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Date Posted: Fri, September 22 2023, 5:45:31
Author: Kathy in PA
Subject: QOTD from “Voyager” by Diana Gabaldon. Published 1994 (the books were coming a lot closer then!!)




PROLOGUE

When I was small, I never wanted to step in puddles. Not because of any fear of drowned worms or wet stocking; I was by and large a grubby child, with a blissful disregard for filth of any kind. (Talk about foreshadowing!)

It was because I couldn’t bring myself to believe that the perfect smooth expanse was no more than a thin film of water over solid earth. I believed it was an opening into some fathomless space. Sometimes, seeing the tiny ripples caused by my approach, I thought the puddle impossibly deep, a bottomless sea in which the lazy coil of tentacles and gleam of scale lay hidden, with the threat of huge bodies and sharp teeth adrift and silent in the far-down depths.

And then, looking down into reflection, I would see my own round face and frizzled hair against a featureless blue sweep, and think instead that the puddle was the entrance to another sky. If I stepped in there, I would drop at once, and keep on falling, on and on, into blue space.

The only time I would dare to walk through a puddle was at twilight, when the evening stars come out. If I looked in the water and saw one lighted pinprick there, I could splash through unafraid-for if I should fall into the puddle and on into space, I could grab hold of the star as I passed, and be safe.

Even now, when I see a puddle in my path, my mind half-halts—even though my feet do not—then hurries on, with only the echo of the thought left behind.

What if, this time, you fall?

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Replies:

[> I think this is how my horse views puddles, ROFL!!! -- DianaH, Fri, September 22 2023, 10:24:14


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[> [> Won’t step in puddles? They does paint a funny picture. It’s so wonderful that you have a horse! -- Kathy in PA, Fri, September 22 2023, 16:33:07


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[> [> [> Land Rover doesn't like to get his feet wet, especially if it's muddy! I've finally convinced him to step in clear water, but it has to be super clean with good sand on the bottom. He's a joy, though! -- DianaH, Mon, September 25 2023, 13:50:16


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