Whitewater Scrubs
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“Grab onto my boat!” yelled Clara.
Willy looked scared. He just floated there, his head bobbing up and down in the waves. Clara paddled around his kayak and got right next to him.
“Okay, take it! Hold on!” shouted Clara again.
Finally Willy grabbed hold.
“Don’t worry about his boat,” called Ms. Parker from upstream. Dan was holding onto the back of her boat. “Just get Willy in.”
Clara paddled hard, but Willy was heavy. Clara thought she’d never get to shore. “Kick your feet!” she shouted to Willy. “Kick!”
Willy kicked, and at last Clara managed to tow him to shore. Dan was already there.
Afterwards, it took Ms. Parker a long time to rescue the kayaks. Willy and Dan were really cold, so none of them did any more paddling. Everyone packed up to go home.
Willy and Dan shivered all the way back.
“How about today?” Willy asked Dan as they rode. “Weren’t you scared when you swam out today?”
“Nah,” said Dan. “Little guys can’t afford to get scared.”
Rufus looked at Clara. “Aren’t you glad we’re allowed to be scared?” Rufus asked her.
“She’s not scared,” said Willy. “I’m the one who’s scared.”
“You know, it’s good to be scared,” said Rufus. “That shows you’re still sane.”
“What fun is that?” asked Dan.
Clara didn’t say anything. But she agreed with Rufus.
CHAPTER 9
BEING A SCRUB
The next day at recess Willy came up to Clara.
“Thanks again, for rescuing me,” he said.
“My pleasure,” said Clara. Which was true. It had been fun to help somebody out. It made her feel important.
“I wanted to tell you,” said Willy, “I’m going to quit. I’m not going out this afternoon.”
“Why not?” Clara was really surprised.
“I have never been so scared in my life,” said Willy. “I don’t think I’ll ever get in a kayak again.”
Clara was about to say something, but she stopped because it occurred to her that if Willy didn’t paddle anymore, but she did, then she would be better than Willy at everything. Which was the way it should be.
But she felt sure that Willy shouldn’t quit. This was Willy’s chance to be good at something. She couldn’t let him miss it. So Clara went ahead and said, “You know, that’s exactly the way I felt the first time I swam out.”
“You? I don’t believe it.”
“Oh, yeah, me. You know those days I said I had a sore throat? I was lying. I wasn’t sick. I was just scared.”
“I didn’t think you were scared of anything,” said Willy.
“Well, I am. Yesterday I was sure I was going to quit. I just thought I’d come out one last time.”
“Maybe we should both quit,” said Willy.
“You can’t quit!” said Clara. “You’re really good at it! You’re so much better than I am. You’re a natural. It’ll be warmer soon, and you’ll learn how to roll, and you’ll look back and laugh at what happened yesterday. I’m the one who’s going to quit, because I’m so bad at it. But you’re really, really good.”
“You’re not so bad,” said Willy.
“I’m bad compared to you.”
“You’re just tippy.”
“I’m bad. I’m a . . . ,” she hesitated.
“A Scrub?” asked Willy.
“Yeah,” said Clara.
“Is that such a bad thing?” asked Willy.
Clara felt embarrassed. Willy and Rufus and Dan always acted like they were proud of being Scrubs.
“I’m not used to being bad at things,” said Clara.
“It’s not so terrible,” said Willy. “You can be bad and still have fun.”
Clara didn’t say anything. She looked across the schoolyard. Julie was looking over at them. What would Julie think? Clara wondered. What would all her teammates think?
“Listen,” said Willy, “I’ll keep kayaking if you do.”
“You have to keep kayaking,” said Clara.
“I’ll do it if you do it,” he said. “Just think—I might need you to rescue me again.
“Okay,” said Clara. “Okay, I’ll try. I guess I can stand being a Scrub.”
CHAPTER 10
RACE DAY
The Riverfest Slalom was held on a sunny afternoon in the middle of May. It was a beautiful day for a race.
Clara was waiting by the scoreboard or her score to be posted. She had finished her first run. Her clothes were wet from the waves splashing on her, but that didn’t matter because it was so warm.
“Hey, Clara, how’d it go?” asked Willy.
“Okay. Pretty well. I made all the gates. How about you?”
“It was great,” said Willy. “It was so much fun. I just hope I can have a good second run, too.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“Hey, thanks for getting me to keep kayaking,” said Willy.
“Well, thanks for getting me to stay, too,” said Clara. “I’m glad I did.”
They shook hands. Just then Rufus and Dan joined them.
“Hey, guys, the scores are up,” said Dan. He turned to Willy: “You’re ahead of me, you turkey. By a whole two seconds.”
“Wow, that’s close,” said Willy.
“Pretty darned close,” said Dan, grinning. “By the way, I’m standing third. You’re second.”
“You’re kidding!” said Willy.
“Congratulations, you guys,” said Clara.
“Congratulations right back at you,” said Dan. “You’re third in the junior women.”
“I am?”
“You bet,” said Dan.
“Yeah, but how about me?” said Rufus.
“Hey, you’re in fifth so far. That isn’t bad,” said Dan.
“You don’t always have to be the best of us,” said Willy.
“I’m just happy I made it down the race course,” said Rufus.
They shook hands all around. Clara could tell Rufus really was happy to have made it down the river without tipping over. They all were. Just finishing the course right-side-up was an accomplishment.
“Hey, good going, you guys,” said a voice from behind.
They turned around. It was Julie and a whole group of other kids from school.
“That was really fun to watch,” Julie went on. “I can’t believe you guys could really do it.”
“Do you still think this is a dumb sport?” Clara asked Julie.
Julie thought for a moment. “Now that it’s a warm day,” she said, “it doesn’t look so dumb. But I still think it was dumb in March!”
Everybody laughed.
“Are you guys going to keep kayaking over the summer?” Julie asked.
“Maybe,” said Willy. “We haven’t talked about it.”
“If you do, let me know,” said Julie. “I might want to try it, too.”
“What do you think, Clara?” asked Willy. “Are we going to sign up again?”
“I refuse to think about it,” said Clara, “until I’m through with the race. One more run to go. Ask me after that.”
CHAPTER 11
WET AND WILD
Clara was nearing the end of her second run. It was a good run. It was even better than her first run.
Don’t mess up, she told herself as she paddled toward Gate 19.
Gate 19 was an upstream gate. Clara had to go past it, turn around in the eddy behind it, and then paddle up through it. Then she had to paddle downstream through the last gate, Gate 20, and finally across the finish line.
Clara paddled through Gate 19. She leaned downstream so the current wouldn’t tip her. Too far! She lost her balance and tipped over.
SPLASH! The water closed over her.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see. She almost panicked. But then she thought, No, wait. I know what to do. I’ve practiced this.
She reached her paddle way up abov
e her, all the way to the surface. Then she pushed her head down and twisted her hips. All of a sudden the world was in its right place again. She had rolled her boat up! Right in the waves!
People on the bank cheered and shouted, “Go through Gate Twenty!”
The loudest voice of all was Ms. Parker’s. “Look up! Gate Twenty!”
Clara shook her head and blinked the water from her eyes. She looked downstream. There was Gate 20. She could do it. She paddled over and through the gate. Then she glided over the finish line.
Clara raised the paddle over her head. “Yee-hah! I did it!” she yelled.
Over on the bank, the onlookers were still cheering. She paddled over to the crowd.
“Yay, Clara!” yelled Ms. Parker. Clara could hear her mother and her brother Derek cheering, too.
“Hey, do you get extra points for rolling?” shouted Derek.
Clara laughed and shook her head.
Dan and Willy came down and held her boat while Clara got out.
“That was so cool,” said Dan.
“Way to go!” said Willy.
“Okay,” said Clara with a grin. “Now let’s talk about summer.”