Page 8 - My FlipBook

This man, whom everyone calls “The Old Man of the Lake” or ‘The Olmal’
for short, noticed that for a few minutes the waterfalls had stopped flowing.

If you’re taking a shower and the water sputters for a second or even stops for
a minute, you’d certainly notice. But if it starts up again, then, well, you have
better things to worry about and you finish taking your shower. But The
Olmal did not have better things to worry about. Worrying about the lake was
his job. And when the waterfalls stopped, even though they started up again
just a few minutes later, he became concerned and he decided he would walk
up to the top of the mountain to see if there might be something wrong with
the giant.

Oh, yes, The Olmal knew what was at the source of the waterfalls, though he
never told anyone. All he would say when people asked where the waterfalls
bagan was this: “Do not go up there or you will break the magic.”

What The Olmal saw when he was walking up the mountain, oh so slowly
since he was an old man, was Bonnie running down the mountain towards
him.

The Olmal asked sternly, “Where have you been Miss Bonnie?”

Bonnie stopped running and hung her head, but said nothing.

The Olmal asked, “Did you look to see where the waterfalls begin?”

Bonnie nodded her head.

“I will have to tell your parents,” said The Olmal.

“I know,” said Bonnie somewhat ashamed and fearful, but then added, “Do
you know who- ... ummm ... what’s there?”

The Olmal said nothing, but Bonnie understood that, yes, he did know.
Bonnie asked another question. “How long has he been up there crying?
Since you were a little boy?”

Again, The Olmal said nothing, which Bonnie knew was another ‘yes’.

Bonnie asked her final question, her head now held high and her voice angry,
“Did you ever try to make him stop crying?”

The Olmal said gently and as if it were a great truth, “His sadness makes
many other people very happy.”

“It doesn’t make me very happy!” yelled Bonnie. “It makes me very, very sad!”
Then she ran back up to the giant.

When she got to the top of the mountain, she declared, “I am going to find
you another giant.” Then she ran off, not back to her village, but over to the
other mountains.