Well, here it is friends, chapter two of Jack and Kate's river adventure. It's kind of action packed but bear with it if you can, there is lots of Jack and Kate interaction to come later in the story, I promise. I hope you can have some fun with this.
Jack was enjoying the smooth feel of the raft gliding on the surface of the water, he was getting used to the heft of the paddle in his hands. He loved discovering that the paddle's slightest change of direction or depth in the water could change the course of the raft in the water.
Kate sat in the back of the vessel, she was enjoying the view. She hadn't allowed herself the easy pleasure of another person's company for a long time. This was going to be a nice day. Jack didn't find it necessary to prattle, he just took to the raft and began to get used to navigating it in the river. He didn't hesitate at all or look to her for too much guidance. He took the opportunity while the river was gentle to hone his skills. She could tell that he was a natural athlete, someone who was comfortable in his own skin. Kate decided that she had better stop looking straight ahead of herself at Jack's broad back and think about something else.
She scanned their little craft with her eyes, everything was there, the netting, grapples, packs all tight and secure. Her eyes traced the mountainous horizon; they had about five more minutes before they would reach the bend and meet the others in the group. Sam probably had them all lined up for a little tutorial on white water, she hoped that he did, this river was pretty unpredictable at times. Kate could hardly wait.
Jack saw the others ahead of them and took his paddle out of the water. He turned slightly and watched Kate take on the delicate job of steering the raft closer to the group. She was such a small person, but so confident in her movements and so remarkably contained for someone so young. There was a lot of "person" inside of her and Jack was intrigued. She hadn't said much so far, just a few gentle instructions, given almost monosyllabically. The exact right ones, oddly enough, as if she anticipated his mistakes for him and guided him around them.
They arrived at the bend in the river and joined the assembled rafters.
"Good, you're here, Kate, you and err." Sam looked at his clip board, "Jack, you come up between me and Justin here. We will give each other at least three minutes lead time. I want us to remain in sight of each other. Especially you Kate. Justin," Sam looked back at the disgruntled guide, his clients were paying no attention to Sam. They were splashing each other and tipping the raft dangerously. "you know the drill. Pull up behind at the first bend and make sure that you wait the allotted time. HEY!" Sam's voice took on the tone that his army years had perfected. The interns in Justin's craft looked up and the silly grins on their faces vanished. "Pay attention to the river, it's a real bitch sometimes. I frankly don't care so much whether you get hurt, your tour company has excellent insurance but I like my rafts, and if you damage one of them, I'm not going to happy."
The three guides lined up their vessels just before the first bend of the river. Sam looked back at the customers, he did not like the look of the men in Justin's raft. He was very glad that they were not with Kate, he knew she could take care of herself but he didn't want her to have to take on those clowns as well. He looked at Jack, he seemed all right, pretty quiet and somewhat serious, Kate should be all right with him.
"Hey Jack, you having fun?" The guys in the raft behind were pushing their paddles in Jack's direction, poking at their raft, trying to jostle them in the water.
"Hey, hold on there, Bob." Jack turned and gave Bob a half grin, "We're gonna get plenty wet in a few minutes. Let's enjoy being dry while we can."
Bob pushed harder at his paddle nearly upsetting himself off of his seat; his paddle caught itself near Kate's side and brushed against her. Kate grasped the paddle and held it tightly with her fist, preventing it from ripping the netting protecting their gear. She turned to Bob and manipulated his paddle with a quick spin. It came out of his not so firm grasp and Kate let it rest upon his startled lap with a tiny thump. It all happened in less than a second and was done so quietly that it called no attention to itself. Kate gave Bob an easy smile and she said quietly, "Whoa there, you might want to watch that paddle buddy." The grin wiped itself off of Bob's face and he took his paddle back. He straightened his shoulders and looked around at his friends, wondering if they had seen what had just happened. He comforted himself with the thought that it was too fast and too silent, they couldn't have, could they?
Jack had seen it, every gesture and he was enjoying it. He looked down into his chest and let himself grin at the shocked look on Bob's face. Kate could certainly take care of herself. That was handled beautifully.
Sam's raft took off, Kate looked at her watch and began the three minute count. She looked back at Justin and nodded at him. She hoped that he could handle the guys in his raft. He looked pretty grim, she did not envy him. The day was going to be long for Justin and keeping the jokers in his raft in one piece was going to be more of a challenge than Kate would want to take on. Kate made the final ten second count down in her mind and said quietly to Jack. "All right, let's go!" Jack turned and nodded in her direction and gave her a beatific smile. He was excited.
The ride began innocently enough but as the minutes went by, the water began to rush by at increasing speed. The decline after the bend was steep and it took a considerable amount of Kate's skill and Jack's novice efforts to keep their raft upright. In the back of the raft, Kate was high in the air and the rush of excitement she felt at the lift coursed through her body. Her adrenaline was starting to take over and she looked with careful attention toward Jack and made sure that he was all right.
Jack was more than all right, he was thrilled. He felt his heart race at the surge of the river as it took their raft and pummeled it down its banks and into its raging current Jack turned around and caught Kate's glance, he let out a spontaneous shout of laughter that rang in the air. His joy could not contain itself, he felt like a little kid again and he had to share it.
Justin kept his eyes on his watch as he counted down the minutes between Kate's launch and his. This trip was getting more onerous as the hours passed. This Bob guy was turning out to be very difficult to guide. He suddenly felt the jolt of the raft as it began to move its way through the water. The allotted time hadn't passed, only about one minute had gone by.
Justin was beginning to be alarmed. "What are you doing?" He called out to Bob, seated in front of him who was pushing his paddle into the water and beginning the craft's descent in the river.
"This is ridiculous, we have been waiting all morning to begin. I'm sick of this, let's go." Bob gave Justin a disgusted look as he pushed them off.
"You can't do this, there is a reason that we delay between launches. The river is dangerous and we need to approach it with…" Justin made a grab for Bob's paddle.
Bob reared back. "Oh shut up. It's fine, it's been nothing so far and I'm damned sick of sitting around. We paid for some fun today and I for one am gonna get it." Bob scowled at Justin and continued to push his paddle through the water.
The river took hold of their vessel and began to push it down stream. Justin realized that it was too late to stop, they would just have to deal with the consequences as best they could. He sincerely hoped that no one got hurt because of this jerk's idiotic decision. He looked ahead at Jack and Kate's raft; they were navigating the first rapids and doing a damn good job of it. Kate's end of the boat was nearly five feet in the air but Jack had his end firmly in hand and they were leaning their bodies against the angle of the boat perfectly.
Justin and Bob's raft suddenly surged through the water. Justin realized with horror that it was gaining speed too rapidly to prevent a collision.
"Lean back, get your paddles up and straighten them! We're going to try…"Justin leaned his body against the angle of his raft and shouted, he knew though that it was too late, they were going to hit.
Jack's laughter suddenly stopped, he saw what was coming before Kate was aware of what was right behind her. She was confused at the sudden change on Jack's face, his expression changed from utter elation to terror instantaneously. It was then that Kate felt the first impact. Her body responded before her mind took it in. One of her hands instantly grasped her paddle and held it upright to prevent any sudden collision with her own or anyone else's body. Her other hand grasped the netting that covered the side of the raft. She pulled on it to prevent them from capsizing. It was attached to some hooks that worked against tacoing, the folding of their raft from stem to stern, the most dangerous eventuality. She held fast to the netting and pushed all her weight into her efforts. "Jack, put your paddle upright and pull on the netting right by your left leg. Pull hard!" Kate spoke clearly and rapidly through gritted teeth. She did not know where she got the time to make this request. Time always seemed to slow to a nearly stand still for Kate in a crisis. Jack instantly pulled on his end of the netting. He saw Bob's boat bearing down on them and knew that it was too late to stop the collision or avoid it. Kate however seemed to know what to do to minimize the damage.
Bob was in a complete state of panic, his paddle was waving wildly and Justin and the other passenger were ducking their heads to avoid its impact.
"Kate, duck down!" Justin screamed out the order just as his raft pushed under the back of Jack and Kate's boat. Bob's paddle pierced the end of their raft and gashed a tear deep into its side. Kate had ducked and just missed a heavy blow to the side of her head. The little raft spun in the water on the impact and crashed into the bank at the side of the river, just missing a swirling eddy that could have torn their boat to pieces.
"Jack, take hold of my paddle. We're going to dump truck." Kate leaned off to the side of the raft and grabbed an overhanging tree branch. She felt the river tugging at their boat and she held on to the branch with all of her might. Jack was nearly off the boat, the current was pulling at the side of the rapidly deflating vessel and he was beginning to be pulled quickly into the river. He grabbed her paddle and lunged toward the bank. Kate was being pulled between the branch and Jack's body; she grunted and pulled with every effort her small body could muster. The muscles in her arms strained against the force. Jack leaned into the angle of the paddle fighting the pull of the river with all of his might. He fell forward and switched his grip from Kate's paddle onto the same overhanging branch that Kate held in her hands. His weight left the paddle and Kate was suddenly released from the pull of his body and the sinking raft.
"Quick Jack, see if you can swing to the bank." Kate's now suddenly freed hand grasped the branch and she pulled her body upwards toward the high bank of the river. She landed with a thud and faced Jack who was getting himself arranged on the same branch. He hoisted himself with one hand into the air and pulled his weight onto the bank, landing in a heap beside Kate.
Kate looked around and saw that Jack still held his paddle and it was still staunchly upright in strict obedience to her warning. She smiled at this good fortune and grabbed the paddle from his hand and looked over into the river, perhaps if she could just reach a little further down, the boat wasn't too far yet. Kate pushed the paddle out over the river as far as it would go and caught the edge of their deflating raft. She pulled as hard as she could.
"Jack can you grab the back end of this thing? If we pull very hard against the current we might just be able to salvage the raft."
"What?"Jack looked over at Kate like she was crazy. They nearly died and she was thinking right away about the raft. Jack shook his head to clear it, there they were on the side of the river, their day finished almost as soon as it had begun and she was on to the next thing.
"Jack, this current is strong and I'm not going to be able to save the gear by myself. I'm sorry that you have to do this but it would be really great if you could just pull." Kate was pulling on the paddle, she had gotten it attached to a corner of the netting and it was going to take her back into the river if she didn't get his help. She damn well wasn't going to let go by the looks of it, Jack had no choice but to grab the paddle and pull.
They worked together and strained their bodies against the mighty current of the river. The raft was slowly rising onto the bank. Kate inched herself down the bank and hung her body over its edge, she reached her arms forward and grabbed the raft. She motioned to Jack who followed her movements. They pulled at the raft together finally catching it up and onto some brambles.
Kate turned to Jack and gave him a dazzling smile, "We did it!" In spite of the circumstances her smile was infectious and Jack grinned back in spite of himself.
Jack sank to the ground, and let out a long breath, letting his body finally relax, "Yeah, well I guess we did, whatever that was."