R -- Raft

The raft I rode today was about the most amazing ride I've ever been on.  Having wings helps.

A big clot of leaves and twigs were jamming up a stream.  A group of about ten fairies -- or nine, with me tagging along -- was sent to clear it.  We sent a few underwater to work from below.  The rest of us jammed our little bare feet into the edges of the clot to see if everything would come loose at once.  Taking apart a natural dam is pretty tedious, I hear, if you have to go leaf by leaf.

Thumbelina showed me where to place my feet to do the most good, and how hard to beat my wings for leverage.  (The muscles are fine now.  I can fly wherever I want without feeling sore.  I just arrived on a major flying day, so I had a lot to get over.)

We got the pile of leaves and twigs loosened up, and then the fairies told me to hop on.  I rode the clot down stream to the first branching where it joined a larger creek.  I figured the job was finished, and I was about to  flit up into the air.

That's when all the other fairies joined me.

They hopped onto the pile of leaves, and started it rocking.  Four on one side would jam their feet downward -- like the times you'll try to compact your recycle trash by squishing it into the can.  Then, the four on the other side would bounce downward.  Thumbelina steered from the back.  I rode in the middle.

We had that raft rocking like it was caught in a typhoon.  It was a pretty warm day, so getting wet was no big deal.  Plus, most of these girls could dissolve in water if they wanted to.

By the time we got to the white water, everyone was drenched and laughing hard.  (Not dangerously hard -- they sounded like normal laughs, and nobody lost control.)  Then the raft started to break apart.  Thumbelina jumped on a smaller chunk with me.  We clung together, and tried to get that little raft to rock.

The other fairies rode parts of the raft for as long as they held together.

This meadow is where I decided to dry off after all the rafting.
Thumbelina, of course, never gets wet.
She just kept me company.

We all came to a waterfall that would have been terrifying without wings.  It was probably twenty feet tall, but since we were all fun size, it looked more like Niagra falls.  Just as the water gushed over the ledge, the leaves I stood on with Thumbelina broke up.  We just flew off into space, along with the other fairies.  There was a quick game of fairy tag all around the spray at the bottom of the waterfall.

Tag in 3-D is about the most exhilarating type I've ever played.

This vacation might not have been such a bad idea after all.

-- Sabrina


Rafting over water falls.  It's a kick.


-- Fresh


PS.  May your carnation crinkle cutely.