Penny was there waiting for me. We just looked at each other for a long time.
“You
have changed,” she said.
She had my bike there, so I dug out my water bottle and drank it all.
Nothing had ever tasted so good in my whole life!
We walked our bikes home. I hadn’t said anything yet. Words didn’t seem very important. Penny didn’t speak either. But I realized that my parents would think something was wrong if I didn’t talk about something. But it was Penny who broke the silence.
“Now that you’ve done it, do you still think I should?”
“I’d like to do it again next year.” I knew I hadn’t answered her question, but I knew she’d understand. “What did you do at the State Park?”
“Swam a lot. Sun bathed. Made some friends — one-day friends. Walked some of the trails. Kissed a boy . . .”
“You
did?”
“Yeah. Another one-day friend. He wasn’t from around here. But he was so cute!”
“Neat! Maybe I’ll find someone next week! You going to do it?”
“The Vision Quest? Yeah. It’s scary. But you lived. You even want to do it again. I guess I’ll live.”
When we got to my house, my parents wanted to take us out to dinner. I picked a place that had a fruit salad bar. My stomach wasn’t ready for
anything else quite yet.
For the next few days, I spent lots of time alone. I wasn’t ready to talk about my Vision Quest, not even with Penny. First I had to talk it over with myself and several friendly Spirits. I decided my vision had been about who I was. I wasn’t nearly as tall as Penny, but standing tall and proud, like the alders, was more important to me now. And being strong. Muscles, and being strong inside when hungry and stuff like that. And being quiet. I could move quietly, even in the woods. And I could listen to people, and to books, and not open my mouth until I had something to say. And talking to the Spirits. I wanted to talk to the Spirits more. I knew they had talked to me on my Quest. Maybe they would talk to me even more. I was ready to listen.
Penny and I started preparing for her Quest. She tried a couple of times to ask me what it was like, but I wouldn’t tell her. “It’s too personal, Penny. It’ll probably be different for you, anyway.”
We got our camping gear ready. The big day arrived, and I rode to Penny’s house early in the morning. She looked scared, but hid it well from her mom.
We had breakfast and rode to the park.
“All I get is my cloak, huh?”
“You get anything you want,” I said.
“Yeah. But then it wouldn’t be a Vision Quest. All my pockets are empty.
Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it, but I wish it for you anyway,” I said.
“See you!” She disappeared into the woods.
I stashed her bike and rode slowly to the State Park. I had plenty of time.
It looked like the weather was going to be nice, and it would be fun to do some swimming. I was tempted to worry about Penny, but I knew it wouldn’t do her, or me, any good. I should enjoy myself, have some fun.
I arrived and registered for a bicycle campsite. There were only 2 of them, and no one ever seemed to use them. I wondered which one Penny had used.
My tent didn’t take long to set up. It looked cozy with my sleeping bag laid out inside it, but I knew now I didn’t really need any of it.
The morning was still kind of cool, but I knew the lake would be a zoo later, so I changed into my swimsuit, closed my tent, and found a trail to the
water. There was a little roped-off swimming area, with floating platforms and lifeguards, and I used to go there when I was younger. On the rest of the beaches, there were signs that said NO LIFEGUARD — SWIM AT YOUR
OWN RISK. Wasn’t all of life at your own risk? I looked out at the water.
One rowboat at the far end, about a mile away. I waded in, pebbles under my feet, and started swimming. A nice, easy five strokes per breath felt good.
I came up on a little beach at the other end. The day was starting to get warm. I was alone, but not lonely. There were people around if I wanted to be near them. The picnic area would be crawling soon. Penny was alone.
Good luck, Penny.
I swam back, this time for speed. Four kicks per stroke. I pushed myself as hard as I could. Seven strokes per breath, then nine, each breath pushing my rhythm faster.
When I got back, I finally felt like being near people, so I got some lunch stuff and went over to the picnic area. People were starting to arrive. I sat down near the water to eat my lunch. Kids and adults were in the swimming area now, and there were more canoes and rowboats and stuff on the lake. I finished eating and just soaked up some sun.
All of a sudden there were about five teenagers standing around me, one of then holding a volleyball. “We need one more person to make the teams even.
Can you play?”
“I’m not super-great at it . . .”
“Come
on!”
I went. I forgot all about Penny. After a few plays, I was really getting the hang of it.
“What’s your name?” a girl asked.
“Ariel.”
“Are you Ariel the Swimmer?” a guy asked.
Oh, shit. Why did I have to do those demos? I wasn’t sure what to answer, because I didn’t know what they felt about Ariel the Swimmer. So I just smiled at him. He smiled back.
We played for a long time, and finally they had to go home. I went back to my tent and changed into my clothes. It was almost evening. I ate something, and then decided to go for a walk.
There were a few people on the trails during the evening, but as soon as it got dark, I found myself alone. I was surprised, but then remembered that I was used to the dark, and few other people were. After walking awhile, I got a little bored, so I headed back to camp. I wondered how Penny was doing.
There wasn’t anything interesting happening at the campground, so I crawled into my tent, lit a candle, and got out the paperback book I was reading.
Morning. Penny’s on the home stretch now. Hang in there, Penny.
I got dressed and washed up at the restroom. I wanted to do some tree climbing today. I ate some cereal with reconstituted milk on it, and picked a trail into the woods. Alder bending! I hadn’t done it in years. The trees had to be slender, just a couple of inches across. I picked one and started climbing. The tree started bending. I kept going up. It started to lower me to the ground. Watch the roots, Ariel. Sometimes they pop out of the ground. I went a little farther, hung by my hands, and as my feet touched the ground, I let go. The tree snapped back upright. “Thank you, tree!”
I found the three-mile nature trail and started running. It was fun to fly through the woods, trees and bushes whizzing by on both sides. Up hill and down hill, around the beaver pond.
When I got back to the campground, I was lonely for my friend. It would be fun if we could really come camping here together someday. I ate lunch, and kept wishing it was time to go meet her. I swam the lake again, and then lay on the warm sand near the swimming area.
“Would you teach me to swim?”
I looked up and there was a girl standing over me, about seven years old.
She had long black hair.
“Why do you want me to teach you?”
“I saw you swim the lake yesterday and today. You’re good. I want to be that good. Will you teach me?”
I was almost shocked. I had never had anyone give me that much respect before. We got into the water and worked on floating. I told her how the name of the game was conserving energy. She really listened to me. She really wanted to learn from me. Her name was Rachel.
We worked for hours. I was really being a teacher, and it felt good. We worked on strokes, and rhythm, and breathing. I had the feeling the whole time I was teaching someone very special.
The sun started getting low. “Rachel, I have to go meet my friend. You know enough now to get really good if you stick with it and practice. Thanks for letting me teach you.”
“Thanks, Ariel. I’ll practice, I promise.”
I dried off and changed, packed everything up and loaded it on my bike. I got to the park and dug Penny’s bike out of the woods a little before sunset. I waited.
The sun set and out of the woods came one tired but smiling ten-year-old.
She drained a water bottle, then said, “Now I know why you couldn’t talk about it.”