Water of life
Rogger leads us to a deep and dark part of the river.
I look further down, my hand up like a visor. “Is that a beach?”
“Yeah,” Rogger says. “Down a bit. But this is where Boggy Nic lives.”
Pem stares down into the water, her tail swaying in the breeze. She paws at the surface, making little ripples, then licks the water from her paw.
I walk closer to the edge and squint, trying to see something in the water.
“I don’t see anything, Rogger.”
Rogger packs her pipe. “Just give ‘em a minute. Boggy Nic isn’t always right at the surface. It takes ‘em a minute sometimes.”
I shrug and look at the water closer. It’s darker and kind of muddy.
Pem shouts, “Look! Bubbles!”
Rogger puffs her pipe. “That’s Boggy Nic.”
A fish-eyed head pushes out from the water. Their skin is pale, greenish, grayish.
Pem hisses and runs behind me.
“It’s okay, kitty,” Rogger says. She points her pipe. “Like I said, it’s Boggy Nic.”
“Hello there, fair dwarf.” Boggy Nic’s voice sounds like someone gurgling salt water.
“Ahoy, Boggy Nic! Nice to see you again!” Rogger says with a lift of her pipe.
“You need my service, don’t you?” Boggy Nic says.
“You are astute, indeed, Nic, but it is this lad here, who needs you today.”
Boggy Nic shifts those big fish eyes, I think toward me.
I give a little wave. “Hello.”
“What is your name, human?”
“I’m William,” I say. I put out my hand to shake, like a reflex, then realize this may not be a custom Boggy Nick knows.
But apparently so, because Boggy Nic rises further from the river and extends a webbed hand.
We shake.
“You are kind to offer your hand so freely to me, human. Many would fear my sharp teeth.”
“Maybe he should,” Rogger adds.
I smile. “Yes, perhaps Rogger is right. You see it was offering my hand that’s brought me to you.”
“May I see what you mean?” Boggy Nic asks.
“Certainly,” I say.
I roll back my sleeve and show the horrible gashes and bites along my arm.
“A Dodger got you,” Boggy Nic says.
I nod. “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
Boggy Nic’s big eyes move around some. “I can heal this for you, William, if you’d like me to.”
“Yes, please!”
“I am not a usurer, William, but I am not a charitable being either. Is there some way we could exchange something?”
I look at Rogger.
She sits smoking her pipe.
I look back to Boggy Nic. “Um, yes, I suppose that’s fair. I’m not sure what I have to offer you, though, other than my friendship.”
Boggy Nic’s mouth makes a move that I think is a smile. “That is kind of you, William. Perhaps we will be friends. But I am afraid I need something more concrete.”
I remember the book.
“Well, I have this …”
I pull the book out and show it to Boggy Nic.
“A book?”
“Yes.”
“What’s it about?”
“I don’t know. I can’t read it.”
“He wrote it,” Pem volunteers.
Boggy Nic looks from Pem to me. “Is that so? You wrote this?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you cannot read it?”
I nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
Boggy Nic nods. “Yes, this book seems valuable. I accept your trade. Hold out your arm please, William.”
I look to Rogger.
She nods.
I extend my arm again.
Boggy Nic makes a loud sound like someone clearing their throat, then unleashes a glob of mucus onto my arm.
It burns!
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