubtedly discourage her, Tiri slipped onto the object. By leaning back and forth, she moved the float off the ledge. The long-awaited journey had begun!
For a long time the water carried Tiri and the float through a subterranean passageway that she sensed was immense. The movement lulled her, and Tiri slept better than ever before. She wondered if other creatures clung to rocks along the walls of the passageway and, if so, what they were like.
Eventually, the water sped up. The float began to rock, then it careened wildly. Every one of Tiri’s dozens of feet grabbed onto the rough floor, and she clung for dear life. The water swooped her up, then tossed her down. Suddenly, a movement like water but dry stirred her skin. She felt a change around her, and her vestigial eyes burned as dark turned to light. Almost immediately the new sensations disappeared, replaced by violent movements of water, plunging Tiri and the float below the surface. She couldn’t breathe and remembered the cautionary tales of the elders. Yet, stubbornly hopeful, she didn’t let go.
Before long, the sensations of light and dry movement returned, and she could breathe again. The float rocked slightly, then not at all. They were in calm water. Tiri had survived! Her skin became prickly hot, a new sensation. What caused it? And what would come next? She couldn’t wait to explore this new world.
***
A boy wading in the pool below the Big Spring spied a piece of bark floating toward him. When he lifted the bark out of the water, he saw a long, slimy, white creepy-crawler attached to it.
“Yuck!” He tossed the bark away. It arced into the air and landed on the water, upside down. The creepy-crawler was nowhere to be seen.
Repulsed, the boy stumbled to the bank of the pool and the comfort of his mother.
