BEAUTIFUL BUT TERRIFYING

Jimmy took off his backpack and laid it on the ground, staring at the log. The water that rushed beneath it was so clear he could see the underlying bed of rocks shaping the surface of the water. Beautiful, but menacing. If he fell, they would surely twist his joints, and maybe even break his bones. 

The other side of the stream was not just a dozen steps away, as it had been for Donnie and Joey. It was absolutely out of reach. It might as well have been another continent.

“Come on,” his friends called, “you can make it!”

“You all go on; I’ll catch up in a few minutes.” He hoped he could not tell the panic he was feeling.

Donnie and Joey shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads. Were they laughing at him?  He was glad when they walked on. They would not be where they could see the sweat that was forming on his forehead.

He sat on the edge of the huge log and took several deep breaths. He knew he had to do something.

In the clearing just beyond the path was a long limb. Perhaps it had been part of the tree that now lay across the stream. Perhaps like the tree, it was there to help him get across.

He put on his backpack, stepped onto the log and walked to the edge of the stream. He pushed one end of the limb into the water and into a cluster of rocks. It felt firm and reliable. He took one more careful step along the log. He was now over the water.

“If this log were lying on the ground, I could walk across it forever and never fall off.” He was actually talking out loud. He then turned quickly to make sure no one was listening.

But the log was not lying on the ground. It lay across a stream – a terrifying stream. He could not take that second step.

“Damn!” He was cursing his fear, and the stream that was so intimidating, and the absence of a decent bridge, and his friends for whom it was so easy, and the whole world that made things so damn hard.

He sat down on the log again, muttering to himself, “There’s got to be a way to do this.”

Suddenly he sat up straight. “Oh, I’ve got it!”

He whirled around and straddled the log, one leg on each side. The fear was almost gone. He inched forward. Still no fear – at least not very much. Soon he was over the middle of the stream. It now looked beautiful, not threatening. As he glanced at the other side, he noticed a patch of yellow flowers growing just beyond the end of the log. His smile came without effort.

He ran to catch up with Donnie and Joey. As he caught his breath, he said casually, “I had to pee.”