Heidi Talic, Just Add Water (Student (2018))

You’ve got bills to pay, emails to check, your Mum is still waiting for you to return her call. You leave your phone and dive in… SPLASH… Your hair is wet. The wall you have put up around yourself- the wall of stress, of worry, of responsibility, momentarily dissolves away. You relax and become a kid again. Floating around, watching the shapes in the clouds, listening to your heart beat under the water. Then Boom! Cannon baaaaaall!!! Those actual kids who have been using their “inside voices” all day have realised they are allowed to run around like screaming maniacs because they are wet. Somehow the water has released their inner crazy, so you splash them back and make a quick escape on your pool noodle because until it’s time to get dry, it’s okay for you to be a kid too.

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