RJ--other waters--dowsers navigate

Hands folded, Sophie stood in the doorway to the back bedroom, watching Amy as her fingers flew in short bursts over the keyboard, her face intent on the subtle fast flickering of the monitor. At other times she would stretch and wait, never taking her eyes off the screen. She would absent-mindedly grab for the green tea that Sophie kept refilled by the side of her mouse, never missing the mouse, never grasping on air. Amy was fully connected.

At about one a.m., when Amy had been online for over ten hours without a break, Sophie took away the green tea. She sauntered back into the darkness of the back bedroom without peering over at the shadows on the empty bed. Put her hand on Amy's shoulders and began to rub the little plum knots of muscles at the base of Amy's neck. Sophie stared at the screen beyond Amy's shoulders. The scene showed a jerky video of cars crossing a river at twilight. The camera jerked and swayed, nearly heading for the river, then nearly into the bright headlights of the onrushing cars. Amy and Sophie watched the queasy screen in silence.

Sophie began to piece it all together. "They have those cameras on tv--stuck on the mountain so you can see how high the snowdrifts are or on the side of a highway to watch the cars go by. The cameras are just stuck out there forever, taking pictures of nothing. So the web is just like a tv, right, they must have those live cameras on the web too. I want you to show me some, tell me how they work. " Sophie started in, her fingers finding exactly the right nerves on Amy's neck.

Amy leaned back into the massage, her head resting heavily on Sophie's broad fingers

"Sure they have webcams. They look like little plastic eyeballs on top of a computer," Amy began to explain, and told Sophie all about webcams, how they worked. She told her the history of Jenni's cam--"She has her own online show now, and doesn't appear in front of the cameras every minute anymore. Aimee has a really popular site now, but the sites change around a lot. I can show you this" While they waited for the picture to load, Amy told her about this girl, Jenni, about having the cameras on in her apartment all the time. "It's a big hit," she said. "Lots of people just make it a habit to check in on Jenny or Aimee every time they are on the web. "

"Why would people want to look in an empty room?" Sophie asked, her hands pressing further into Amy's spine.

"They want to know that someone else's life exists--outside of their own small sphere. They need to know they are not alone." Amy stretched into Sophie's questing hands.

"So when will they build web cams that keep track of someone's soul?" Sophie wanted to know.

Amy shrugged deeper into Sophie's waiting hands.

dowsers navigate / by the principle / water finds / ways to water / souls find / their ways / to other souls

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