Free Wash by Margaret Wrinkle Page A

He veered away from the beach and headed back through the dunes towards the house.
    Mena was always where I needed her to be so I let her have the water. The fact that I could deny her wasn’t enough for me to do it. I did tell her later to be careful about who saw her out there. That some folks might think she was a witch to be so easy with it. She looked at me nodding then went her own way just like always.
    Her belly swelled all summer while she swam and worked and swam. She kept going in even as the water started to cool because Wash was big inside her. There was a long late summer that year and the water coming up around her belly seemed to be the only thing that gave her relief. So Wash knew the movement of water before he was ever born. That and the rip and crash of the waves too.
    I thought about having Paymore carry our midwife Lucy out here to bring Wash into the world. After all, Wash and Mena were my money to Richardson and I could not afford to lose either of them. But Mena shook her head no. Said she didn’t want strangers close while she was down. Besides, it’s not like I had one foot in the grave. I was still a good enough shot and if I couldn’t pour hot water over some meal then God help me.
    Wash kept us waiting well into November. He was late being born, as if he didn’t want to come. Or maybe he was storing up. I watched Mena good but she slipped through my fingers. Shut her loft door right in my face and didn’t open it till well after I heard him yelling. By the time I climbed the stairs, she had him settled in her lap, sitting close to the warm chimney. She tipped one shoulder back so I could see him good. He was fat and healthy with big eyes shining bright in his dark square face. Sized me up as solemn as a judge before turning back to her.
    I left them to it and we stayed lucky that winter. Wash was a good baby and quiet but he’d look right through you from day one. Made you want to hear what he had to say well before he had any words. Sissy would say he’s been here before and I’d believe her.
    He didn’t start to really fret till late spring but he sure made up for lost time. Enough of his coughing wail and I’d jerk my head towards the beach, telling Mena to take him and she did.
    Soon as the water started warming, she went right in. Kept him tied tight to her, either facing her chest or else looking out over her shoulder from his place on her back. Often water was the only thing to soothe him. Seemed like no time at all before she was taking him deeper into the waves. Cupping her hand over his face and ducking into the curl but always bringing him up before he had a chance to panic.
    I watched her lay those memories into that boy. Pale green light arching around him, a roaring going down into his bones and water pouring. He was quiet like her but I saw that slow smile break across his face as those white patterns of foam slid down his skinny sides. Pretty soon, he could swim on his own and hold his breath for a long time too. Worrying her and me both until he’d pop back up with a small round stone in his hand, beaming.
    Wash
    My mamma kept pulling me into deeper water, telling me it was safer there, but it was a long time before I’d believe her. Used to be, I’d stay right at the edge thinking I knew best. But that shorebreak knocked me round till I learned to take her word for it.
    She’d watch me come staggering out and tilt her head, with one side of her mouth crooking down, trying not to smile. She was saying you can let me tell you or you can find out for yourself, either way. I’d lie down beside her till the sky stopped spinning. Enough of that and I’d head straight for the deep where she liked to stay.
    We’d bob out there, watching the backs of the waves rise up as they rolled away from us to crash on the sand. She showed me the foam pulling into new shapes. Said that’s what happens in ceremony. All that swirling, that’s what spirit feels like when it gets to