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JADE AND THE BRIDGE
Jade stood in awe of the magnificent structure before her. Never in all her years on Jadocon had she seen a alien-made structure so breathtaking. In the twilight of the cool summer evening, she stood on a lone dirt road just off the main highway and in direct line with the San Francisco bridge.
She knew it was a bridge, because bridges were covered in the preparations for her mission, but she had darker reasons for wanting to learn about bridges. Jade was afraid of water. When she was just a eon old, the guardian who was supposed to be caring for her, Maxium, thought it would be a good idea for Jade to learn to swim. She pushed Jade into a crystal clear pond with the instructions, "Move your arms and legs. Swim, girl, swim!"
But Jade didn't swim, she sank, rapidly underwater. She had never been in water except the tub she used for bathing. Panicked, Jade thrashed about in the pond, desperately trying to get her head above water. If it hadn't been for Elder Gill, Jade would have drowned. Of course, she learned much later, this had been the intended scenario Maxium was looking for. This would not be the first attempt on Jade's life; not even the 20th.
Watching the cars traveling across the long bridge, Jade was fascinated with the bright lights. They seemed to blur together into a continuous stream of pulsating light. As the lights bounced off the surface of the water, the water was transformed into something other than the liquid fear that always paralyzed her.
"I can do this," she thought to herself. "I can walk across this bridge to the other side." She knew her destination was on the opposite side of the bridge, but she had been stalling for many hours. After hiking many miles through the woods from her transportation spot, she knew her mission awaited across the bridge. From her studies, she knew there was a pedestrian walk-way to allow safe passage, but it also meant she would be many feet above the surface of the water.
Stealing herself for the journey, Jade placed her backpack over one shoulder and took a deep breath. Then she slowly started edging her way to the waterfront.
2 comments:
i live less than an hour from the golden gate bridge and it is a most magnificent structure.... even to a lowly human that can swim....
my father in law once told me that he walked across it in the 40s when he was in the army. i thought that was so cool. i love how you placed Jade in a place that we're all familiar with and allowed us to see it through her eyes for the first time.
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