Thankfully, Drew took charge. He squeezed my hand, counted to two, and then leaped on three, pulling me with him through the protective wall of water. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have followed through. In fact, without Drew, I wouldn’t have done a lot of things—like steer a boat, climb rocks, or even open up about my family secrets.
To my surprise, the fall was quick. Turns out, we weren’t as high as I thought. Rather than a hundred-foot drop like I had imagined, it couldn’t have been more than fifty feet, or the size of a three-story building.
Drew released my hand just as we sliced through the surface, and as I dove down like a torpedo, I made sure to remember his instructions. I had his voice in my head, and it was enough to keep me centered while I waited for the current to let up. And by the time I reached the surface, I was ready to do it again.
“So what do you do out here after you jump?”
He spewed water from his mouth like a decorative fish on the side of a fountain. “Swim.”
Wading near the sidewall of the small inlet, I glanced around, taking in the sight I couldn’t see before. It wasn’t as big as I’d made it to be in my head, more like the size of a very large pool. Rocks surrounded the lagoon with an opening on one end, directly across from the falls. I assumed that opened up to the river on the other side.
It was so peaceful, so serene, that I wanted to bask in it for as long as I could, but based on the color of the sky, I doubted we’d be able to stay too much longer. So I rolled onto my back and floated toward the center, ears below the surface, and studied the grey clouds above. They weren’t dark, so I knew we still had time before needing to get out.
There was something surreal in feeling weightless with a giant, open sky above. It made me question all sorts of things, such as angels. Do they exist, and if so, what do they do all the time? Do they guard others, or do they spend all their time observing only one person? How many do we each have watching over us? What do they do about really heinous people?
That led to other inquiries. Where do our souls go when we pass on? Do all souls become angels? Or only the good ones? Were angels ever humans, and do they really have wings made of feathers? Does heaven really exist, or were we all fed a fairy tale to tame the barbarians and keep us all from doing bad things?
Obviously, I knew there was no way to answer any of those questions, but I enjoyed contemplating them, nonetheless. Even though I never knew my grandmother, it was a nice feeling to think she was up there watching over me. Proud of me. Guiding me.
I lowered my feet and swirled my arms at my sides to right myself in the water. My ears crackled for a moment before the sounds of nature became clear again. I spun in a circle, looking for Drew, and found him at the mouth of the river, intently staring at something in the distance. Whatever it was had his attention, because he didn’t respond when I shouted his name. So I swam to him, and as the rock barrier between the inlet and the river became shorter and shorter, my eyes grew wider and wider.
Holding onto the rock next to Drew, I pulled myself up as much as I could and gawked at the most awe-inspiring sight in front of us. A wave of grey came off the river, reaching sixty, seventy feet into the sky. It was so dense that I couldn’t see through it, couldn’t see the trees I knew were behind it.
“What’s that?” I was so entranced by what was in front of me that I could barely find my voice, so my question came out as more of a whisper. I worried he hadn’t heard me, considering I had called his name several times not even a minute ago, and he hadn’t heard that.
However, he heard me this time. “A fog wall.”
As we spoke, neither of us took our eyes off the smoky wave that slowly crept our way. And for no reason, we used hushed tones, as if Mother Nature could hear and come after us. I was in awe, but at the same time, I was fearful, contemplating getting out of the water to seek shelter.
“What’s a fog wall?”
“You’ve seen a layer of fog hovering over a field or something, right?”
I nodded, knowing he wasn’t looking but not having the ability to speak.
“Well, it’s like that but vertical instead of horizontal. Wind pushes it across the surface, forcing it to roll into a giant wave. It usually happens over the ocean, where it has more space to grow. The fact that we’re looking at one over the river is insane.”
“Why?”
“The river isn’t an open area; it has curves and bends with mountains and trees lining it. The wind path should be too obstructed for one to actually form. Really, we shouldn’t be seeing this right now.” Even though he remained still, completely focused on the miraculous sight, his words had left me anxious.
“Um, shouldn’t we get out of the water?”
At first, he shook his head and said, “It won’t do anything to us. It’s literally a giant cloud.” But then he whipped his face in my direction, eyes wide, a bright, halogen bulb practically hovering above him. “I don’t have my phone. It’s in the truck.”
I stared at him for a moment, wondering if he planned to continue that thought, or at least explain why he felt the need to tell me something I already knew. We’d both left our phones in the truck to keep them from getting wet. “And your point is…?”
“Pictures, Kenny! Pictures!” As if that was obvious. “But I’m scared it’ll dissipate before I get back.”
“Get back? Why the hell would you come back here?”
“You can’t get this view from the parking lot. I bet you wouldn’t even be able to see the top of it from there over all the trees.” He glanced at the approaching wall again before suggesting, “Stay here while I run to the truck to get my phone.”
“Are you out of your mind? You want me to stay here by myself in the middle of…of…” I jabbed my finger toward the sky as if annoyingly poking someone to get their attention. “…whatever that is? You just said yourself that it shouldn’t be here, which means it’s probably not as benign as you think.”
“Okay, then can you run to the truck and get my phone?”
My eyes fell to the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth. This had become entertainment to him, though I wasn’t sure why. “You do realize that if I go to the truck, I’m not coming back, right?”
“Yeah, I figured that was a longshot, but totally worth a try. Fine then. We will both head back, and you can stay in the truck while I return to take the most stunning pictures anyone has ever seen.”
I had been known to be stubborn from time to time, usually to make a point. So with the toe of my shoe wedged between two rocks, I pushed myself up, standing higher than before. “No, that’s okay. I’ll stay here. That way, I can fill you in on what you missed while you were gone.”
That was supposed to make him realize that he’d likely miss the entire thing if he left. And since this was such a rare event, I doubted he wanted to take that chance. But rather than decide to stay with me, he shrugged before swimming to the edge.
I shouldn’t have tested him. I should’ve known I wouldn’t win. And now I was all by myself, clinging to a rock, submerged in cold water, and watching a natural disaster head my way. However, the longer I stared at the magnificence of it, the more fascinated I became. If it truly was fog like Drew had claimed, then it would be harmless…and I would have witnessed it firsthand.