Kyle approached their cook and handed him a bottle of water. “You look thirsty,” Kyle said, smiling at the sight of a hot meal.
“Yeah, my truck won’t start, so I can’t drive anywhere to get drinking water. We’ve had to boil that stuff. It’s a real hassle,” the man said, as he pointed to the lake.
“Grab your water jugs. I have a filter. It’s the least I can do for some of that fish,” said Kyle.
“Deal,” the man said quickly, just before turning the fish and dashing over to get the water jugs so he could be back in time to keep the fish from burning.
Kyle retrieved the filter from the raft and proceeded to wade into the shallow water. The man had brought every container he had that could hold water. Kyle lined up the man’s containers near the water’s edge and began to fill them with filtered water. Once they were all full, Kyle sat them next to the picnic table. The man was very pleased.
Robert held out a paper plate on the palms of his hands. The man placed the cooked fish on the plate and Robert could feel the warmth of the fish through the thin paper. After sprinkling a little salt on the fish, he devoured it, eating with his fingers. He noticed that the others doing the same, and suspected that this style of eating would be the new normal. After they consumed all the fish, Robert apologized again for not having a phone, then they pushed away from the lakeshore. With a quick wave goodbye and shouting their thanks, the three men continued their journey. Robert felt sorry for the man at the little campground, but he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do for him. He suspected that, on their way home, they would meet many others who were stuck. He expected other strangers, as time passed, to be increasingly desperate, and with that comes danger.
Robert assumed the lead in the flotilla again. He changed his position in the raft to face the rear, and from this position, placed each paddle into an oarlock. The oarlocks, acting as fulcrums, allowed Robert to use the strength of his arms and back to row more forcefully. He estimated that by turning paddles into oars, his speed doubled on the water. He easily accelerated away from the other men, then slowed down for them to catch up. When Kyle and then Richard got near Robert’s raft, he suggested that they also switch from paddling the rafts to rowing them. At this faster pace, they could make it to the first dam before sundown, then use the remaining light of day to find portage around the dam, and still have time to find a place to camp for the night. In agreement with the plan, they continued, but with Richard struggling to keep pace with the other men.
Robert’s enthusiastic rowing put him well ahead of the others and he was the first to hear the muffled roar of water pouring over the dam. Looking in that direction, he noticed another campground to the right of the dam. He removed the oars from the oarlocks, and turning around, began to paddle. He moved slowly forward, but angled his approach toward the side of the dam opposite the campground. Kyle and Richard gradually caught up.
Looking toward the dam, Robert said, “I think we should stay away from the campground. Let’s set up our camp away from other people. To the left of the dam it looks like there’s a gradual slope upwards. I’ll jump out and look for a good path around and down the other side. Once we get around this dam, let’s stop at a flat clearing and pull the rafts out. It would be a good time to split up some of this food and get some sleep.”
“Do you care if I tag along?” asked Kyle.
“Be my guest,” Robert said, then asked Richard, “Do you mind watching our rafts?”
“No problem, I need a smoke break.”
“Not in the raft,” Robert said emphatically. “Keep your lit cigarettes away from the rafts. I don’t want any accidents. These rafts are our ticket home.”
At a safe distance away from the dam, the men found a gradual slope from the shoreline upwards. Robert and Kyle jumped out of their rafts at this point and placed them on either side of Richard’s. They tethered the rafts together to keep them from floating away, and then stepped out of the water and up the gentle slope. Robert told Richard that they needed to find a clear path on this side of the dam. Nodding, Richard took a long drag from his cigarette and waved them away. To their good fortune, Kyle noticed a small road near the dam, and therefore this route seemed like the logical choice.
Robert and Kyle climbed upward to the small road. From here, they could look down and see Richard in the center raft, and in the other direction, they could see that the road went down to the bottom of the dam. There was a parking lot in the distance and what looked like a small boat ramp. Kyle wanted to walk by the stalled vehicles in the parking lot to assess any hidden threats. He did not want to carry their equipment past anyone who might cause a confrontation. They glanced back down at Richard once more. He was floating in the center raft and not paying attention to their ascent up the hill. Richard was slightly slumped over in the raft looking downward, not paying attention to anything.
The narrow road around the dam was steep. At the bottom, they stood in the parking lot and looked back up at the enormity of the dam. Water crashing over the top created a foggy mist at the base. They saw nobody around the dam and all the cars in the parking lot were empty.
Kyle turned to Robert and spoke. “I don’t have a good feeling about Richard. He looks like he is really struggling with the raft.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Robert. “He’s going to be a problem, and unfortunately he’s a problem we’re stuck with. As time goes on our situation is going to get worse and Richard isn’t going to be able to adapt very well. With what we’re heading into, Richard might do himself in.”
“Or us with him?” Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow.
Robert’s only response was to nod his head wearily.
The two men paced themselves going back up the steep slope of the road. On reaching the top, they looked down to where they had left Richard with the rafts. The rafts were gone. Richard had pushed a paddle into the muddy bank and had been holding the paddle to maintain position. He had drifted off to sleep and let go of the paddle. The paddle was still in the mud, but the rafts were floating toward the strong current that plunged over the dam. Both men screamed at Richard as they ran down the slope to the water’s edge. Richard remained oblivious. At the water’s edge, Robert and Kyle plunged into the lake and swam frantically to the drifting rafts, which were getting dangerously close to the swift current near the center of the dam. Kyle got to the drifting rafts first.
Kyle grabbed the rope on the side of a raft and screamed, “Wake up, asshole! Wake your fat ass up! Paddle! Paddle! PADDLE!”
Richard jerked up, startled, and grabbed for a paddle that was no longer there. It was still stuck in the mud on the riverbank. He fumbled for his remaining paddle and clumsily tried to paddle from the front of his raft. Kyle pulled himself onto a raft tethered to Richard’s and paddled with desperate effort. Robert reached the raft opposite Kyle, with Richard in the middle, and quickly pulled himself up. The rafts were drifting closer to the dam.
Robert yelled to Kyle, “Put the paddles in the oarlocks and row hard!”
Robert and Kyle rowed in unison and slowly began to pull away from the dam. After what seemed like an eternity, they broke free of the current and headed back to the area on the shore marked by Richard’s paddle, which stood protruding from the mud. Finally back to shore, Richard stretched forward and grabbed his paddle from the muddy bank. Robert and Kyle were too out of breath to speak, and simply stared, fuming with rage, at Richard.
“I know I screwed up. You don’t have to say anything,” said Richard.
Kyle stood up in the raft, grasping a paddle firmly in his hands. “You screwed up? No, asshole, you almost got us killed!” As he was yelling at Richard, Kyle raised his paddle like a baseball bat, ready to swing, and angled his stance toward Richard’s head. Kyle’s eyes were narrowed and filled with fury.