Heller and Shannon: Situational Awareness

The parties of rafters launched in inverse order that they landed. Those that had landed last the night before launched first and those who had landed first launched last.

The order would be reversed the next evening/morning.

LR and Shannon’s party was somewhere in the middle.

Some of the party thought it was tragic, what had happened to Ce’Diff and her tent-mate. LR kept his mouth shut but one of the other men noted “She brought it on her self. She sounds like a cow when she eats an you know she probably scattered crumbs all over the tent. They have rules for a reason.”

It took very little time for the group to regain it’s buoyant outlook on life. In fact, was far more joyful than it had been the day before without the constant stream of negativity, the snide remarks and the passive-aggression.

Shannon was getting the hang of paddling the kayak. Her sore muscles were more than compensated for by the expertise she was gaining.

LR was impressed by the banks of the river with mini-van sized rocks tumbled about without rhyme or reason.

The first break was two hours into the trip after they hit a long, slow pool. Rafts were tied up to the banks and water bottles and snacks were handed out.

LR paddle over to Shannon and said “Thanks for the support last night. You were the only one who stepped up and checked things out for themselves.”

Shannon gave him the side-eye. “I don’t know why I did after you doused me with that ice-water.”

“You gotta admit, you had it coming” LR said.

“What. For knocking on your door?” Shannon objected.

“No. For the water balloons. I didn’t do anything to you” LR said.

“Water balloons?” Shannon said, confused.

Something clicked in LR’s head.

“Are you saying that you weren’t one of the two girls who plastered me with water-balloons when I opened up the door ten minutes before you knocked on it?” LR asked.

“Crap!” Shannon said. “Chelsea Green and Hanna Doxtader were running around and hitting people with water-balloons. It had to be them.”

“Well, I guess I owe you a big apology” LR said. “I am sorry.”

“No worries” Shannon said. “You go on trips like this expecting to get wet. I just didn’t expect it in Zanesville.” Never-the-less, Shannon was impressed that LR apologized. The "men" in Shannon's life had either apologized without stop, even for things they had no control over or they never apologized at all. LR's apology was simple and seemed sincere.

LR cocked his head. He heard the distinctive sound of a diesel using a Jake-brake on a downgrade somewhere off the right bank of the river. The sound was masked by the sounds of rushing water and muffled by the densely treed valley but he guessed there was a major road some five or ten miles distant.

He filed that information away in case he needed to do a walk-out. It costs nothing to remember stuff like that.

Lunch was two hours after the first break. LR chatted a little bit more with Shannon. She was picking up a sunburn and LR offered to re-apply the sun-block.

LR didn’t take advantage. He was as careful as if he were greasing up his sister Suzanna. He made a mental note to thank Suzanna when he got home. Suzanna had been the one to kick him in the ass and tell him it was time to stop moping over his last girlfriend and get back in the game. LR had been extremely dubious about the prospects at the start of the trip but things were looking up. Shannon had possibilities and the other girls seemed to have entirely different personalities now that Ce’Diff wasn’t in the mix.

The mid-afternoon break was only more than an hour after lunch. The rafters were clearly getting gassed.

The day’s pull-out was a little more than an hour after the last break.

LR was chatting with Snek after he pulled out when he said “SHIT!” and was off like a shot.

Snek was standing on the bank closer to the river than LR and slightly down-river.

Somehow, Shannon had lost her paddle and was quickly being swept down-river. Her yells were lost in the roar of rushing water.

LR picked up his kayak and sprinted toward the water. The paddle was already stowed in the front of the kayak’s hull. He didn’t pause to board the tippy shell. He vaulted into it at-speed.