river's flow

Bill showed the class how to move the mouse across the screen, going to each desk to help out. They progressed to pull down menus and clicking and finally went on the internet.

The wiry blue-jeaned guy had difficulty just touching the keyboard, and Sophie went over to help him. "You just gotta let these things know who is boss around her," she told him, as her fingers clasped over his on the smooth round mouse.

He nodded and moved the wad of tobacco in his mouth. "Right."

The class mastered e-mail--"Just think, you can talk to anyone you want for as long as you want anywhere you want and it won't cost you a cent!" The woman in the bright purple cape exclaimed happily. "Now all I have to do is get my friends online and I'll be set for life!"

Sophie snorted quietly to herself, "Yep, but at what price?"

After lunch, they tackled URLs, search engines ("You can ask Jeeves anything at all," Bill said), links, and bookmarks until Bill said that that was enough for the day. Unless there were any last questions.

Sophie stood up and started to pull her notes together. "All I want to know is why do the kids spend so much time on these things?" she sniffed.

"Can't rightly tell you that." Bill answered. "My poor dear wife, she never understood why I spent so much time on these contraptions and she was right. Just and right. You go away from the computer. It will still be there. Right there where you left it."

joining the / river's flow / is the only / way to / welcome in / anything beyond / our skin

if there are / other waters / we can not / know them / all we see / in rivers / is their presence


Follow us all: Amy/Anna, Sophie/Yuki, Kit/Richard, minor characters or sift through water leavings and river journeys.