Beauty

“Einee minee miney mo!” Lorraine jabbed her fat fingers at us as we stood there on the platform, shivering in our swimming costumes.

“Your turn!” She said looking at me straight in the eye, registering my fear.

“Don’t show her your fear.” Karen had whispered to me as we all walked down to the platform. But it was too late now, Lorraine had already seen it.

Feelings are much like waves, 
we can't stop them from coming
but we can choose which one to surf.       

~Jonatan Mårtensson

I stood on the metal grill, which was warming up in the sun. No longer shivering with cold but I was nervous. I edged forward so that only my toes were off the platform. Wriggling them I peered into the aqua abyss looking for a way out. I had only just leaned to swim. I squinted towards the shore hoping to locate my mother but I could not see much. It was the other children and me abandoned by our parents, glad that there were enough of us to keep ourselves entertained.

“What’s the matter? Are you afraid? If you’re scared just say so. You don’t have to jump, but then everyone will know you are a scaredy cat and then you can’t be a member of our club anymore. We can’t have a scaredy cat in the Invincibles.” I weighed up my options as Lorraine started to count down, “Ten… Nine… Eight…Seven…”

And then I jumped. The water was warm but it dragged me down filling my nostrils and mouth with salt water. I used the strength of my body to pull myself up back to the surface and gasped for air. The others in the cave were silent. I panicked. I thought that something must be wrong. But then I heard cheering, whooping and clapping. I opened my eyes and wiped the salt water from my face, beaming at my new friends. 


I found my confidence and swam out, away from the noise of the other children. Looking out from the other side of the cove, it was a peaceful and beautiful setting and the view looked completely different from when I was inside the cave. I knew then what beauty was.

About the photo: This photo was taken at the bottom of the gorge in Ronda, Spain. It was actually quite eerie, having come down several hundred feet by following stone steps down a dark and wet building. The opening in the photograph was the only breathing space and the beautiful view of the water through it made the journey down worthwhile.