Chapter 4
The current tugged at Annie’s t-shirt half-heartedly. Usually by the start of summer, the spring rains would have swollen the river at least up as far as the giant tree root, but today she had to settle for clinging to the slippery rock near the fallen gumtree. She closed her eyes and let the song of the river soothe her jangled nerves. There were words folded into the music that danced right on the edge of her senses. Every now and again she felt she could understand some of them. They spoke of birth and growth, of deep mountain roots and melting ice crystals. They echoed the cry that stars made when they were born. Words like that could weave galaxies together and solve the mysteries of time, if only she could catch and claim them. Easier to catch a single drop of water as it
