The Water lily Pond

The Water lily Pond
Nude on the Beach
One Moment in Time
precious time
"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," he murmured hopefully. "If we canconvince these bipedal vermin to unload us here, we may enter into sensible humanservice again instead of being melted into slag." Artoo's sole reply was a noncommittal chirp. Both machines became silent asthe jawas commenced scurrying around them, striving to straighten one poor machinewith a badly bent spine, to disguise a dent or scrape with liquid and dust. As two of them bustled about, working on his sand-coated skin, Threepio foughtto stifle an expression of disgust. One of his many human-analog functions was theability to react naturally to offensive odors. Apparently hygiene was unknownamong the jawas. But he was certain no good would come of pointing this out tothem. Small insects drifted in clouds about the faces of the jawas, who ignored them.Apparently the tiny individualized plagues were regarded as just a different sort ofappendage, like an extra arm or leg. So intent was Threepio on his observation that he failed to notice the two figuresmoving toward them from the region of the largest dome. Artoo had to nudge himslightly before he looked up. The first man wore an air of grim, semi-perpetual exhaustion, sandblasted intohis face by too many years of arguing with a hostile environment. His graying hairwas frozen in tangled twists like gypsum helicites. Dust frosted his face, clothes,hands, and thoughts. But the body, if not the spirit, was still powerful