made me pull it in as much as I could. After hesitating for a moment and feeling the little hair I had left on my arms and legs stand up as I got goosebumps I decided to just get it over with, quickly dipping down under the surface and furiously rubbing my hair to free it of the muck dried all the way in to my scalp. The water moved with me, small streams being made like cold winds against my skin, tempting me to stay static with tense muscles to still the water. Instead I straightened out my legs and let my upper body breach the surface, letting the evening sun’s orange light warm me best it could as I waded back to the shore. As my feet left the water I looked down on the crumpled shapes lying on the ground. My clothes were not clean at all. In fact, I was certain the bathing I had just gotten over with would be completely undone if I pulled them on again. This had not been planned well. ”Hey!” I shouted to the somewhat distant shape scrubbing at their arm. Their face reflexively turned my way, causing their wet hair to slap onto their face and stick there. ”What?” They responded, trying to get the stubborn stands off by jerking their head around in a rather spectacular fashion. ”What do we do about the clothes?” I asked, gesturing to the dirty pile on the ground. ”What?” They shouted back. ”What do we do about the dirty clothes?” I asked again, louder this time. ”About the what?” ”Clothes!” They paused both their attempts at flipping their hair into place and their scrubbing, instead turning towards the shore were their own filthy clothes laid. ”Oh”, they said, but I didn’t hear it with how far away they 103
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