Body Of Water: A Short Story

The search for one's place to belong is a universal quest. Many people find where they themselves within the communities of religion, culture, and language. Others, do not easily fit into any community, and as a result, are forced to wander and be different, they don’t fit in with the rest of the people like just another puzzle piece in society. This situation applies to both James McBride and Ruth McBride Jordan in the novel The Color of Water by James McBride. In the first couple chapters, James talks about her mother’s oddities (good and bad); one of which caught my attention, her unusual habit of ridding her bicycle everywhere. I believe that the author uses this to explain her unique personality, a fun care free person that is different

An old Chinese proverb says to fish for the moon in the water. In Lan Samantha Chang’s short story “Water Names”, a grandmother tells her granddaughters a story as a way to introduce them to their cultural heritage. This frame story was about Wen Zhiqing’s favorite daughter whose fascination with water escalates after she claims to see a prince in the reflective water. The daughter comes to the conclusion that her prince is real, wants to marry her and wants to take her away to his underwater kingdom. Her parents try to convince her otherwise and keep her from going to the river but after a flood, they lose track of her and she disappears. The grandmother ends the story and leaves the girls to wonder about what actually happened to the

Eliza limped towards the lake. She didn’t know why she wanted to be there so bad anymore, her leg was throbbing and blood was pooling around her. She felt weak and she was shivering even though it was easily over ninety degrees outside. She looked back at the city she had come from. There was no longing to return as she stared at the towering buildings behind her. Her mom, of course, had exhausted that feeling away from her. Eliza turned back around, she could see her lake now. Half unconscious, she half ran, half stumbled to the makeshift bench her and her dad had made when she was five. When she reached it, she sat down with a thump, tears streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks. How did things end up so badly? She looked down and watched

Water Follies: Groundwater pumping and the fate of America’s fresh waters was about how Groundwater pumping has destroyed the water surfaces in the United States. Robert Glennon, the author of the book, wrote this book in a way that the reader would admire his exhaustive obsession for detailed research, in order to provide the most information to the reader. Even though the author wrote this book for history lovers and water and hydrology enthusiasts, most readers can get through the book without having the thought that this book is not for them.

Clary uses her super-duper Open Rune that opens the boat right up and it sinks like a lead weight. In the Epilogue, we find out that vampire Simon + Jace's magical angel blood = immune to sunlight. Jace finally tells Clary that they shouldn't be bumpin' and grindin' because they're siblings, and a mysterious stranger appears on the book's final page to tell Clary that her mother is in a magical coma… but she knows how to wake

It was strange for her to go down into the deep without noticing, but this time, her anger had clouded her senses and made her ignore the danger of being so far down sea level. She could barely see and her heart was starting to race from the panic of being lost.

Robust laughter and cards shuffling fills the air from the log walls, to the high beam ceiling of the crowded but cozy cabin. In the rare short moments of silence, a soft pitter-patter weeps from the rain leaking through the nose smudged windows. On the left, stands a long rustic pine table, where the kids sit playing games and making lifelong memories, and on the right, the kitchen, with little sticky fingers and big blue wide eyes peering over the counter at the goodies above. The sliding glass door screeches open, revealing the beautiful deep blue waters where the rice paddies dance in the whistling wind. Down from the deck, a small wood chip path overtaken by dandelions brighter than the sun shows the way to the bait scattered dock. On

Water slowly brushes across the carbon fiber side of the shell, and at this point a sense of familiarity emerges. The rhythmic beating of my pulse fills my ears, working to push away the background and bring my awareness to that of the girl in front of me, my coxswain, and my oar– a true marriage of sorts. I make sure to check that the equipment functions by running my fingers over the bolts of my rigger, the straps of my foot stretchers, and finally, as a ritual, tapping my blade against the water three times. Following this, I allow myself only one opportunity to break the wall between my position in the boat and my surroundings– a glance at each girl in the boats next to me– to remind myself to outpull all of them. The tension rapidly increases as the referee announces that “We have alignment”, otherwise a universal signal to all rowers to mind the impending start of the race. The low voice of my coxswain reminds everyone to adjust their seating position in the boat, sit up straight, and have their shoulders back–the

She was stranded. She had not thought of the situation in all her planning. She was in a massive dilemma.

She felt as if she was trapped, in an endless void of grief. As if she was trapped in a room, and the door was locked and she had no way out. If only she looked a little harder, walked a little further, she would have found that the walls were open. She could be free, only if she allowed herself to be, only if she let

Her breath rushed out in ragged gasps as she searched for a place to hide on the giant ship. She couldn’t go back there, not again. Going back meant that they had won, and she couldn’t let that happen, even if she had to change her name and move to a new state. She hurried through the shadows of the ship as quietly as she could, all the while listening for any evidence that they were chasing her. Having lived with her sailor grandfather, she knew how to walk while the ship was moving, but the rain made the floor slippery, and making it difficult for her to catch her footing. Finally finding a small row boat to hide in, she began to hear numerous footsteps coming from the opposite side of the deck, and she tried to control her breathing

It was the first month of our Journey, as many as a thousand people were with us stretching over about a mile of wagons and families. We covered roughly 80 miles the first day before crossing over the blue river. Along the way we rented a raft for our horses costing us 10$ leaving us with 578$. As we were crossing the river Gerald’s wife was caught in the current and was swept away, now he is alone with his daughter making there way to oregon and settle on a farm. The very next week some men had said they spotted indians just west of our trail, our council gathered 20 men to come with us to investigate the sighting as we would meet up with our families the in the day. Upon arrival to the siting we had a gun fight with 37 native americans, we

Sanity check. Stuck didn’t equate to dying, and the best intentions didn’t excuse her bad judgment for venturing into the storm. What she needed was a plan—and cell phone reception.

As she began to come back down to Earth, she realized the state of herself, and knew that it was something that would have to be remedied before leaving the building. As that raced through her mind, she

Her neck is thin, long, and adorned with a green and white bead necklace. Her shoulders are broad and her arms are stubby. At the end of each arm, her hands hang flat and wide with five claw-like fingernails on each hand. Her breast, which sit in the middle of her chest- between her shoulders, are large and pointed. At the tip of each are large erect nipples. Her sternum is marked two rows of inverted acute isosceles triangles. Her abdominal area is smooth and narrow with the exception of a small, round bulge which resembles a belly button. At the point where her abdomen and pelvic bone would meet there is a beaded belt made of white and grey marbled beads. There is a small, triangular covering over her crotch. Her knees are bent, her legs are the same width until the ankles, each of which are embellished with red, beaded ankle bracelets. Her toes are even and long. The stool on which she sits is round and has three evenly-spaced