Floating

She sat and watched the stream each and every day. It flowed past her place, very gently past. She watched small leaves floating on the surface and little branches as they traveled downstream. The water was shallow and she could walk across the stream in front of her place without even getting her clothes wet. Sometimes she would cross over and watch from the over side.

Often, while she sat watching, she wondered what it was like farther downstream. On occasion she asked her father about it. Her father told her that life was very good right where she was. Downstream, life was much worse. She did not need to go there. She would be in terrible danger if she ever went downstream. He urged her not to wander. Here was her place and here she was safe.

One day, as she was watching things float downstream, she decided she would try floating on the stream, just like all the objects she liked to watch. The water was awfully gentle and it was not very deep. She could float a short ways down the stream and be able to see a few new sights. Whenever she wanted to, she could just stand up in the stream, walk to the shore and come back home.

She looked around and found a wide board that was dry and could support her if she lay on it. So she sat down on the board, pushed off and began to float down the stream. The board moved gently downstream, just like the leaves and branches. It moved very slowly. She watched everything. She saw new trees she had never seen before. She saw animals coming right up to the shore to drink. She watched the leaves and the branches floating by her. She was even able to see fish in the stream. What she did not see was that the stream was getting deeper and the water was moving faster.

After some time, she decided she should probably get off the board and head for home. She had been gone for quite a long time. When she went to get off though, she noticed for the first time that she could no longer see the bottom of the stream. She was concerned, but she was not really worried. She considered herself a good swimmer. As she prepared to slip into the water, she also noticed the water was now rushing by very quickly, and that she would have some trouble swimming across to the shore, which, by this point, was quite a distance from where she was on the board. Again she was concerned, but as she had never been in trouble before in her life, she still was not terribly worried.

She would do what she had always been taught to do. She would call out for her father. So she did, loudly, but there was no answer. She called again, yelling his name even louder, but still there was no response. She realized she had drifted a very long way from her home on the stream's current, and her father probably could no longer hear her calls for assistance. At this point she decided she was worried.

Ahead she also noticed some problems developing. If the board she was riding on continued to drift in the current to the left, everything would be just fine, and she would likely drift into shore in a short while. However, it the board continued on in the center of the stream, it was going to crash onto some very large sharp rocks. If that happened, she would likely be injured. Still, the board could drift to the right in the ever-widening stream. If that was the case, the board and its' passenger were going to go over a large set of falls and she was pretty sure she would not survive that journey. Having not considered navigation before she set out, the board was completely adrift and she had no control over the direction it would take. All she could do is to sit there and watch the events as they unfolded.

Just when she was sure the board was heading for certain disaster, it veered to the left and drifted peacefully into shore, safely. She immediately jumped up off the board onto the shore and raced all the way home. When she arrived, she ran straight to her father and tearfully told him her horrible story. he listened to her patiently. When she had finished, he did not scold her for being disobedient. He told her he was glad she had not been injured or lost and that she was where she belonged, at home, safe. He reminded her, everything in life was a lesson to be learned from. She agreed with that.

The next morning she arose and went down to the shore. As she had done for years, sat down and watched the leaves and branches for awhile. After a short time, she stood up and looked around. No one was in sight. She looked carefully for her father, because after her scare the day before, she wanted to know where he was. She did not see him. She picked up a wide board, set it down in the shallow water, sit down on it, pushed herself off from the shore, and floated downstream. She had a smile on her face.