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Near the bottom of the lake, Vari, and her sisters Mayani and Linh, gathered around their mother one last time before striking out on their own. Mother reminded them that while larger bodies of water, such as lakes and rivers, might be home to many naiads, each in her own cove, inlet or bend, smaller bodies of water, such as ponds or springs, might have only one.
“You’ll have to swim hard and choose quickly,” Mother said, “because what happens to a naiad that doesn’t find a home before the first winter freeze?”
“It dies,” Mayani said in a low voice.
Mother nodded. “So don’t be too choosy and let winter catch you unaware. And after you sleep through your first cold, cold winter in your new homes?”
“We grow and wait for the male naiads to come and help us…”
“To do what?”
“…make more naiads.” Vari and her sisters giggled.
“Now that could be a very long time, or maybe never, because…”
“But mother,” Vari asked. “What about people?”
Linh and Mayani giggled again.
Mother frowned.
“But didn’t you tell us once…”
“That was just a , silly little naiad,” Linh blurted between giggles.
“And besides,” Mother added, “people are not interested in water and living things anymore. They have become cold. Shun them!”
Vari and her sisters embraced their mother before swimming their separate ways.
#
Vari swam for a long time, both above ground and in the waters deep within the earth. She knew that once she chose a home and passed her first winter there, she would belong to it as much it belonged to her. They would prosper or languish together. But all the good places seemed to be taken, and she passed many overgrown mudholes that, as much as they initially repelled her, became more appealing as summer turned into autumn. The first frost had already come when she chanced upon a young pond that was uninhabited. She spent a few days getting to know the local fish and wildlife, all of whom welcomed her, before settling down for her long winter’s sleep.
#
One day the following summer, Vari was playing with her pet catfish at the bottom of the pond when she was startled by a strange sound that came from the surface. She had scarcely looked up when a stone alighted beside her. More sounds and more stones followed. She swam upwards, cautiously, to have a look.
#
Henry Sullivan, who was only four, knew this would happen. As soon as Mother uttered the dreaded words, “Louisa, look after Henry while I’m in town today,” he knew this would happen. Louisa never played with him anymore; she only wanted to play with that boy from the next farm. So after trudging along after them into one of the upper meadows, he found himself alone, again, while Louisa and her friend played the wrestling game, again, on a blanket in the grass some way off. He spied a pond and, more out of frustration than anything else, began throwing stones into the water.
#
Vari swam up until she was just below the surface. A little boy stood on the bank, throwing stones into her pond!
#
Henry stooped for another stone, stood up and saw a little girl staring at him from under the water. He smiled.
Vari smiled back.
Henry bent down for a closer look, lost his balance and tumbled into the water.
Startled, Vari swam to the bottom of the pond.
Henry flailed in a panic.
Realizing that the little boy could not swim, Vari swam upwards with all her might, put out her arms and knocked him out of the water.
Henry landed on the bank and gazed in wonder at Vari, who hovered just below the surface. He waved.
Vari waved back. Suddenly, she disappeared.
Louisa grabbed Henry. “Mercy sakes! Are you alright? Don’t do that to me!”
Louisa made Henry take off all his clothes so she could dry them in the sun. When his clothes were dry, she dragged him home but not before making him promise never to tell Mother about what happened. Henry kept looking back at the pond.
#
As Henry grew older, the memory of the little girl in the pond faded. By the time he reached his teens, it had all but vanished. He would occasionally dream of a girl’s face, a kind face, always with some vague connection to water, but even these became less frequent as the years passed.
#
Vari was happy in her pond, which thrived, although sometimes she felt lonely, especially when people came around. (She wondered if naiads, who were mainly solitary creatures, were supposed to feel lonely.) Old Blackbird and his wives, who lived in the oak tree next to the pond, always alerted Vari when anyone was coming. She would retreat to the bottom and then rise to just below the surface to observe and listen; she thus learned their language.
She hoped the little boy would come back. Maybe they could be friends; it would be nice, Vari thought, to have a friend. But as the years passed, she feared that the little boy would not return. During the long winters, when the pond froze and she slept, she dreamed of the male naiads who she hoped would soon come calling.
One spring evening, some years later, two youths, who appeared to be about her age, sat on the bank under the oak tree. At first, Vari thought that they were shedding their skins but she then realized that unlike naiads, people covered themselves. That these two, male and female, were uncovering themselves, fascinated her. The male, whose organ was erect, tried to roll on top of the female but she pushed him off. That she then grabbed his organ and stroked it until he shouted and shot his milt into the pond, which he appeared to like very much, fascinated Vari even more. She felt an intense tingling in her loins, of the kind she had begun to feel when she dreamed of the male naiads during her winter sleep, and which became more acute when the female took the male’s hand and slipped it between her legs, prompting her to moan and buck her hips until she also shouted. Vari swam to the colder water at the bottom of the pond until the sensations passed.
The same couple came back to the later that year on a warm autumn afternoon. This time the female pulled up her garment and leaned against the oak tree. The male pulled out his erect organ, stepped up behind the female and pushed his organ inside her. They bucked and moaned until they both shouted. The male slumped against her and eventually pulled out his now droopy organ, which was covered with milt.
Vari darted to the now cold water at the bottom of the pond.
#
One summer’s evening, Henry and a group of friends hiked to the pond where they lit a bonfire and roasted potatoes, corn and onions. They were there to bid farewell to Henry and Lewis DeWitt, who would be leaving soon for Union College in Schenectady, three days’ ride away. Someone played the fiddle while others sang. Henry lay down by the pond while Elizabeth rubbed his back.
“That blackbird,” Elizabeth said, indicating a blackbird perched on a rush on the opposite side of the pond.
“What about him?” Henry asked, looking at him.
“He’s watching us. He hasn’t moved since we got here.”
“You been nippin’ at the cider? It’s probably got a nest here somewhere. Mmm, that’s good,” he muttered while Elizabeth worked his shoulders. He ran a hand through the water.
Vari, who had taken up her usual spot and was following the music, felt the ripples. She sniffed at the water and realized instantly that it was the little boy whom she had saved years before. She swam up near the high bank and reached for Henry’s hand.
Henry felt something brush his hand, looked and jumped up, almost stepping on Elizabeth and sending her tumbling.
“Henry!”
Henry ignored her and stared at Vari; the face from his dream flashed in his mind.
Vari smiled.
Henry smiled back; he waved.
Vari waved back. Suddenly she disappeared.
Elizabeth appeared at Henry’s side. “What are you waving at?”
“Nothing. I…”
Just then someone from around the bonfire shouted out, “If you two wanna eat, you better come right now.”
“I’m starving,” Elizabeth exclaimed, tugging at Henry’s arm and starting off.
“OK,” Henry mumbled, looking back at the pond. The blackbird had not budged. “Tell her I’ll be back,” he mouthed.
#
Henry stumbled through the rest of the party, feigning interest and forcing himself to participate. He kept looking at his hand, recalling Vari’s touch and reliving their previous encounter, the memory of which had flooded back to him in full detail. It was the same…person. Of that he was certain, only she was not a little girl anymore. Who, or what, was she? He recalled the Indians’ belief that there were spirits in the natural world, in just about everything. He had never paid the idea much mind but, he thought, looking at his hand, maybe there was something to it. Henry realized that the lady in the pond did not care to be seen by anyone but him. And the blackbird? When he had told it to tell her that he would be back, he had meant it as a lark but now he wondered if it would actually pass along his message.
Henry left the meadow with his friends, arriving home just after midnight. Mother was at Louisa’s, helping with the baby, and wouldn’t miss him. He waited a short while before doubling back to the meadow.
The pond was still. Henry looked around; neither Vari nor the blackbird were anywhere to be seen. He called out but nobody answered. He remembered how he fell into the pond when he was four. He stripped to his shorts and slipped off the bank into the warm water, which came up to his chest. Nothing. He dunked his head under the water. When he came up, Vari stood right in front of him.
“You came back,” she exclaimed.
Henry stared. Vari’s long hair fell over her breasts. She appeared like any woman his age might. “Who are you?”
“I am Vari.”
“You…live…in the pond?”
“I am its naiad!”
“What’s a…”
Old Blackbird alighted on a rush and chirped noisily.
To Henry’s utter amazement, Vari chirped back.
Old Blackbird flew off in a huff.
“He thinks he’s my father,” Vari said.
“Is he?”
“Oh, no,” Vari giggled. “He just said he hopes I know what I’m doing.”
“What’s that?”
Vari placed her hands on Henry’s face and kissed him. She stepped back and pulled her hair aside to expose her breasts. As she leaned forward to kiss him again, Henry pulled her against him and kissed her with all his might. Vari returned his kisses, opening her mouth to his tongue. Henry cupped and fondled her breasts while he caressed her ass and ground his cock against her.
Overwhelmed by the tingling in her loins and the flood of novel sensations, Vari jumped up in the warm water and wrapped her legs around his waist, her poised above his. Henry grabbed Vari’s ass and gasped as she plunged downward, taking him inside her, his sharp intake of breath matching her own. Vari rocked in response to the waves that radiated outward from her , moving faster and faster until she cried out and arched her back as her pleasure exploded. Henry thrust into Vari one last time and erupted, pulsing, giving himself to her. They wrapped their arms around each other as tightly as they could, rocking together until the pond was still.
“You are warm,” Vari mumbled, resting her head on Henry’s shoulder. “I have never done this before.”
“Uh, me neither.” Henry climbed out of the water, stood on the bank and extended his hand.
Vari stared. “I cannot leave the pond. I am its naiad.”
“But…”
“I am also a fool,” she declared, suddenly aware of the vast gulf between them even though Henry was only a foot away. “I am a ‘silly little naiad.'” Tears ran down her face. “I am sorry to have wasted your time.”
“Wait!”
Vari disappeared under the surface.
Henry massaged his temples. He looked at the sky. It would be light soon. Lewis would be coming to help him pack. Union College! Get an education, his father had said before he died, it’s the only way to become something other than just another backcountry farmer. But Henry knew that Vari had upset his way of looking at the world. A rooster crowed in the distance. Henry dressed and was about to leave when he noticed Old Blackbird on his rush, watching him.
“What can I do? Tell me, what can I do?”
Old Blackbird was silent.
“Tell her… oh chirp anything.” Henry slunk off towards home.
#
Vari sulked at the bottom of the pond. Even her catfish could not cheer her up. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she berated herself and slipped into a bleak despair.
#
“Just think of it!” Lewis said at the inn where the coach to Schenectady had stopped for the night. “By this time tomorrow, we’ll be at Union College, gateway to unlimited quim! When we have our degrees, we can go to New York or Boston and all the quim therein. Why, we could go to Europe and sample Spanish or,” he leaned in close to Henry across the table and whispered, “French quim!”
Henry stared down into his tankard. What could he tell Lewis? That he had had naiad quim? No, Henry felt that Vari, that their relationship, was much more than mere coupling in the water. Our relationship?! he thought, I’m a man, and she’s a what? A naiad, real, in the flesh, which he had shared; his flesh still rang from the encounter.
“Hellooo! You’re a million miles away.”
No, Henry thought, only about sixty. “You’ve got quim on the brain.”
“Only when it’s not on my cock.”
Henry smiled in spite of himself and tipped his ale at Lewis. “Bottom’s up.”
“Ay,” Lewis replied, tipping his tankard at Henry, “If we’re lucky.”
Henry smiled again, finished his ale and followed Lewis up to their room. But as he lay awake listening to Lewis snore, his mind went back to Vari. His enthusiasm for Union College gone, he had no idea what to do.
#
Henry sat by the pond, gazing at Vari, who hovered just beneath the surface. But she was the little girl she had been when they first met. His reflection, in the water next to her, was that of the little boy he had been at the time. Old Blackbird alighted on his rush and began to sing. Vari’s features shifted and blurred; she became as she was at present, young and beautiful. Henry looked and saw that his reflection too had changed, becoming the young man he was now. They looked natural together; Henry smiled. Vari’s features shifted and blurred again until her face was lined with age and her long hair had turned silvery grey. Henry smiled again; Vari was as beautiful as ever. Old Blackbird continued to sing, his voice becoming more strident. Henry tried to watch as his reflection changed, but Old Blackbird’s loud song distracted him.
#
Henry woke to some kind of commotion in the room.
“Go on! Git!” Lewis was swatting a birch broom.
“What is it?”
“This damn bird flew in the room, won’t leave, and won’t shut up. Agghh!”
Henry peered in the early morning light. A blackbird flew about the ceiling, trying to avoid Lewis.
“Stop it!” Henry grabbed at Lewis’s arm.
Lewis glowered as he lowered his arm.
Henry extended a forefinger.
Old Blackbird, with a rush in its beak, landed on Henry’s finger.
Henry gently took the rush. It was a faded, sickly green, and was covered in brown spots.
“What’s going on?” Lewis asked, astonished.
Henry rolled the rush between his thumb and forefinger. “Oh God,” he muttered, “Oh God…Tell her I’m coming,” he told Old Blackbird, who flew off at once.
“Henry, what’s going on? Who’s ‘her’?”
Henry paced about the room, frantic. He spied a coach through the window, leaned out and yelled, “When are you leaving?”
“Now,” replied the coachman.
“You got room?”
“For you?”
“Yes.”
“Make it fast.”
“I’ll be right down.”
Lewis pulled him inside and spun him around. “Are you mad? That’s the coach back home!”
“Lewis,” Henry replied calmly, “I’m as sane as I’ve ever been, and I know where that coach is going. Please.”
Lewis, stunned, stood aside.
Henry dressed, grabbed his trunk, and ran out.
“Will you be back?” Lewis called down from the window.
“No!” Henry shouted, tying down his trunk and climbing inside the coach.
#
Henry was too preoccupied to talk with other passengers and stared out the window the entire day. At the inn where the stage stopped for the night, he sat on a rocking chair on the porch, snatching brief bits of sleep in between dark dreams of a driedup pond.
The stage was due in the town near his farm at dusk the next day. But as it neared a certain bend in the road about one hour’s ride away, Henry asked the driver to take his trunk to the inn in town, leapt out of the coach and ran across country to the pond.
The pond was partly covered in a green scum; the formerly lush vegetation around it had begun to wilt and turn brown. The whole corner of the meadow seemed altogether forlorn and dreary.
Henry kicked off his shoes, dropped his purse and dove into the pond. He could hardly see in the murky water. He swam around, groping blindly until the need for air forced him upwards. Breaking the surface, he gasped for breath and was about to dive again when he felt hands grab his shoulders and pull him to the shallows. He whirled about and gaped at Vari’s pallor.
“Please,” she croaked, averting her eyes. “Do not see me like this. Go.”
Henry took her in his arms. “Look at me,” he said, lifting her chin and looking into her eyes. “I was the fool. Vari the naiad, I will never leave you again.”
“Do not tease me.”
“I am not teasing you.”
“But your life…”
“…will be here.”
Vari recalled what her mother had said about naiads and people. “But you cannot live in the water, and I cannot live out of it.”
“We’ll manage, at the water’s edge and here in the shallows. I could build a cabin here, and this meadow would be good for pasture.”
“What about the other people?”
“What about the other naiads?”
Vari smiled; her pallor lessened.
“Does that mean you’ll have me?”
“Help me clean the pond.”
Henry and Vari scooped up the scum and cast it on the bank. Old Blackbird reappeared and chirped excitedly as they culled the dead rushes. When they were finished, Henry was startled by the change that came over Vari. Her complexion was fair and healthy; her eyes sparkled.
Henry pulled off his wet clothes, tossed them on the grass and pulled Vari to him.
“Now,” Vari whispered, running her hands over his chest, “Now I will have you.” Vari leaned against the bank and beckoned Henry to stand behind her.
Henry grasped Vari’s hip with one hand and slid inside her, caressing her breasts with his other hand, and kissing her neck as he thrust into her.
Vari craned her neck around to kiss Henry on his mouth but could only kiss him once as she cried out her pleasure, which quickly overwhelmed her.
Henry let go of Vari’s breasts and grabbed her hips, holding her as close as and as tightly as possible as he came.
When they were finished, they sat together on one of the banks, their legs dangling in the water, and talked long into the night.
Henry told Vari about his dream.
“I saw the same vision,” Vari said. “You looked fine with grey hair and…”
“What?”
“I want to see if it comes true.”
Henry squeezed her hand. He wondered why he felt such a powerful attraction to Vari. Her very existence had completely upset how he perceived the world. She was unconcerned about the wide world and was content with her own small corner. There is a lesson in that, Henry thought. While not at all simple or naive, Vari was pure and innocent. He liked that and it seemed that he would have to unlearn much to attain her level.
They talked until Henry could barely keep his eyes open.
“You’re not tired?” Henry yawned, shifting to lay down in the grass and rest his head on Vari’s thigh.
“I sleep through the winter, when the pond freezes.”
“All winter?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm, I’d love to sleep with you all winter,” Henry mumbled, falling asleep.
Vari sat through the night gazing at Henry, marveling at him as he slept, and realized that she must be in love. Male naiads spent their whole lives on the swim. They had no role in childrearing, only childmaking. Vari ran her fingers through Henry’s hair and thought herself very fortunate.
When Henry awoke the next morning, Vari stood in the shallows of the pond. On the far side were birds, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, muskrats, a raccoon and several whitetailed deer.
“All they ask,” Vari said, “is that you don’t kill them.”
“OK.”
Vari chattered something unintelligible; the animals dispersed.
“You are a continual surprise,” Henry said, joining Vari in the water and taking her in his arms.
“Is that a good thing?” Vari asked, grabbing his cock.
Henry groaned.
###
Henry’s mother was overjoyed at his decision to stay home and take over the family farm, especially when she moved in with Louisa and her growing family. Henry built a cabin by the pond, planted a garden and pastured cows in the meadow which he eventually acquired.
