There I was a four year old wading in and out of the stream as Janaki washed the clothes, scrubbing away the last traces of grime as she moved it on the stone steps. A few more swishes in the water and she will be done with it .This little stream was my friend and I played and talked to the stream and plants that leaned into the water, especially the wild mango with glossy round leaves .It would sway and sing with me sometimes.
The blue to brighten the whites sat next to the galvanized bucket . Janaki had put clean sparkling clear water in that pail. I put a pellet of the dried blue into the bucket and watched the blue swirls rise . I talked to the blue pellet as well as to my imaginary friend who always went with me for all my adventures. Together we watched it slowly dissolve and there , those little streamlets of blue swirled up. He said that the blue and water were swimming up and down and they were diving . I said that the water was alive and so was the blue and they were dancing as they swam and dived ... and there they were swimming , swirling waves, as they danced,, synchronized swimming of the water and the blue. We watched and giggled as we too became part of the swimming blue fairies and water nymphs as they swam in slow waves, few to the side, some to the middle and yet others turned and went up and down. I whispered that we have to be quiet now as we both waded back into the stream , just as Janaki turned back from the stream with the clean whites.
She did not notice the blue in the bucket as it had fully become part of the water. She added the blue from the small container to the water and swished it around with her hands preparing to dip the whites . By then we were already off searching for smooth river rocks to collect, Fick's law just a concept, pondered in faraway lands and times...but not for us ,at least not yet ,to learn in some class in the future. Fick never knew of the swimming blue fairies or water nymphs...
A short story by PC-3 (02/22/2026)
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