Crossing the Clay

A story from The Before Times

Young Woman with Ibis, by Edgar Degas (1860-2)

I put my foot onto the giant clay fin and quickly pulled it back. I paused. Everyone ahead of me had walked right over, though I couldn’t fathom why. My legs couldn’t do the job, so my instincts did it for me. I sat down and began to scoot.

Center of gravity lowered, my nervous system understood this as the o…