Page 9 of Only One Tent
I had an inflatable paddleboard. It was the greatest thing since bacon. Thankfully, we had power at our site. It made things a little easier, especially for pumping my paddle board up. Once it was ready, I hauled it down to the water. The ramp was crowded with tubers and kayakers, so I went through the swimmer area, garnering a few dirty looks, but I got out beyond the roped-off area quickly. I paddled to the far side of the river and watched for anyone I knew, particularly Skyler. I was hoping to spend some time on the water with him. Not finding him, I waved to a few other people. Drew and Justin would drive one of the buses and their truck down to the pick-up point down the river. Then we’d load up and drive back to camp. Going down the river was slow but a lot of fun. No worries.
After a few minutes of fighting the river to wait for Skyler, I gave up. I straddled the board and tucked my paddle along the side. Leaning back on my hands, I let the current slowly pull me along, only using the paddle to avoid the trees when I drifted too close to the shoreline.
A couple of folks from our group were laughing and cutting up and splashing. They splashed me, too, though I didn’t think they meant to. I waved to them and let them go past. After a few minutes, we were all spread out along the river. Voices carried across the water, though I couldn’t tell what was said or who was speaking. Everything echoed weirdly.
A sleek, black cormorant bird dove into the water, popping up across the river. A couple of turtles with yellow stripes down their face and necks hung out on a log. The sky was incredibly blue and the water cold. Refreshingly cold. It was a stunning day.
Then I heard his voice, and I perked my head up. He was close, so I paddled over to him. “Hey, Skyler.”
He was on a tube, trying to get situated comfortably from the looks of it. And having issues. “Yeah. Crow, hi,” he muttered, pulling his legs up and across the inflatable.
I knelt on my board, paddling to stay close to him. “Nice, right? Don’t you love this?”
Skyler huffed. Then he raised his face to the sky. “Yeah. It’s nice out. I’m not fond of this thing.” He patted the tube. “But it’s alright. I guess.”
“I’m not fond of tubes either. I prefer something more like this.” I gestured to my board.
“That’s pretty cool, honestly. Was it expensive?”
“Uh, not really, no. I didn’t buy the most expensive one, but there were others cheaper. This is the third time I’ve been out on it.”
“Ahh…it seems like fun, but I’d probably tip it over. I have no coordination. Or balance.”
I could imagine that, but he would probably do better than he thought. “I tipped it a few times when I first got it. Takes a minute to get the hang of it.”
“Cool.”
We floated along and chit-chatted. It was nice. For once, he wasn’t trying to run away or strangle me. A perfect day, except the sky was growing dim, with a few dark clouds in the distance that appeared to be rolling in quickly, and I was guessing it would rain.
Up ahead, I saw it coming down, a dark curtain of water.
“Oh shit,” Skyler sat up. “It’s going to rain.”
“Yep. We’re already wet, though.”
“Mm…what about lightning.”
Florida was the lightning capital of the world, but this didn’t look like a bad storm, and I hadn’t heard any thunder. “I think we’re okay.”
“Sure. This is fine.” He patted the tube again as if convincing himself. “Rubber. Right.”
“Exactly.” I wasn’t entirely sure if that would help or not, but he seemed a little frightened and needed some reassurance. It tugged that spot inside me that wanted to be someone’s daddy. I swallowed it and paddled closer to him.
Things were fine at first. It sprinkled, so not a big deal at all. But after another minute or two, it came down hard. And Skyler obviously didn’t like it. “This sucks. Fuck. I don’t like this. Who knew you’d need an umbrella to float down the river. Damn.”
“Hey, let’s go over there.” I pointed to a thick overhang of trees up ahead.
“Uh. How am I gonna get over there?”
“Put your feet in the middle and kick.” This was definitely a new experience for him, and he fussed and growled, but he finally got his feet under him.
Together, we managed to maneuver under the trees. I jumped in and pushed the tip of my board into the shore a little so it wouldn’t float off, then I pulled his tube closer. Once we were situated, I got back on my paddleboard. Skyler sat on the top of his tube with me holding his feet.
“This is so uncomfortable.” Skyler frowned.
“It’s a story you can tell. Something you’ll remember.”
“You’re very optimistic. I don’t remember you being that way before.”
