Dora the explorer

This one is for Jed. :-)

“Are you really going to do this?” Rebecca looks at her with big eyes. “Nobody has ever done it. Are you sure?”

“If I want to have my name in books, then yes I need to do something nobody else has ever done. I can’t just repeat climbing the same mountain many other people have climbed. People will say, ‘sure, well done, kid.’ Then they’ll pad me on the head and move on. I’d just be an arm note. One of a few women to have done it.”

“Don’t you mean anecdote? And you’d be the youngest. That should count for something, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Until someone even younger comes along. No if I want to be famous I need to do something new, daring, groundbreaking.”

“Or water breaking.”

“Right! Exactly. Water breaking.”

The two girls, Dora age seven and a half, and Rebecca age six and three-fourth trudge on. They drag a clothes line behind them. Rebecca holds a small grocery bag which has a candy bar and two water wings.

“You didn’t’ bring me a candy bar?” Rebecca is rooting through the bag but doesn’t find another one.

“Am I supposed to feed you too? Isn’t it enough that I’ll give you credit as my coach, trainer, and moral support person?”

“Well, do you know how to spell my name?”

“I think so, yeah. But my editor may get it wrong. Then it’s out of my hands.”

“Still… You could have brought a candy bar for me too.”

“Why didn’t you think of your own candy bar?”

“I didn’t, okay! I didn’t know we’re going to do this today, alright? I thought I’d get to go home and have tea with cookies and little tea sandwiches. My mum makes the lovelies tea sandwiches. She cuts the crust off and slices the cucumber really thin.”

“Ugh! Cuke’s. Sounds like puke. Nah, I’ll take a peanut butter sandwich anytime.”

“I wouldn’t know. Never had one. How much further?”

“Another ten or twenty minutes. Over there is the nearest point. And as far as I can tell, the sea is shallow all the way.”

On they walk. Rebecca still grumbling about not getting her own candy bar and missing tea with mum.

“Here. Now wrap this end of the rope once around this tree and then we’ll tie the other end around my waist.”

“Why do we need to wrap it around this tree?”

“I don’t know, it’s what I saw in a picture. I guess those guys knew what they were doing.”

“So, someone has done this before?”

“They’ve tried. But …”

“Well … if they wrapped it around the tree and didn’t get all the way to the edge, then maybe we need to do it without the tree. I can hold you, Dora. I’m strong. You know I’m stronger than you. Here take your water wings.”

“No, I’ve decided against using them. I mean, how dorky do I want to be, you know?”

“Did you bring a camera? I don’t see one in the bag.”

“Um, no. I forgot.”

“Well then. No one will know if you wore water wings.”

“Still…”

“Come to think of it, how will people know you did it?”

“You will tell them, of course.”

“Hm, maybe. If I had a candy bar. I could.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, have the blasted candy bar! Just don’t let go.”

“Water wings? I won’t tell.”

No. I’ll go without. You got me, right? Don’t let go!”

Dora checks the knot around her waist. Making sure it is snug. Carefully she steps off the dry land into the shallow water.

“Sure, you don’t want your water wings?”

“What explorer has ever worn water wings?” Dora throws the scathing answer over her shoulder as she gingerly steps forward. “I can swim and it’s not that far.” She hopes.

Inch by inch Dora wades through the chilly water that is not yet reaching her knees. If the water rises another couple of inches, the hem of her school skirt will be wet. Never mind it’s just water. On she goes. Carefully sliding one foot in front of the other, shuffling along the bottom of the sea. She’s becoming increasingly aware that, yes this is the sea. Not a bathtub, jacuzzi or swimming pool. Not even a lake. This is the sea, salty and cold. And it has a current. One that she can feel tug against the back of her calves.

Feeling a bit more insecure, she glances over her shoulder at Rebecca.

“Pay attention, Becca. Don’t look at the clouds. Watch me.”

“But that cloud over there looks like an elephant. See? Now it looks like and aardvark. And that one is a turtle. A giant turtle. See? Oh, now it’s a slug.”

“You’re just trying to frighten me. Stop it!” For it was working.

The pull of the water is a lot stronger than she had thought it would be. She reminds herself to just keep shuffling, keep going forward. Not that the current is giving her much choice.

Suddenly the bottom gives way. Her feet have nothing to stand on and under she goes. Immediately she feels the strong current wanting to drag her forward. She gasps. Wishing she had her water wings, she struggles to the surface and coughs up salty water.

“Dora! Dora! Are you okay?” She hears Rebecca shout. “I can’t hold you. I feel funny. Come back!”

“I can’t!” But she’s not sure if Rebecca can hear her. The sound of the surf is louder. She swims with all her might against the current, but there is no way she can overcome its pull. Defeated, she turns and lets herself be dragged to the edge.

“Becca! Becca! Help!” The water pulls her along. All she can do is keep her head above water and breathe. The target is coming closer and closer.

And then she’s there. At the edge of the world. Her hands reach out as she screams, but something stops her. There is a ridge. Stunned, Dora feels around the edge. It’s a glass wall. She’s seen those in pictures of fancy hotels. They call those pools “infinity pools”. She laughs.

Her body is plastered against the glass, her hands grip the edge as she carefully looks over the rim. There, far below, barely visible through the sheath of water cascading over the edge, are four elephants, holding up the Disc, standing on the back of a giant turtle which slowly crawls through infinity.

“I did it! Rebecca, I did it!” Triumphantly Dora tears her eyes away from the origin of her world and looks at Rebecca who is struggling with her own problem. Her hitherto unknown sensitivity to chocolate.

“Oh.”