Snapshot

The kayaks drift in V-formation down the river, the boy and girl taking the lead with the father dutifully bringing up the rear. The girl looks up, smiling; sun glints down between sparse trees and through long, golden grass, which towers above the river on either side and blocks out a view of anything beyond the bank. The paddles churn, see-sawing up and down, and the water trickling from each end glistens in the sunlight as the droplets run down across her small hands and splatter across her sun-tanned legs.

The boy is laughing as the girl suddenly forges ahead, water rippling and splashing about her kayak. She races down the river, leaving the others behind, and only pauses when she reaches an island formed by the low tide. She thrusts her paddle into the shallow water, allowing the kayak to spin slowly, and she grabs a handful of thick grass shooting up from the small land formation. The voices are growing louder, the others are approaching, but she is no longer hurried. She rests the dripping paddle across the front of the kayak, and floats calmly by a patch of colourful flowers, watching a dragonfly dart back and forth above her.

There is a sudden crunching sound from behind the vegetation on the island, and she jerks, startled. Clutching at the paddle, she moves to push away from the flowers, and gasps when a large creature abruptly forces it’s head through the patch of flowers; a calf!

The girl laughs, no longer concerned, and extends a hand to try and pet the animal, as she calls out to her father and brother in excitement.