Downstream

In which the children explore a new land.

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The river picked up speed descending through the woodlands into a valley. Occasionally their mushroom cap boat was caught in an eddy and spun round and round, causing Mirabelle and Bettina to whoop with delight, and Annabelle to shut her eyes and cling to the gills.

Gerhardt was watching the banks intently, and made them pull to the side whenever there were many rocks on the bank.

“What are you looking for?” Mirabelle asked.

“Stone to make into an axe, like the cavemen used.”

“That’s a good idea,” Claire said, “but you don’t want that kind. You want flint, or chert, or obsidian. I’ll help. I’ve much more geology than you.”

They stopped six times before they found a rock to Claire’s satisfaction, and other rocks needed to shape it into an axe head. She wouldn’t let Gerhardt try making it on the boat though, for like watch repair, flint-knapping requires stillness.

Adolphus watched the bank for a different reason. He had brought a collection of thin, long sticks on board, and tickled the plants growing on the bank for a reaction. Over the course of the day four of his sticks were snatched away by annoyed vines, and the children memorized the foliage of their dangerous foe.

Late in the afternoon (judging solely from how hungry they felt) the river widened and became shallow and clear, only a foot or two deep over rock ridges. That’s when they finally saw their first birds since coming to this new place. A pair waded along the edge of the river, peering sharply into the water for fish to spear on their wicked sharp beaks. The children watched in awe, hoping they didn’t want to catch anything bigger, for the birds were nearly as big as Gerhardt! One of them had a fanciful orange crest on its head, and both gleamed with shiny teal and turquoise backs and hot pink bellies.

“This is a floodplain,” Claire announced in her I-know-geology voice. “It will be a good place to make camp and look for food.”

Using their poles rather unsuccessfully, then just getting out and walking, they pulled the mushroom boat to shore where a sandy-pebbly beach led to a broad grassy field. Adolphus volunteered to make a fire and Claire went with him to look for wood. The twins ventured off for food, and Gerhardt and Bettina stayed with the boat, he working on his stone axe and she poking at the shrubbery along the bank to make sure it didn’t poke back, and then pulling off leaves to make boats with, filling them with flower cargo, and floating them downstream.

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This story began with On Grandmothers. The previous episode was An Unusual Breakfast and the next is What’s for Dinner?

Photo credit SriMesh.