The Memory of Water

⁵⁰ WAKING UP WITHOUT YOUR LEGS

Sometimes, things in life happen which shock you on such a fundamental level, you know for sure that you will never be the same person again. They don’t happen often, and perhaps some people don’t ever experience it. It’s like being hit by a car you didn’t see coming, despite looking both ways before stepping off the pavement. Like waking up without your legs, or being turned to dust after being caught by an early dawn.

The first time it happened to me was that summer in Pringle Bay when I held my sleeping sister in my arms. And now it happens again. My heart stops beating, the hair on the back of my neck stands up, and the air turns to clear jelly. The double doors swing open and in she strides.