Of Tine and the River

As Tine settled into her bed tonight, she thought about how close she'd come to being swept away on an ice floe on her daily walk today.



While Tine hadn't seen any ice floes on the river down by the mill this afternoon, ice floes had been filmed there as recently as the winter of 1920 -- not all that long ago, Tine thought, reflecting on time and the river. D. W. Griffith, whom Orson Welles described as "the greatest of all motion picture directors," had filmed the ice floes for his silent movie, "Way Down East."

The danger might not seem as considerable in a film without the natural sound of the rushing river, Tine thought, but the greatest of all motion picture directors could be relied on to faithfully portray the perils of Tine's predicament. She would be seen flowing "unstoppably toward certain death," as the back of the video box said.

What's more, Tine thought, the movie was accompanied by a dramatic score played by a full orchestra. Tine imagined the music swelling to a thunderous, tension-filled climax, with the bass and kettle drums pounding, as she was propelled downriver on her ice floe.

"What are you thinking about, Tine?" Rubob asked, looking up from his tome on Winston Churchill.

"I forgot to fill my hot water bottle -- that's all," Tine said. "I'm lying on it and it's rather chilly -- not unlike an ice floe."

"I thought your feet seemed cold, Tine," Rubob said.

"You saved me in the nick of time, Rubob," Tine said before she fell into a deep sleep.