The cold water was coming into the boat and covering our feet. Jim bailed as fast as he could but the small dixie cup was no match for mother nature. With the wind in our faces and struggling to paddle towards shore, a thought came to me: “We aren’t going to make it back.”

 

And the day had started out so well….

 

Talk about your dream come true: sunny blue skies and here we were going out on the open water with no adults. As my dad pushed our rowboat/ship away from shore, we let out a loud cheer. “See you in a couple of hours”- he yelled back as we rowed into open water.

 

Jim and Karl are my best friends and opposites in personality. I’m sure this had to do with their family life. While Jim’s parents were together, giving him a more stable environment, Karl's weren’t, and this made him mad at the world. He has a hard time dealing with his feelings and puts on a tough guy image. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a really nice guy once you get to know him.

 

Taking turns rowing worked best and as we cut through the smooth surface of the water our smiles were huge and our sense of freedom grew.

 

Looking back towards the beach, we saw miniature cars moving on the road and tiny people working in their yards. This was the farthest out I had been without my dad, and I felt a sense of independence. Here we were, the three of us, surviving on the BIG Lake.
We stopped and drifted…

 

I looked over the edge of our ship and into the dark water. “What was beneath us?”, I wondered. I pictured old giant trees with huge fish and serpents with dark yellow daggers for teeth, slicing through thick lake weeds. At any moment I was sure one of these creatures would thrust its slimy snake-like head out of the water, open its gigantic mouth and swallow us whole.

 

I must have been thinking out loud because Karl chimed in, “I bet it’ll have a hole on top of its head to breathe through so it can stay near the surface and attack boats.”

 

Then it was Jims’s turn: “My monster has a long snout and sharp needle teeth to pick people out of their boats which would then be found drifting aimlessly and empty”.

 

Jims’s story spooked me the most as I pictured my dad finding our empty boat with only our oars and lunch evidence of our prior existence.
I swore I heard the “Twilight Zone” theme and sure enough Karl was the culprit. Laughing and hollering we cherished our freedom from the adult world.

 

Soon we would long for the presence of any adult.

 

Hungry, we opened our snack bags and began to munch. As we drifted along, Jim noticed the wind getting a bit stronger and the waves bigger.

“Hey guys, I think the monster is waking up”, he said in his best Dracula voice-which was actually pretty good.

 

As we rocked from side to side, water began to splash over the rails and pool in the bottom of our ship. 

 

We decided it was time to head back. Jim began to row us towards the beach, and it soon became clear that we weren’t making any headway.
The wind was getting stronger, pushing us towards the other side of the lake. White caps were next and then the sun disappeared behind a group of gray clouds. 

 

Rain came down really hard, sheets rather than drops, soaking our clothes. As the water level in our boat rose, Karl and I began to scoop it out with small Dixie Cups. While we could scoop pretty fast, the cups were way too small, and more water came in than out. 

 

Suddenly our grand adventure was turning into a nightmare.

 

Once a brave and close-knit crew, we were now scared and fighting amongst ourselves. Jim told Karl to bail faster, and Karl threatened to beat Jim up “…if he didn’t shut up!”

 

I added more fuel to the fire by telling them to put on their soaking wet life jackets. Their response were words that would get your mouth washed out with soap. Our crew was splitting apart. Not the best way to survive a summer storm.

 

Staring into the howling wind, I saw a motorboat coming towards us; its hull rising and falling with the surging waves.
To my relief, I could see my dad among the crew. “Were saved!!” I yelled. 

 

Not so fast there Captain. “It’s too rough to get you into our boat. I’ll be back to get you” my dad yelled. And with that he and our rescuers turned back towards shore and left us to wallow in the waves.

 

I was mad that he’d left us, yet also felt relief that someone knew we were in trouble and would come to help us.

Jim yelled, “If we can’t get into another boat how’re we going to be rescued?”

 

“The T.V. shows always have the Coast Guard helicopter come and save the day,” I yelled back. 

 

We all took that as a means of staying calm and holding onto hope. 

 

Finally we reached a point where we were too tired and stopped rowing. Looking at each other we all decided to give into the mercy of Mother Nature. 

 

 Jim's parents were Pastors at a local church and Jim decided to pray for help. Despite Karl's tough guy image he too folded his hands in prayer. I made it unanimous.  Pretty heavy thinking for 12-year-olds yet at a time like this you get some weird vibes.

 

Now I don’t know if you believe in Guardian Angles but after this experience I sure do. With the wind pushing us towards the opposite shore we finally found ourselves at the foot of a short rock wall. It was attached to a large rectangular lawn and at the end of this lawn was a house!
 

I grabbed a piece of that wall, pulled myself up onto the lawn and fell flat on my face; my legs didn’t work. After spending all that time folded up and cold, they needed some time to recover. I was able to do a Zombie walk up to the house. Let me tell you, that lawn was as long as the hallway to the bathroom when you gotta go really bad.

 

An elderly couple opened their sliding glass door and stepped out to greet me. I calmly explained our situation:” Yougottahelpmeandmy friends….” Well, maybe not that calm but they were able to piece things together fairly quickly.  

 

While her husband went to rescue my abdoned shipmates and our boat, his wife gave me a warm blanket and steered me towards the firplace and a warm chair. Soon my crew joined me and we waited in their living room, wrapped in warm blankets and sipping hot chocolate, as our clothes dried and they contacted my dad. Not sure who it was as I was a bit groggy and glad to be on solid ground.. Funny how we were so excited to get away from adults and now we couldn’t be happier in their company.

 

A little while later my dad arrived, in his car this time, and after securing our ship to the top of the car and thanking our hosts he drove us home.
We were quiet on this trip, lost in our thoughts. Jim hugged Karl and I as he was dropped off, which showed how we had bonded through all this. 

 

Is there a lesson to be learned from all this? How about not bringing opposite personalities onto a small boat? Maybe, yet were all a bit different in one way or another. Accepting others differences is the best option in my view and we are similar in many ways if we just choose to look.

 

How about making sure you bring something bigger than small dixie cups to drink out of when you’re on the open water. That is a no brainer, yet I would have liked to have learned that in a less stressful manner.

 

For me, my lesson learned I touched on earlier. Though I couldn’t wait to get away from grown-ups, the time I really needed them they came through. While you and I may have issues with adults that steer us clear of their company at times, it’s reassuring to know they’re around to help/rescue us when we need it.