She had a free day and Rose had been washing her clothes upstream. It was a hot day and she hadn’t minded the chore, for at least it was her own work, and she could do it at ease and enjoy the cool water, and the singing of the birds, and the alternation between the warm rays of sunlight and the shade of leaves. While the clothes she had been washing were drying, Rose took off her shoes and socks, pulled the rim of the back of her skirt in between her legs and up to put it in the front and create some sort of shorts. Then she stepped into the water until she was in to her knees and closed her eyes, enjoying the cool sensation.