chapter 10

Glass jars with burning candles were hanging from fishing lines strung on poles around the park. The candle flames were shivering in the breeze, sending flickers of light over the spears of the overgrown grass surrounding the fountain. Nina strode towards it while steadily keeping her mind fixed on her desired destination. All around her the world was very silent and still except for the rhythmic trickling of the water in front of her. She reached up to the rocky enclosure of the fountain and jumped in, making a small unspectacular splash. She stood calf-deep inside the water, letting it seep up her trousers and flood her shoes. Tiny silver and orange fish were swimming hazily around her legs while elegant swirls of water oozed down the jagged, decorative rocks in the center of the circular pool.

On the side of the round enclosure just behind the central rocky construction, sat an old fisherman pushing a slimy worm onto a rusted hook hanging from a fishing rod that he was resting in-between his knees. Nina hadn’t noticed him at first and was startled to see his moth-infested, straw hat peering from behind the rocks. The huge hat was the most prominent thing about the fisherman and was covering half of his face that seemed deadly focused on the workings of his hands. In contrast, the man himself appeared to be totally disinterested in Nina who was starting to get cold and tired from standing amidst swimming fish and shallow water without anything happening.

“Sitting there like a statue will not help you in the least if you’re intending on going anyplace soon”, the man’s voice came out slowly and dryly with his head still semi-hid by his hat.

Nina was much too concerned with what knowledge he had to offer to let her attention waver from getting the desired information out of him, so she immediately asked him in her most polite tone of voice, “What do you propose that I do then?”

“You need to be covered with water”, he continued while trying to attach a second worm onto his fishhook, where the previous wiggly creature had formerly met its end. The man offered this insight as if it was the most obvious thing in the world without ever looking up at her.  That was all the information Nina needed though.

She lowered herself down, shivering at the coldness of the water and then with a deep inhale she submerged her body and her head completely. She opened her eyes and looked up at the reflected light of the candle in the jar hanging above from her. The view was hazy and fragmented and kept on swirling and pulling away with the movements of the water. The alarming thought that this was all a waste of time and that she would never be able to get back home, especially via fountain, crossed her mind as she was beginning to run out of air. She closed her eyes and pushed herself to stay underwater for just a little longer. Opening them wide again the light of the candle still appeared reflected across the water’s surface. Nina gave up and pulled her head out taking a frantic gulp of air to fill her lungs again.

But this was not a candle reflected on the water it was an electric street lamp. And the park was no longer there and neither were the orange and silver fish or the fisherman. This was the fountain located in one of the parks she was familiar with, a park in fact not too far from Dr. Stingworth’s building, at the elevator of which her adventure had begun that morning. 

“I’m home”, she whispered as she splashed around, getting herself up and out of the fountain. Passers by were looking at her curiously and some had stood still in order to fully admire her crazy behavior. Nina squeezed some of the water out of her clothes though she was a long way from getting dry anytime soon. She looked around her and sighed resignedly. “Home”, she said to herself once more.

With her shoes sloshing and splashing and her clothes dripping behind her as she walked out of the park and towards the street, Nina would present a rather queer and amusing image to anyone who had the fortune of being around that area at that warm, spring night. They would have seen a very wet young girl, dressed in a conductor’s tuxedo, with an interesting sparkle in her eyes strolling along the street looking like she had come to a conclusion.