Through Falling Water

He was not a very good photographer. He knew that. He spent lots of money going to extraordinary places to take pictures of amazing sights because he knew that. Also to keep from feeling that horrible feeling that he was not very good because there was something else more important he was supposed to be doing and he didn't know what it was.

But now he knew.

A fire had been lit in the depths of his mind and a spark from that flame had soared into his everyday brain and made everything clear.

He was a revealer of deities.

He felt it when they first lay hands on him. A wave had knocked him down and Ingunn and Vladis had fished him back up. His fellow photographers took him away. Back on the red bus he was quiet and all assumed it was because of shock. After all he was still wet and shivering. But what it was, where the women had touched him it had left a mark. Right through their gloves, right through his coat, the imprint of their hands was there upon his pale skin. Not black or red like burn marks but a muted turquoise as if he'd been tattooed.

Then again on the way to the cave in the glacier, when his age and the burden of his camera gear had stopped him in his tracks, they had appeared as if called upon to relieve him and help him along. And the turquoise tattoo had tingled, a pleasant tingling but almost unbearable because of the intensity of the pleasure.

Was it coincidence, or was there a reason they were crossing paths? Because here they were again, at Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This time he was not in trouble, so what could it be? Not only did they know he was there, they were beckoning to him from behind the waterfall. In his hurry to be accommodating, he did slip on a wet rock and bang his knee, but the pain seemed unimportant compared to the possibility of meeting two goddesses.

"I've never seen anyone limp so fast," said Vladis. "It's like he's training for the Paralympics. Couldn't we even find out his name?"

"His name would be Trouble," said Ingunn. "Just wave. It will give him a thrill, and we won't risk him finding out anything."

"It's hard being human," said Vladis. "Keeping secrets, it just makes me want to spit."

"I know," said Ingunn. "But if we don't experience what they experience, we'll never feel any compassion. And then this will all be a waste. Come, give us a kiss and then wave as if you're waving at me."

Trouble stared. He had arrived, and they were gone. He was soaked to the skin, and they had not waited. He looked through the falling water and in a sunset-lit gap saw them clearly. They were waving again, now on the outside, again beckoning.

He took their picture so he would at least have something. Back on the red bus, contemplating the image, he became uncertain. Was it them or two posts on the wooden platform at the top of the steps there?

In his heart though, he still saw them waving.

18 December 2022
Texas Jim
Seljalandsfoss, Iceland
www.granitecoast.ca