CANOE DOWN RIVER

The survivalist in me had often wondered about being lost in the wilderness. It would be a good test, even an adventure, or so I thought. Much darker thoughts accompanied my predicament now.

Brady lay motionless with one arm bent at the elbow, over his eyes. His other arm held his glasses tightly on his protruding belly. Clouds were quickly moving in but the sun still bore down on us. My skin now reddened stung with every movement, so I tried to imitate Brady and remain still. I knew that I couldn't possibly fall asleep, but hoped that Brady already had. How would he handle this? It was only a matter of time before Brady discovered what I had realized two hours earlier; no one was coming to find us. I figured that that fact alone would send him into shock.

"Charlie, did you purposely take us down the wrong way at the fork in the river?" Brady's voice startled me.

"Of course not, I thought it was a shortcut."

"Then why are we lost?"

"It's not a shortcut." I laughed insecurely and sat up to see Brady's reaction. He didn't even crack a smile. "Seriously Brady, like I tried to get us lost." Brady did not respond to this. I wanted to tell Brady we would not have to take shortcuts if he paddled more, but I couldn't. He had refused to be in the same canoe with anyone else after all. Clearly his trust in me wavered.

"Are you mad at me Brady?"

"No!" He opened his eyes, staring firmly at me. "I'm just wondering how we're going to get out of here, that's all."

"We could try the same way we came?" I chortled.

Brady gave me a disgusted look and closed his eyes again.

"It was just a joke."

"I know that!" Brady would have been much calmer without me joking around.

"Shouldn't we gather firewood?" I was up on my feet moving toward the woods.

"Why? You hungry? We have no food or pan to cook anything." Brady put his arm back over his eyes.

"No, I'm not that hungry. I just want to dry our clothes before night comes."

"Did you bring matches?" Brady mused.

I reached for my wallet where I had stowed a match for emergencies. My pockets were empty. Not wanting to get my wallet wet, it was left behind at camp. The same excuse applied for having brought nothing in the way of survival. "We could use your glasses," I finally stammered.

"The sun's nearly gone but go ahead; try it if you want." Brady was obviously going to be of no help. Why was I lost with the laziest person alive?

"What time do you think it is?" I asked as I took his glasses off his belly.

"Don't know." Brady rolled his head away from me, "sleep time."

"You don't know," I mocked him; "I thought you were keeping track of the sun."

"See those dark clouds?" Brady mimicked my annoyed tone. He uncomfortably winced as he braced himself up on his elbows and motioned with his head to the horizon. "I give them half an hour. It's gonna rain on us before nightfall." Then he bedded back down.

I mused at how he could just lie there at a time like this. "We'd better at least find something to cover us."

"Use the canoe," Brady said.

"What?"

"We have a canoe." Brady repeated.

"So how do we cover the canoe?" I asked.

Brady laughed. "We'll just turn it over and sleep under it."

Concerned so much with what we didn't have I had forgotten what we did have. It was embarrassing how he was thinking clearly and I felt panicky. But at least Brady was finally coming in handy for something, and finally finding a good use for the canoe that he had swamped us in countless times before, with his awkward lack of balance. The day had worn me out physically and apparently mentally. Neither of us mustered any energy toward the canoe as though waiting for the other to lead the way.

A question still tried to work itself out in my mind-exactly how lost were we? It was hard to convince myself that waiting for others to find us was the best option. We had drifted around many bends, far from where we had originally gone off course. My mind ached; I tried to stop thinking about it, to stop worrying, but I did not have the energy to do anything but rest with those unsettling thoughts.

My hands were sore and callused. My thumb was raw from rubbing against the oar with every stroke removing blisters in its path. The inner part of my legs had developed a rash from the friction of wet swim trunks on dry skin. I lay down again, resting my sore lower back on the sloping bank of the river. I couldn't remember being more physically tired in my life. It baffled me to think that Brady hadn't complained about any discomfort. I almost hoped he would, to justify my complaints, maybe even give me an excuse to lash out. He had to be hungry, too. After all, I was starving, despite how I had said different.

I watched as the sun vanished behind the clouds. Then the clouds overtook the entire sky. It was probably only a few minutes but seemed as though hours had passed. I lied there in silence until a large clap of thunder shook me from my resting place. In one motion I whirled around to my hands and knees only to find Brady sleeping peacefully at the top of the bank, where the sand met the woods. I smiled as my mind remembered a similar scene earlier that day; Brady comfortably slept in the same way much of the trip, while I arduously paddled.

Pulling with all of the energy I had left, I brought the canoe up the riverbank and collapsed next to my counterpart. It began to rain, so I flipped the canoe over and leaned it up against a tree with Brady underneath. There was just enough room for me to climb underneath on the other side. I removed my wet shirt and strung it overhead on one of the supporting rungs of the canoe. The slight pitter-patter of the raindrops on the canoe grew louder, eventually waking Brady up.

"Hey, you awake Charlie?"

"Still here!"

"Thanks for setting the canoe up." Brady grabbed my arm as he spoke.

It was the first time Brady had thanked me all day. I tried to remember him helping at any time that we had tipped over our canoe. He hadn't. The slightest bump from a twig, a rock, or a wave would send us flipping into the water. I would flail arms and legs swimming as quickly as I could to catch the canoe. "Come help me," I would yell, knowing full well that lazy Brady wasn't about to help. He would just float down stream in a sitting position clasping his knees with his hands and chuckle like a dumb oaf. Then, I would try to hide my anger as I thrust the canoe upright, removing all of the water, before getting back in. That same routine would unfold over and over again.

Later the river became shallow, when it diverged into two streams. We were slower than ever without a current, but we did not tip over as often. There was also a slight problem of weight distribution. I rode high out of the water, while Brady dragged bottom as our human anchor. I resorted to paddling off of the hard ground. Otherwise I would spend my time splashing water with each stroke, sending the front of the boat back and forth. The back of the boat, meanwhile, refused to budge, remaining wedged between Brady and the river bottom. Every time we got stuck it was almost as funny to Brady as when we flipped over.

"Brady, what do you think the other guys are doing right now?"

"Probably eating," he laughed briefly. "No-I suppose they are in bed by now."

"You don't think they are looking for us?" I asked.

"Maybe for you. Those guys don't like me."

I didn't argue with him because he was right about one thing. They would sooner leave Brady behind than be in the same canoe with him. "They just don't know you," I assured.

"Yeah, I guess so," Brady shrugged.

I was glad he seemed satisfied with my answer but I knew the truth; the older boys didn't want to get to know him and they didn't like me any better. The only reason Brady came along was to be with me and the only reason I came along was to be with them. We both were disappointed. Guilt swept over me for being no more accepting of an admirer than those I had looked up to. We had been duped. I had begged them to include me on this trip and Brady had filled the last vacant spot to make it possible. Our twosome put up our own deposit money and it was safe to say that no one else felt responsible for the safe return of our canoe. I should have realized that I was as much the brunt of their joke as Brady. From the get go we were at the receiving end of jeers and paddles splashing up water on us, as each of our supposed friends passed by. Other schemes throughout our journey followed, like pulling Brady's shorts down when we tipped over.

The driver's words now stood out in my flashbacks, "You two best keep up if you want a ride home." Brady and I laughed off the joke then, but suddenly it occurred to me that he wasn't kidding. There was no denying it. I was grouped with Brady. The driver had also been the one who clued me in to this supposed shortcut. He himself inconspicuously told me to go on down river while the others were yet having fun swinging from a vine and jumping off into the river. Even if the others had a conscience they may never know that we went the wrong way. Maybe he didn't tell them at all. Go left at the fork, he said, it's the quickest way back to the parking lot. He knew I was fed up; I took the bait without question and led us both astray.

Brady must have suspected that I could be in on some trick by questioning why we were lost. He probably thought the others would jump out of the woods at any moment and expose the joke. By now he could trust that it wasn't a practical joke, but I left him with the hope that I had simply made the mistake in bringing our canoe the wrong way down river. In reality, we'd not only been ditched, but I was certain we had been deserted. None of them would wait for us. Although maybe the driver was having a good laugh with them now on their way back home. He would want to let them in on the joke eventually. Maybe one of them would have the decency to report us missing. Maybe none of them wanted to be looked down on by the group, or get in trouble with the authorities for there part in this, but they could remain anonymous. Whatever the case I certainly doubted any of them wanted to take the time to be part of a search party for us. Brady had actually boasted to them about how we told our parents we were spending the day with a friend of mine. It could be pretty late before anyone who cared about us knew we were missing and our parents wouldn't know where to look. They would never have let us go with this group of guys canoeing. My fears had me preparing for the worst.

Brady had dozed off again. I only wished I could sleep. Rain came down in sheets. The wind picked up. The sky lit up between thunder bursts. The storm was getting closer. At least we didn't need fire to scare off any animal predators that could be nearby.

Lost in thought I finally became lost in slumber. I don't know how long that lasted-being no longer aware of passing time or even place-but that got disturbed abruptly by the most obnoxious thunder clap followed quickly by a blinding lightning strike almost on top of us. Both the sonic boom and a broken limb felled from the lightning strike shook the ground around us. It caught fire.

"Brady, wake up. Fire!"

He grumbled in between snores. "We don't need it."

"Brady, it's almost morning." I tried.

He just groaned a little more.

I pushed the canoe over and rain poured in. I shook Brady. "Come on, this is no time to be lazy." That worked.

Brady's arm flew free from his side and clinched my shirt. "I am not lazy!"

"Okay then, help me put the canoe back in the water."

"I can't!" His speech was slurred.

"Come on; if we go downstream we might find a way out." I tugged on Brady and he let out a sharp groan.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My leg is broken." Brady seemed lazy but he wasn't a liar.

"What? How? When did this happen?" I stammered.

Brady suddenly appeared very white and then an awful sickly green like he was going to throw-up. His grunt reminded me of the first time we fell out of the canoe where he slammed up against a big rock. I don't remember if I even asked if he was okay, but I know that he never complained until now.

"I'm scared Charlie." Brady was going into shock.

"Stay awake, Brady."

I had watched the miserable sight of Brady slithering like a worm up the bank from the canoe before, thinking how it was an incredibly ridiculous show of laziness. He would not have to fend for himself now though. I hefted him into his throne in the back of the canoe and pulled it back to the waterway. Fire was no longer a threat as the rain had nearly doused it before I had us back in the water. Hypothermia was. The warning heat of fire had prompted us back into action, but I doubted Brady would survive the night in these elements.

Flashlights streamed through the trees of the opposite embankment.

"Help! We're over here." I yelled out to our rescuers soon discovering the fire fighters hadn't come for us or the canoe. That was the ranger's job to yell at me the whole time he had to help me recover the canoe from the river in order to get it safely stored so no one would steal it, as he put it. A couple firemen carried Brady out and a medic attended to him back at the ranger station. I was the first to write on his cast and was visited his bedside in the hospital more than anyone.

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