River Spirits

Alex gave Nick a knowing nod, they had spent all day doing obligatory family activities that required a courteous sobriety and now that the sun had gone down over the hill that nestled their cute holiday cabin, they had a chance to be alone.

“We’re going for a walk, back in a bit,” he declared to nowhere, nodding to Nick as they head towards the door.

“Where are you heading?” Asked mum, in a typically maternal tone.

“Just to the beach for a bit, we’ll be careful.”

Dad was in the lounge room with his feet up and his hands wrapped around a neat whiskey, he wasn’t gong anywhere and nor did he care about the others’ plans. Alex’s little sister Charlotte was in her room playing a game that involved tokens and a custom character on an iPad, she would be busy all weekend, and mum was fixing herself a fourth gin, overloading on the lime mixer.

The nod to Nick was code for “don’t forget to get a few beers.” Alex understood his role in this mission was to prepare a joint for the two to share once they got far away enough from the house. Alex was nervous about this part, he had never smoked at a family event before and whilst he knew they wouldn’t know directly, he was wary the smell on him when he got back might implicate him. He was also anxious about the process of rolling, Nick had provided the weed but couldn’t roll, Alex decided to do it in the house with the lights due to his novice stoner status, but was wary of Charlotte barging into his room at any moment, as little sisters do. Alex pushed all of this to the back of his mind as he fidgeted into existence a wonky doobie to share. In his head, Alex noted the weight of the footsteps moving around the house. The small, fast rhythm meant Charlotte was just going to the bathroom up the hall, no loud thudding footsteps meant dad was still on the couch with his feet up, and the soft clacking of heels on vinyl meant mum was still preparing her gin. Good.

Speaking about it earlier, Nick had sprung it on Alex that he had brought “something fun” for the two to share. Alex, trying to impress the guy he had admired for so long, just nodded and half smiled in response. This guy better be worth it.

The opening of the bedroom door behind him forced Alex to turn around and stand up, unable to hide the guilt from his face. Fortunately it was only Nick coming in to show him the beers he had managed to borrow from the back fridge without anyone noticing. Alex let out a sigh of relief and whispered “nice one.”

“Shall we?” Smiled Nick in the carefree way that drove Alex crazy.

“Yeah, I think this will work,” whispered Alex and they both tip toed up the hall, despite everyone knowing they were heading out.

Alex could feel a weird sensation in his stomach, akin to shame. He was already aware that his father was none too pleased about his bringing Nick to the family holiday this year, despite Charlotte being allowed to go and have sleepovers with the boy of the family who has holidayed next door as long as they had. His shame was rooted in him feeling like he had to hide, hide his feelings first, and now his actions, from his own family.

They walked down the steep driveway, each losing their footing on the steep, uneven terrain a couple of times before levelling out onto the dirt road. Across the road they could see the reflection of the stars harmonising against the estuary. They both stopped, looked both ways, looked up, and went across the road. Nick handed Alex a beer, Alex cracked his immediately. Nick waited a bit. “I’m gonna savour mine for that perfect moment sitting by the water,” he said, and Alex wished he had thought of that too. A quick glance back to the house and nothing seemed disturbed, which was a good sign.

“Did you bring a lighter?”

Alex, seeing the opportunity, started patting down his clothes in a flurry, then worriedly looked up at Nick, over-committing to the gag. Nick punched him in the arm and held out his hand, and lit the joint. He took a couple of quick puffs and passed it to Alex. Alex had done this a few times before but could never help the cough that would follow. He tried to stifle it, which of course made it worse, perpetuated by the tense looks Nick was throwing over his shoulder to make sure no one could see them. Alex passed it back to Nick and said, “Thanks.” They sat, and admired the combination of beer, dizziness from the weed, the stars, and each other’s company.

After a moment of enjoying the serenity, Nick piped up, “Hey thanks for inviting me this weekend, was a great idea to get away from city for a bit. I have one last surprise for you.”

Alex shifted his weight, nervously envisaging various scenarios that these two could find themselves in, and hoping Nick would think the same thing. Nick didn’t. Instead, he pulled out a slingshot, of all things!

“Ha where did you get that?”

“Had it for years, just rediscovered it as I was packing, thought it’d be fun to bring along,” Nick shrugged. He took a large final sip of his beer, let out a burp, and stood to set up the beer can some distance from where they were. The weed was taking full effect now and neither of them seemed to care much about the noise they made. Nick picked up a rock, put it in the sling pouch, drew it back to his ear, and let loose a rock at the can. The noise it made when it hit would’ve put them on edge if it didn’t impress them both so much. Alex and Nick shared a high five as they inspected the dented can. A high five they both held for a second longer than they usually would. Alex looked at Nick and could feel a tension in his chest. A desire to both run a mile, and fall in a heap all at the same time. He couldn’t tell what Nick was thinking, as was usually the case, and was part of the reason he was so drawn to him. To break the tension, Alex picked up another rock and beckoned to have a go himself.

Instead of a precision target, Alex thought he’d try his luck at a volley shot. He reckoned he could hit the other side of the river, where he could see a fluorescent sign warning swimmers of undercurrents, a solid 40 metres away. He put his chosen ammunition into the pouch, drew it back to his ear, raised his aiming hand up to what he thought was a good angle to hit the sign and let loose! As soon as he loosed the shot he lost sight of it, instead hoping to hear a clang that would confirm his hitting the target. What happened next surprised them both. Instead of hearing the clang to confirm a direct hit, or instead of even hearing nothing to confirm a clean miss, they both heard a sonorous PLOP as a rock, or something fell into the water, not five metres away from where they stood on edge of the jetty.

“You’re a worse shot than I thought,” teased Nick.

“I launched the thing, you saw it fly. Shit I must be baked,” said Alex.

“Give us another go. I got this,” said Nick in just enough moonlight for Alex to make out the red that glazed his eyes.

Nick followed the same course of action and let fly his shot. After even longer though, and even closer to where they stood, the rock made a PLOP right next to the jetty.

“That’s seriously weird. You missing it, I’d understand. But mine coulda reached Timbuktu,” Nick explained as he inspected the slingshot.

“I want to test a theory,” Alex whispered and Nick cocked his head in confusion. Alex already had his next rock ready so Nick handed him the weapon.

He repeated the sequence yet again and waited for a sound, either the clang or the plop, and sure enough, they both witnessed another PLOP.

With his hands in his hips and speaking with authority, Alex declared, “must be the river spirits.”

“Uh huh,” Nick responded incredulously. They both giggled as the effects of their poorly rolled joint took hold.

Alex elaborated on his theory, “the river spirits must be plucking our rocks out of the air after we launch them and plopping them back near us to warn us not to disturb their night.”

“Makes sense,” said Nick, not believing him, “should we head back anyway?”

“Yeah, mum is probably starting to wonder where we are” lamented Alex over his mother’s overbearing protective instincts.

“Don’t forget your can, Robin Hood.”

“Yes, Maid Marion,” teased Nick, “We should come back here every year.”

“And fuck with the river spirits again, yeah that’d be fun,” replied Alex, and they grazed each other’s hands walking back up the driveway.