After putting several miles between themselves and Port Town, Ilika slowed the pace and left plenty of time each day for lessons. Fewer and fewer cottages lined the coast as they moved northward. The cliffs became higher and the beaches more rocky.
For the next three days, Ilika concentrated on writing lessons, first with one-inch letters, then half-inch, the smallest they could easily make with their thick pencils and inexperienced hands. As soon as they were doing well, he set them to copying passages of text from their story book. This they enjoyed, and would talk about the beloved scenes as they worked.
On the fourth day Ilika began slowly dictating simple sentences while they wrote, and the thorny issue of spelling reared its ugly head. He spelled difficult words for them, and as he did, he pushed their memories from two letters at a time, to three, to four, and finally to five. Miko, Buna, and Boro had trouble beyond three.
When not writing, they learned more formulas, starting with the perimeter, area, and volume of the geometric figures they already knew. Rini thought the mysterious number pi was pure magic and quickly memorized twenty-three places. The rest were satisfied with three or four.
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On the morning of the sixth day out from Port Town, they tried their hand at written composition for the first time. Ilika kept it simple — write about what you can see, hear, and smell right now.
As easy as the task sounded to them at first, they found it very difficult.
They could talk about the things around them, but today that was not allowed.
Instead they had to direct those thoughts into their hands, pencils, and papers.
Ilika smiled at the crude sentences he received.
As several hours remained before high tide, they continued their journey.
As they walked, they exchanged elaborate sentences about their environment, with rich adjectives and adverbs, and wondered why they couldn’t get those onto paper.
With the arrival of early afternoon, and the day’s high tide only another hour away, they all became a little worried. For the past hour the beach had been narrow and rocky, with no dry sand above the high-tide line. Ilika called a conference.
“If we dash back now, we can just make the last dry place before the tide gets too high.”
“But it’s two or three days back to the last place we could get up the cliff,”
Mati pointed out with frustration.
Ilika nodded. “Going forward is a risk. Are we all willing to take it?”
They looked at each other for a moment.
“Working on a ship will have risks all the time, right?” Boro asked pointedly.
Several
nodded.
“Yes,” Ilika confirmed, “but not risks walked into blindly or without need.”
Thoughtful looks were exchanged.
“It’s
not
that big a risk,” Miko said with a wave of his hand. “I’ve seen lots of places we could go above high tide. Not camping places, just little places.”
Others agreed with nods.
“I think we should go forward,” Kibi proposed, “unless anyone sees a big danger.”
Ilika looked around. No one spoke. “Okay, I accept Miko and Kibi’s proposal.”
The group moved forward at their best speed, all eyes on the rocks and cliff, looking for a bit of dry beach or cave.
The beach became narrower and the tide continued to rise. The cliff was sheer and dangerous, offering no hope for a donkey or a crutch. Shallow caves were common, all dripping wet and obviously pounded by waves at high tide.
An hour later, though they hurried along as high up the beach as possible, the rising tide lapped at their boots and hooves. Miko and Kibi looked worried, and a little guilty.
They pressed on even as Tera became frightened and hard to control. Ilika and Boro walked with her, one on each side with a hand on her halter, urging her to keep moving through the surging tide.
Rini blinked after a spray of salt water drenched him, then glanced around to get his bearings. The slender cleft in the face of the cliff was hard to see, a narrow slit through the loose rocky dirt, with a hollow bowl behind into which a small waterfall cascaded.
Standing in swirling water two feet deep, Ilika heard Rini’s call above the sound of the surf, then looked in the direction he was pointing. Before making a decision, he took another moment to peer ahead along the beach,
and saw nothing but the rising surf starting to pound the cliff face in many places.
“Boro, climb in there and take a look. Mati’s next if Boro gives us a sign.
Everyone else, get ready as soon as Tera is clear. Kibi, keep an eye on everyone.”
No one proposed any sort of discussion or delay.
Boro thrust himself through the cleft. His eyes darted about, taking in the small pool at the bottom and several natural ledges in the rocky soil above. A wide shelf on the left, just a couple of feet above the pool, looked accessible to a determined donkey.
“MATI, DISMOUNT!” Boro yelled as he came back through. “It’s not wide enough for your legs!”
Ilika grabbed her waist and lifted her off, then Sata waded close and put the crutch into her hand.
Boro grabbed the donkey’s halter.
“GO, TERA!” Mati commanded with her firmest do-or-die voice.
With the angry ocean behind, Tera went willingly. Her ribs scraped the stony soil on both sides of the cleft, but between the ocean pushing and Boro pulling, she didn’t stop to notice.
Ilika helped Mati through the cleft and onto the shelf with Boro and the donkey, then turned to help the others. One by one they climbed through the cleft and found places to sit on the sides of the bowl.
Kibi came last out of the swirling water, by that time up to her waist. Ilika took her hand and pulled her up, then gave her hand an extra squeeze of gratitude.
Finally he was able to look around. The donkey stood on the widest ledge, with Boro and Mati pouring a constant stream of reassuring words into her long ears. Sata and Rini were sitting together on a small ledge, and Neti and Buna shared a large rock. Everyone else perched on tiny ledges wherever they could.
For a few minutes, all was calm, and the walls of the cleft muffled the roar of the ocean. The students looked at each other. Rini cracked a smile, and Buna joined him. Neti started giggling. Toli laughed out loud. Soon almost everyone was either laughing or smiling.
Ilika chuckled, but noticed that Miko wasn’t finding anything funny in the situation.
As soon as the tide rose a little higher and found its way through the cleft, the laughter quickly came to an end. The narrow slot caused each wave to speed up, smash into the far wall of the little bowl, and splash several feet straight into the air. As the tide deepened, each wave shot higher and higher, and soon everyone was drenched again and again.
“Tera’s going crazy!” Boro shouted, barely able to keep hold of the halter.
“I need more help over here!”
Sata, on the opposite side, looked at the water, only two or three feet deep in the bowl, maybe four when a wave came in. She took a deep breath, waited for a wave to pass, and let herself slide to the bottom of the waterfall bowl.
She stood in the icy cold, churning water for a moment with a smile on her face, then pulled herself onto the donkey’s ledge. Exchanging glances with Boro, she used her body to shield Tera’s head from the spray on the side Boro and Mati couldn’t reach.
Ilika saw all this and smiled to himself.
“MIKO! What are you doing?” Neti screamed.
Everyone jerked their heads in his direction and saw him clawing his way upward from his perch.
“I’m getting out of here!” Miko yelled in full panic. “I hate this place!”
The wall was, in a pinch, climbable, but Miko was causing loose dirt and rocks to rain down, some of them hitting Rini. Neti’s face was filled with worry and deep disappointment.
Suddenly Miko’s handholds and footholds all gave way at once, and he made a pathetic wailing sound as he slid to the bottom of the bowl.
Ilika jumped into the water, and a second later a wave filled the bowl with spray. Ilika wrapped his arms around the crying, shaking youth and braced his feet against the undertow.
The two stood together in the surging water, braced against the waves by Ilika’s firm grip, frozen in place by Miko’s panic.
Deep Learning Notes
Ilika and his students missed a warning sign before they entered the dangerous stretch of coastline with no beaches above high tide. Can you spot it?
Stories have great power because they speak to both our minds and our hearts. By teaching his students to write using the story book they already loved, Ilika used the emotional power it contained to help them over the hardest parts of their learning process.
Remembering a series of letters, in the right order, is a good mental exercise, especially when the letters are received one way (such as by hearing) and used another way (such as by writing).
In the geometry illustration, each of the 3-dimensional figures on the right is the most regular form of the 2-dimensional figures on the left, and therefore the easiest to calculate. It is important to notice that A1 in the tetrahedron is the AREA of the base, not the length of a side. It is necessary to use the formula for the area of a triangle first (S1 x H / 2, where S1 and H are from the base), then multiply by H (the height of the tetrahedron, not the base).
The students experienced “writer’s block,” the difficulty of putting what we can imagine into words. Writing is a complex process involving the code of language, cultural symbols, and the invocation of shared experience.
In the decision to go forward along the dangerous stretch of beach, what different roles were played by Mati, Miko, Kibi, and Ilika?
Why did Ilika choose Boro to explore the waterfall bowl and make a decision?
Why would Sata have a smile on her face as she stood in the cold, churning water before climbing up to help with Tera?
Chapter 29: What Comes In Must Go Out
Long minutes passed as Ilika stood with his arms around Miko in the bottom of the waterfall bowl at high tide. Occasionally the others said reassuring things, or offered to hand them anything they needed.
Eventually the waves became smaller, and with their waning power, the spray ceased.
Not too long after that, the tide finally retreated from the little bowl.
Miko made some attempt to collect himself. His arms were scraped and his face scratched, but luckily his hardened blisters had not been torn open.
The saddest sight to behold was the shame clearly visible in his eyes and shoulders.
As soon as the top of the beach was free of water, Ilika guided Miko down through the cleft. Boro, Sata, and Mati coaxed Tera to come next, and the rest followed after.
The sun was nearing the western horizon. Kibi, crouching in the wet sand, opened her pack and cut big slices of cheese for everyone.
Neti, a resolute look on her face, got out pieces of dried fruit, but made no move to comfort Miko. Ilika stayed with him, looking at his scrapes and bruises.
“Even though we’ve just been through . . . you call it Hell, I believe . . . we should go on,” Ilika asserted. “It will be much easier to find a good campsite if we do it before dark.”
Everyone agreed as the sun touched the horizon.
NEBADOR BookTwo: Journey 148
“Toli, would you lead at a fast pace, please? Everyone, eyes open for dry caves.”
Toli began striding along the beach proudly.
For a few minutes, Miko found himself walking alone, head bowed.
Eventually Neti slowed down so he could catch up, but she didn’t yet have any words to share.
The shore continued to offer nothing dry and accessible above high tide for about another mile. Suddenly they came to a cape jutting into the open ocean, and in the fading light saw a huge bay several miles across in front of them.
Ilika got out the map, then smiled.
“Looks like the cliffs come down quickly,” Rini said, scanning with his eagle eyes. “The beach looks wide too — should be good camping.”
“Hurray!” everyone cheered who still had a little energy. Miko tried to smile.
Ilika looked out at the dimming sunset colors over the dark water. “This is where we say good-bye to the open ocean, with all its glory, and all its fury.
“It’s given us a lot,” Kibi said with a far-away look in her eyes. “Mussels, clams, our friend Kit . . .”
Sata took a deep breath. “It’s taught us a lot, too . . . about standing on our own two feet.”
Miko looked at the sand.
“I’ll miss it,” Rini said with a hint of sadness. “It’s big and beautiful.”
“Let’s find a camp before dark,” Ilika urged. “The next high tide is early tomorrow morning, and I want to sleep in.”
“Yeah!” Toli agreed, and led them along the wide beach.
A good campsite, in the dunes above the beach, was easy to find in the twilight. Even though clothes and boots were completely soaked, most of their blankets had remained dry. They sat around the campfire like zombies, then fell into their bedrolls with little conversation.
Everyone slept so long the following morning that Tera made squeaking noises of concern. Eventually her people started rising and staggering into the nearby trees.
Lunch was their first meal of the day, and Ilika declared two layover days to dry everything and recover from their recent ordeal. Kibi put ointment on Miko’s scrapes, but little sympathy came from anyone.
Once the afternoon sun began to warm them, Ilika got out pencils and paper, avoiding some sheets that needed drying. “An experience like we just had is similar to things that can happen on a ship. Sometimes there’s no perfect choice, so we do the best we can, then take a break to rest and learn from what happened.
“One thing that helps people deal with narrow escapes is to talk about them. Another is to write. We will do both, but since you’re learning to write, we’ll start there.”
He passed out the materials.
“Just as with verbal reporting, writing about an event is most useful if you focus on yourself. Let other people deal with their own weaknesses.”
All afternoon they wrote. When their cramping hands could write no more, they took breaks to turn wet clothes or gather firewood, then returned to writing, all struggling to get their thoughts and feelings onto paper.
Once their brains were completely fried by the effort, they went down to the water and dug up huge clams, several times larger than those on the ocean beach.
After dinner they read their writings to each other. Boro and Toli shared accounts that were mostly factual. Kibi, Mati, and Buna had stories full of personal feelings and concerns for unnamed others. Sata wrote about her new relationship with the forces of nature she once thought were evil. Rini was in a class by himself, seeing the joyous dance of the waves and the spray,
NEBADOR BookTwo: Journey 150
and suspecting the presence of unseen spirits, gathered as if for a party.
Miko and Neti both shared their dark writings with difficulty. Miko was confused and tormented by his efforts to make his life go in one direction, only to find that the more he tried, the further from his goals he seemed to be.
Neti was distressed that all the love she gave did not seem to be enough. It was painful for both of them, but after reading their papers to the group, they were once again in each other’s arms, sharing tears and apologies.
The others had many things to discuss late into the evening. With the issue of Miko’s panic out in the open, other thoughts could be shared. Mati wondered aloud how her beloved donkey would have survived without the help of Boro and Sata.
Ilika shared his writing last, done as if reporting the event to his commander. It contained the factual events, his feelings and fears, and some thoughts about possible spiritual influences.
“Is it really okay to put ghost and fairy stuff in a report to a commander?”
Boro asked with wide eyes of disbelief.
“Where I come from, it is.”
On the second day in the beach dunes by the large bay, with their clothes and boots quickly drying, the entire group felt much more alive.
Ilika began teaching the finer points of writing. The difference between the past tenses gave most of them trouble, but Sata and Kibi once again caught on quickly.
“If we’re talking about some time in the past,” Kibi began, pointing over
her shoulder, “and at that time Tera had already eaten grass sometime before that,” she continued, fingers getting tangled up, “then we use the past perfect.
Right, Ilika?”
He smiled and nodded.
The following morning, the nine students and their teacher walked the last few miles along the wide beach to the innermost part of the bay. A small village allowed them to take an early lunch of fish stew and bread, and then buy dried fish, hard crackers, and soft goat cheese.
The local people were surprised the travelers had come from the direction they did, knowing the dangers of the beach just south of the cape. The students nodded and grinned knowingly.
Tera climbed quickly and happily up the winding road from the beach.
The rest had mixed feelings as they turned and looked out over the sparkling bay for the last time.
Deep Learning Notes
A map shows the region around the large bay that interrupts the coastline.
The past tenses are the most important for the story teller because most stories are written in past tense. Most story tellers find that the simplest verb tense that will work is usually the best, even when another is technically more correct. This generally means using the simple past tense instead of past perfect. Instead of “Tera had eaten lots of grass that day,” it is easier to read
“Tera ate lots of grass that day.”
The story teller must be on the lookout, however, for those situations when the simple past tense cannot be used. “Mati was groggy because she had not slept all night long.” In that case, “Mati was groggy because she did not sleep all night long,” creates a time confusion, making the reader unsure if the long night is over.
NEBADOR BookTwo: Journey 152
