Another moment passed, then Ruby broke the silence that had fallen once more. ‘Well this has been a lovely outing, but it is getting quite late and I think it is high time we made tracks for home. Perhaps we can look for badger setts another night?’
Rebecca made a strange strangled noise in the back of her throat, and then began to laugh. It was not a sound filled with joy though, but one that bordered on hysteria. And Georgia, exhausted, hurting all over, fed up with not being able to see more than six inches in front of her face, and worried sick about Badger, was feeling the same.
Her mind almost ground to a halt as she tried to follow Ruby’s concept of their evening. Had she really not remembered or even registered what they had just gone through? Did she really think this was some kind of holiday excursion? That all this had been a relaxing cruise down the river and now they were considering visiting a badger sett as part of the experience?
Oh the joys of becoming senile. She and Rebecca, not to mention the dogs, would probably be emotionally scarred for the rest of their lives by the evening’s events, while Ruby, with her blissful unawareness would be completely unaffected.
‘You are right, Ruby,’ Georgia finally said, ‘we should make tracks.’
As they turned and slowly headed for the right bank, mist began to roll across the surface of the water, eerily curling and spreading, reaching out long tendrils towards the canoe. They drew in closer to the shore, and then as the mist engulfed them, they took the oars and began poling the canoe like a punt, no longer able to see a thing. Finally there was a gentle bump as the canoe slid into the shallows.
Georgia jumped out, stumbling as her legs nearly gave way, then turned the canoe until it was virtually broadside with the bank.
‘I can’t see a thing,’ Rebecca said, not bothering to keep her voice low.
‘Talk about stating the bleeding obvious,’ Georgia thought, as she felt around for the lighter. She was not feeling that kindly to the world right now. She wanted, no, needed to sleep, but before that, they still had to find Badger, then catch up with the others, all of which would take hours and only then could they think about setting up camp.
Out loud, she said, ‘just stay where you are for the moment and keep a hold of Millie.’ One lost dog was about all she could handle. She produced a quick flame, and despite the mist, it was enough for her to see the exhausted faces of Ruby and Rebecca and that she stood on a rocky beach, encompassed by tangled scrub and five or six scraggly looking trees. Though beach was a bit of an overstatement, as there was no sand, just rocks and pebbles, and it barely covered an area of more than ten feet across. But it would do for now and at least it was relatively secluded.
As Georgia continued to flick the lighter, giving brief moments of visibility, Rebecca hopped ashore, carrying a violently trembling Millie, and sat down on a nearby bolder.
‘You okay to hold her, and look after Ant as well?’ Georgia asked as she handed over the pink bag. Ant, now fully awake, was clearly not impressed with their new surroundings. ‘I won’t be long, I just have to help Ruby.’
Getting Ruby out of the canoe proved to be a nightmare. It was darker than the inside of a coal miner’s cat, and she was past stepping out of the canoe on her own. This was exasperated by the fact that she could not see where she was putting her feet, and Ruby didn’t want to get her shoes wet, or let go of her handbag. Nor could she be expected to step onto the stones in bare feet.
She put her arms around Georgia’s shoulders as she attempted to lift her to her feet, but with the shift of weight, the canoe was suddenly propelled backwards away from the shore, pulling out from under Ruby’s feet and momentarily leaving her at a precarious angle, all her weight on Georgia. With Herculean effort, she managed to stay upright, keep hold of Ruby and pull her ashore as the canoe threatened to disappear out of sight.
That was all they needed! Georgia let go of her, trusting she would keep her balance, and was about to leap into the river after their only means out of there when she remembered her watch. She paused only long enough to thrust it into Ruby’s hands, before plunging after the canoe. The unexpected coldness of the water making her gasp, as she cursed herself for her stupidity. Why hadn’t she thought to tie it to something? It should have been the very first thing she did.
She reached the canoe just before the current was able to sweep it away and managed to grab hold of one the makeshift handles. Then water streaming from her clothes, she waded ashore, her hair plastered across her face, feeling like a half drowned rat.
This time, she felt around in the hull for the rope which had been discarded earlier between their feet, and securely tied it to a nearby tree. Hindsight was such a wonderful gift.
They had no choice then but to make a fire. It was too dark to see anything and she was too wet to do anything. And who knew, maybe Badger would somehow sense their presence and turn up. While Ruby sat next to Rebecca on the bolder, and Rebecca maintained her hold on the two dogs, she gathered up kindling and dry leaves, stubbing her toes on unseen objects and walking into low hanging branches. Finally she managed to coax a small fire into life and she felt as though a blindfold had been drawn from her eyes.
Now that they had a little light she was able to bring the packs ashore. She changed into dry clothes, hanging her wet jeans and t-shirt over a branch and feeling more like a human and less like a drowned rat, she hunted through the side pockets for more rope. These she tied to the dog’s harnesses, and fastened the other ends to the same branch. She was taking no more chances.
As she crouched before the fire, anxiety began once more to gnaw her insides. What if Lola and the Apaches had reached their designated spot and not finding them there, hastened on their way, thinking they had to catch up? After all they had no way of knowing what had occurred. Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all. Apart from anything else, now that they were back on land, she didn’t even know how to set about looking for Badger.
She could hardly leave Rebecca and Ruby behind, with all the gear and the canoe while she felt her way through the undergrowth in the hope of finding a road or a track heading back the way they had come. Nor could they all go. For then they would have to carry all their gear, leaving the canned food and the canoe behind, risking never finding their way back. Now that she was thinking it through, she could not believe that she had not chased after Lola and waited until they were reunited to come up with a plan for finding Badger.
She stood up, moving stiffly. ‘We have to load up the canoe and head after the others.’
‘But we just got here,’ Rebecca exclaimed, ‘and what about Badger?’
Georgia hoisted one of the packs over her shoulder and made her way over to the boat. ‘Once we have caught up with the others, then we can work it out.’
Ruby stood up. ‘Well, if we must dear, but first can someone show me where the loo is?’ To give her, her due, she took the news, that there was no sit down toilet anywhere nearby, remarkably well.
‘I was a girl guide you know,’ she said, as though that explained everything. Georgia went with her, making sure she did not fall and helping her keep her balance as she crouched down to attend to the call of nature.
They returned to the circle of light from the fire, only to have Rebecca decide she needed to go. Suddenly Millie began to whine, and then bark. Ant joined in, the two of them straining on their leads, staring across the blackness of the water, barking feverishly and ignoring all of Georgia’s efforts to shush them. And then Georgia thought she heard an answering bark.
At first she wasn’t sure. Had it been an echo? She heard it again and her heart did a little skip. This time it definitely sounded like Badger. She must have made it to the opposite shore.
‘I’ll be right back,’ she said, so excited her voice was nearly a squeak. She untied the canoe and was just about to push it out, when she heard the bark again, this time it sounded only a few feet away. Was Badger swimming? Meanwhile Ant and Millie were in a near frenzy,
straining against their lines and Rebecca was running up to her, still fastening her jeans.
She strained her eyes to see and then all of a sudden a canoe slid out of the mist and darkness. ‘Lola!’ She shrieked, ‘Jamie, Deedee, thank God,’ then as a black and white bundle flew out of the canoe bounding over to Millie and Ant, she shrieked again. ‘You found Badger.’
Lola leapt out of the canoe and just about lifted Georgia off her feet in a bear hug.
‘That we did, and it scared the hell out of us, let me tell you, we thought you must have capsized or worse.’
‘Lucky we saw her too,’ Jamie added, as he tethered the canoe in place, ‘there’s a fallen tree in the river, and I didn’t see it until it was too late.’
‘Yeah,’ Deedee continued, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, ‘we crashed right into its branches, and Lola swore, and guess what? Guess what? That’s where we found Badger.’
They were all talking at once. It transpired that by some miracle, Badger, caught by the current had managed to pull herself out of the water and clung precariously to the branches until she had been rescued. Lola, Jamie and Deedee had carried on to the meeting spot.
‘I couldn’t remember whether you had said to stop before the houses or afterwards.’ Lola said.
‘After the houses,’ Georgia said. Trust Lola to forget something so simple.
Deedee rolled her eyes at Lola, ‘I told you it was afterwards, otherwise Georgia wouldn’t have mentioned the houses, but you didn’t believe me.’
Lola shrugged her shoulders. ‘Anyway, we checked out both places, and when there was no sign of you, we came back to look for you.’
‘And here you are,’ Georgia exclaimed, still not really believing it.
‘Shall I make us all a nice hot cup of tea?’ Ruby asked, appearing out of the shadows, teapot clutched in her hands. How had she gotten that? At this, everyone burst into gales of laughter, and once Georgia could breathe again, she said that she thought a cup of tea would be a very good idea.
They kept on talking, as, under Ruby’s directions, water was fetched, mugs were found, and tea leaves put into the tea pot along with the last of their sugar and creamer.
‘So what the hell happened?’ Georgia asked as they crouched around the fire, waiting for the water to boil. ‘We were so worried.’
‘A snake happened,’ Lola said, holding her hands up to catch the warmth of the flames, teeth chattering.
Georgia sat back on her heels. ‘A snake?’
‘Well we were in the canoe, Lola began, then grinned. ‘Oh I guess you know that much, anyway, all of a sudden something moved between my feet, at first I pushed it away, thinking something had slipped free from the stores. The next thing it reared back, all mouth and fangs glowing whitely in the dark. I screamed and stood up, I think I stepped backwards, anyway I lost my balance and fell out of the boat.
‘Yeah, she practically walked on water,’ Jamie laughed. ‘I had no idea what was happening, but then Deedee yelled snake, and leapt out after Lola, and I was right behind her.’
Lola grinned. ‘Yeah, fell out more likely. Best belly flop I have seen in years.’
‘Hurt too,’ Jamie said, rubbing his stomach as he spoke.
‘Poor Jamie,’ Rebecca said, leaning in to give him a hug, then jumping back, ‘Ugh, you are sopping wet!’
‘Well duh, we were in the river, it’s pretty wet in there.’ Jamie said, the firelight catching the teasing glint in his eye, as he looked up at his sister.
Lola continued, ‘in our fright we didn’t even realize we had been heard.’
‘I am pretty sure they heard your scream back in Kansas City,’ Georgia said, as she added more kindling to the fire. ‘It was that loud.’
‘Then what?’ Rebecca prompted, as she took off her glasses and began polishing them with the hem of her t-shirt.
‘We were treading water next to the canoe wondering what the hell to do, when they started shooting, we must have been well out of range though. I think. Well anyway, they didn’t hit the boat, or us.’ Lola stood up suddenly. ‘Give me a minute, I really need to change, I can’t stand these damp clothes a minute longer, how about you two?’ This last part she addressed to Deedee and Jamie.
‘I’m good,’ Jamie said, ‘I will change when we bed down for the night.
‘Me too,’ Deedee said.
Just then the water came to the boil and Georgia busied herself, making the tea, while Lola dug out some dry clothes. In the middle of all this Badger came bounding over, enthusiastically licking everyone and nearly knocking over the cups.
‘Guess I better tie her up as well,’ Rebecca said, catching her up and heading over to Ant and Millie.
‘Anyway, as I was saying,’ Lola continued, then paused, hopping up and down, tugging at her jeans, ‘real hard to do this when your skin is damp.’ She finally succeeded into wriggling into them and pulled up the zipper. ‘Yes, so there we were in the middle of the river, a snake in our boat, and none of us game to get back in. On top of it all, the current was slowly dragging us closer to the bridge. Somehow Jamie and I managed to swim it ashore while Deedee hung on to the side. That sure was a hard slog.’
‘At least I had the life jacket.’ At Deedee’s words, Georgia turned to look at Ruby. Speaking of which, what had she done with her one?
‘Anyway,’ Lola continued, ‘where was I? Oh yes, we got ashore and pulled the canoe half up out of the water, that’s when I slipped, and sprained my wrist, at first I thought I had broken it, but it is fine now. Then we sat on a rock waiting for the snake to leave. But it didn’t and Jamie thought it might have gone to sleep.’
Georgia poured the tea, then handed round the steaming mugs, as Jamie took up the story.
‘We weren’t going anywhere with that snake in there, and Lola was no help at all,’ he laughed. ‘She just sat on that rock, clinging to Deedee and refusing to budge.’
‘Well, what did you expect,’ Lola said, ‘there was a snake in the boat.’
‘So,’ Jamie, continued, ‘I poked around with one of the paddles, hoping to disturb it, but couldn’t see it. So there was nothing for it but to empty out the boat completely.’
Georgia sipped her tea, half closing her eyes in pleasure as the warmth filled her body and Jamie went on to explain how eventually he had found the snake right up in the bow of the boat. Half draped over the last of the bags. He finally managed to get the paddle under it and flipped it out into the water, along with the paddle.
‘Yep really sorry about that,’ he said, ‘but we are down one paddle.’
‘We have spares,’ Georgia said, realizing even as she spoke that obviously he knew that, they had used one of them to get here.
‘Then I loaded up once more, checking everything carefully whenever there was a break in the clouds.’
Deedee suddenly started laughing. ‘Then Jamie told Lola, that she better get into the canoe, as chances were that the snake would come out of the water and cuddle up with her for warmth.’
‘He did too,’ Lola said, half smiling at the memory.
Jamie drained his mug. ‘Boy can she move! She was off that rock and into the canoe faster than you can say Jack Robinson.’
Georgia and Rebecca burst out laughing.
‘It wasn’t that funny,’ Lola said, ‘I mean we could have died, it was a water moccasin after all.’
‘Oh dear,’ Ruby exclaimed, ‘did you lose your slippers?’
Lola began to patiently explain that she wasn’t talking about slippers, and was about to tell her what a water moccasin was, when she caught sight of Jamie and Georgia frantically shaking their heads. She stopped mid-sentence, then nodded slowly in agreement. ‘Yes, it was most tragic, they fell overboard.’
Straight faced, Jamie went on, ‘then, it was just a matter of waiting until things quietened down on the bridge, and making a break for it.’
They sat quietly for a while, contemplating each other’s words, and Georgia wondered ju
st how long that snake had been in the canoe. Then decided she didn’t want to think about it after all.
It was practically dawn when the two canoes set off once more. Slipping through the water silently as they passed the anticipated, tiny community, and then heading on downstream until they finally found a secluded spot, well away from any roads or people where they could stop.
By the time the first streaks of color touched the sky, they had set up camp. Then totally exhausted, they settled down to sleep, bows and arrows and the shotgun, out of sight, but within immediate reach should the need arise.
As Georgia drifted into sleep, she thanked God, for reuniting them all, marveling that they had survived yet another night.
Chapter Forty Six
Georgia opened her eyes a little after four in the afternoon. A large black fly buzzed back and forth, its whining buzz so loud, that it had infiltrated her dreams and finally roused her from sleep. It alighted on her face and then her hair, the creepy crawly sensation and the noise grating on her nerves. Still not entirely awake she slapped at it as it alighted on her arm. She missed by a long way, cursed under her breath, and watched as it launched into the air, lumbering, and heavy as though its wings were too small to carry it.
It had been another hot day, and they had all slept fitfully under the tent canopy. There was no breeze, and all around was the constant sound of frogs and Katy-dids. She had woken several times, each time feeling as though she had been struck down by a fever. Her face and body slick with sweat, nothing seeming quite real, her muscles aching, legs cramping, the light too bright, and the colors too vivid. But this time when she woke she almost felt ready to face the world again.
She noticed that Lola, Ruby, Rebecca and Jamie were still asleep, the covers kicked off, their faces damp with sweat. She watched them for a while, feeling that familiar sense of surprise when she looked at Jamie. He always looked so young, so vulnerable when he slept. She half expected him to be holding a teddy bear.
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