Lacuna on the Reaction Ferry: The River Does the Work

The rope takes the strain before the crossing becomes visible.

Lacuna stands beneath it in the evening light, watching the last slack disappear. The small ferry turns a little into the current. Water gathers against the angled hull, then slips past in dark folds. Across the river, the far bank begins to separate into reeds, stones, a landing.

No engine interrupts the water. The overhead cable holds the ferry to its crossing; a traveller moves along it as the taut tether keeps the hull from simply drifting downstream. Set at an angle to the flow, the boat lets the river's push carry it sideways.

Lacuna rests a hand on the rail. The movement is slow enough to doubt until the landing draws nearer. Beneath the hull, the current continues on its own course. The ferry has not stopped it or reversed it—only found an angle at which another direction becomes possible.