There once was a girl called Nicole who lived in a little cottage by a big river. The river was so wide that Nicole couldn’t even see across to the other side. Sometimes she wondered whether it was actually a lake and not a river, but it always flowed smoothly from left to right past her house, so she surmised that it HAD to be a river. One day she was playing totem tennis (TM) with her friend Bianca on the grass outside her house. As they hit the ball around the pole, the conversation turned to the river. Bianca said they could use her little dinghy to row across to the other side. That way they could finally find out what (and who!) was on the other side.
The risk was, of course, that the river might be so wide that they never made it across, and spend the rest of their days drifting through the fog in a little boat, with nothing to eat except tic tacs and raw fish. Nevertheless, they decided to try it. So Bianca brought her Dinghy to Nicole’s house on a little trailer, which she towed behind her bike. They packed some provisions (crumpets with honey, vegetarian pasties and a thermos of apple tea.) They put the dinghy in the water and set off. Nicole rowed first, then when her arms got tired Bianca rowed. Then they both rowed about who would row next. It seemed like hours and hours since they had set off. Nicole looked behind her and could no longer see the shore with her little house on it. She wondered if they had made a big mistake. There was no other option than to press on though, so that’s what they did. They kept going through the night and into the next morning. They finished the last of the crumpets, the pasties and the tea. They were hungry and thirsty, and their arms felt like they would drop off if they pulled on the oars any longer.
Suddenly, they saw something in the distance. It looked like a thin black line across the sky. It grew thicker, and blacker, and then took on a different shape. It looked like a toothpick standing up next to a biscuit tin. They quickened their pace. As the boat came closer to the shore, they could see what it was. They brought the boat in to land and shakily got out. In front of them was the totem tennis set, and Nicole’s house was next to it. They were home. “We must have just rowed around in a circle!” exclaimed Bianca. Nicole was disappointed, but realised that she was just never meant to reach the other side of the river. It was late, and they were both very tired, so Bianca decided to stay the night. They ate dinner of tomato soup and toast and then went to bed. The cottage was dark and quiet. The dinghy lay upside down on the grass next to the totem tennis set and the river flowed smoothly from right to left past the house.
