Searching and Slipping
@Open
Polly stood on the shore of the Great Lake, squinting at the water. She was searching its depths for… well, anything! Even a glimpse of a Plimpy, Mermaid, Grindylow, or the Squid would be absolutely amazing.
Still nothing. She saw only black water and the faint, distorted reflection of her pale face on the clear surface. From an outside perspective, she probably looked crazy: stiff and silent, watching the Great Lake like it might try something funny if she didn’t.
If nothing popped up in the next hour—no, if nothing popped up in the next half hour, she’d return to her Puffskein research. But for now, she must wait just a little longer. Just in case.
She found herself thinking of the fish pond back home. How minuscule it was next to this lake. She wondered what her grandfather was doing.
Suddenly, a flash of white! The Squid? Polly jolted forward eagerly, falling on her hands and knees to get a closer look at the water. Nothing again. At this point, she was considering jumping in.
She leaned forward just a smidge more, kneeling on the shore with her hands on her knees. Was that a ripple? There was definitely something…
Her hand slid off her knee, sending her off balance. She slipped—she was going to fall in the water!
Polly stood on the shore of the Great Lake, squinting at the water. She was searching its depths for… well, anything! Even a glimpse of a Plimpy, Mermaid, Grindylow, or the Squid would be absolutely amazing.
Still nothing. She saw only black water and the faint, distorted reflection of her pale face on the clear surface. From an outside perspective, she probably looked crazy: stiff and silent, watching the Great Lake like it might try something funny if she didn’t.
If nothing popped up in the next hour—no, if nothing popped up in the next half hour, she’d return to her Puffskein research. But for now, she must wait just a little longer. Just in case.
She found herself thinking of the fish pond back home. How minuscule it was next to this lake. She wondered what her grandfather was doing.
Suddenly, a flash of white! The Squid? Polly jolted forward eagerly, falling on her hands and knees to get a closer look at the water. Nothing again. At this point, she was considering jumping in.
She leaned forward just a smidge more, kneeling on the shore with her hands on her knees. Was that a ripple? There was definitely something…
Her hand slid off her knee, sending her off balance. She slipped—she was going to fall in the water!
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” —G. K. Chesterton