Chapter Twenty-One: Recovery

We slept longer than we were supposed to. Big night. Big morning. The sun was shining but it wasn't like the other beautiful days up here. It was more like waking from a heavy night of drinking. If I felt rough from lack of proper sleep, I could only imagine how Grandpa was feeling.
I looked over to his side of the tent and saw little movement. I didn't want to disturb him. I was feeling sweaty as it was into the hot part of the day and I was in a sleeping bag made to keep you warm in winter. I unzipped the sides and kicked it wide open. Splayed myself across the ground hoping to feel cooler. It didn't work. I grabbed my swimsuit and the toilet paper, which sounds like the ingredients for a great party. I headed to the latrine to change and take care of some business. I was quite used to such routines and I didn't even think about rustic conditions anymore.
I felt like a mess and I'm sure I looked even more so. All the sweat and grime were starting to make my skin crawl. I checked on Grandpa quickly before heading to the water. He seemed as good as one might expect. I left him some water in case he got thirsty. I didn't want him to have to get up and I thought testing those makeshift bandages was probably not a good idea.
On the shoreline looking into the channel, the water was perfectly still. The water is pure and virginal. The shallows extend far into the channel in all directions, making the water a little warmer than some. I was only about ankle deep and letting my feet feel the soft sand. I scrunch my toes like a cat kneading with its paws. The white sand beach was full of driftwood and evidence from last night's incident. The camp looked like a crime scene in places. Some blood around where Grandpa had been sitting must have been a treat for some critters. The water had washed clean where I had grabbed mud to put in his socks. Across the channel was an island of spruce and pine. There was a campsite on the other end of it, and I wondered if they heard any of our troubles last night. Did they hear the bear roar or see our flashlight flickering all over creation well into the morn? Could I have paddled over there for help the night previous? Grandpa never mentioned it, and I only remembered they were even over there until just then. They may have had some medical supplies or whatever else, that's all in hindsight now.
The east shore became quite rocky quickly, but the western shore had a thin strip of sand beach as far as I could see. The edge of the channel to the west still looked like the open part of the lake had large waves lurking around for unsuspecting paddlers. The shallow water's amber hew is exposed to the sunlight. I take a few steps into deeper water avoiding the few rocks easily seen in the sandy bottom. A childish leap into the water causes a big splash, and a release of any lingering stress washes away. I'm practically in the middle of the channel before there is a steep drop-off. I was a confident swimmer and deeper water wasn't much of a concern to me. I swam to the other side of the channel to the island. It felt good to stretch other muscles, too much repetition when paddling. The island shoreline was not as shallow and was a lot rockier. I stood up on the edge of the shoreline and looked to see if it was worth exploring but it was very wild and I didn't see a clear path to anything. So I dove back in and swam for the shallows again. I've enjoyed swimming my whole life. I was even on some swim teams until I let social awkwardness get the best of me. I do regret giving it so easily. I missed the competitive aspect of sports. I thought about signing up for a gym when I got back to get back into the habit.
I sat in a shallow part of the water on the soft sand. The water hardly reached my waist. I grabbed handfuls of the sand and scrubbed the top of my legs. Did the same on my arms as well. I took another dip in the deeper water to clean off. I made sure to focus on my hair as it was getting ratty by that point.
I was starting to get a little cold and bored so made my way to shore. I had my towel laid out on the sand and I sat down to dry off in the warm rays of the sun. I turned to lie on my stomach and folded my arms for my chin to rest on. I was playfully kicking my legs and resting my eyes. I only had a one-piece swimsuit on the trip. It had a high neckline, thick straps, fastback style, and black. It was from when I was on the swim team as I didn't care if something happened to it. Most of the clothes I really didn't care about if something happened to them. There were times in my youth when I cared about trendy clothes but luckily I grew out of that. It was easy to stay fit at fifteen, I lounged around a lot, ate poorly and I was still slim. It catches up to you eventually. It seems like when you hit middle age that your metabolism changes and you have to switch the way you do everything. When you are young you think little about the future. Then you get old and there becomes a stage where you have to admit defeat, that your body is fighting a losing battle. Life becomes limited, for as much as I would like to swim in that channel today and enjoy a playful splash, I can't. I'm reduced to swimming only where there may be a lifeguard now. I heard a stirring in camp and saw my Grandfather coming out of the tent. He had found his crutch and was wearing the same outfit from last night. He gave me a wave, and I returned it. "Do you need any help?" I shouted, but he shook his head no. He limped down the path to the latrine. I stood up and shook the sand off my towel and dried off as best I could. I went to grab some new clothes and change. By the time I had changed, he had come back and was sitting on a log by the camp stove. I came out of the tent and sat by him.
"How are you feeling?" I ask the obvious.
"I imagine as good as I look."
"Oh, so pretty terrible."
"That terrible?"
"I've seen road kill in better shape."
"Good to know."
"Can I take a look at your leg?" I was more than curious to see how my nursing skills had held up.
"Untie the laces and slide the cloth down." I kneeled down to untie my sewing project from last night. It seemed to have held up. The skin underneath was a little clammy and I was careful not to disturb the leaves still covering the sap. I slowly plucked off the leaves, but the sap clung to a couple that I left on for a bit. Some of the sap had crystallized like sugar. "We should boil some water again."
"I can do that, but you should go into the lake and soak it. The water is very clean. You can walk pretty far out. Take the washcloth and scrub at the sap, otherwise, I have a feeling you'll be taking bits of skin and hair."
He seemed to agree and gestured for some help to get up. I helped him get to the water and he sat down on the sand.
"I'll need help to get these boots off." I looked at his muddy boots which were an absolute mess and realized I forgot about his ankle. I pulled the boots off and socks that were nasty from the mud I shoved into them. The socks were like pulling off the wrapping of ground beef. It was wet and soggy and full of tender meat. I examined his ankle and it was still very swollen. "Did the mud help your ankle at all or did we just make a mess?"
"Hard to tell because I don't know how bad it may have gotten without it. It probably helped a little. I'm not sure we have to try it again."
"I'll go get you a washcloth, wait here."
"I won't get far."
I came back with the washcloth, his towel, and some new clothes. He took his shirt off and threw it to the ground. I helped him stand up and take his pants off so that he had just his boxers on. No standing on ceremony out here and we did what we had to. He had his stick and was able to walk into the shallow water until it got about waist deep. I threw him the washcloth and he started to clean up. He dipped his whole head under to wet his hair. He washed his face, arms, and pits. He came back to the shallow water and tried to rub at the sap. He wasn't trying to get all of the sap off just the crumbling parts. It wasn't so easy to work with so he sat in the water to soak. He covered his ankle in mud.
"This water and mud actually does make my ankle feel a little better. I'm going to sit here awhile, you can get some water boiling if you don't mind."
I had been watching him so intently to make sure he was safe in the water that I forgot about boiling water.
"Sure, just scream, literally, if you need help," I said and left to gather wood and things. I had a fire going before long but I was always keeping one eye on Grandpa. The shore wasn't that far and I came over by him to ask if he was hungry. "I definitely could eat something. I am famished" "Which one of the pouch meals do you want?"
"I'll take some of the gumbo if we still have some."
"You got it."
The water was already boiling so I dumped some of it in the pouch and let it sit. I looked at the mug that had the pine sap, and there was still some in there but it all had crystallized in the open air. I set the mug filled with sap in the pot. I only had enough water to cover a third of the mug. I was going to heat the sap into something more malleable. I pull pine needles and leaves left over from last night in the water as well.
The food was ready and I bought some for Grandpa so that he could eat right where he was sitting. "I'm boiling the mug with sap to melt it a little," I confessed.
"That's a great idea. I've been checking the wound as I've been sitting here, and it seems to be doing well. I scrubbed it some to clean it up, and I don't see any signs of infection. You did a great job. We'll have to change the wrappings every day, and we should get some more pine needle water going as well to clean it up some more."
"Already got some in the water."
"Oh, great! Looks like you've thought of everything this morning." "I learned from the best."
He took some bites of the gumbo, "This is good, did you try it?" He tried to change the subject.
"No, but I'll have some as I watch the sap."
"Ok, you're the boss. Thanks again for everything last night and today."
"No problem. I tried to get rid of you to some guys paddling by, but they said they had a leg up on us."
It seemed to take him a second to realize I was joking, "Your jokes are worse than mine."
"Oh, Hells bells, nothing can be worse than your jokes. Mine are at least middle amusing."
"This, Hell's bells that you say, where did that come from?"
"I think I read it somewhere and now it's like a song you can't get out of your head. There could have been worse words to get stuck in my head."
"Oh, I'm sure."
"Do you want to hear them?"
"What?"
"I'm kidding."
"Oh, I'm a little slow on the uptake today."
The sap looked ready to use and I took it off the fire. I went over to Grandpa in the water to inform him.
"Are you ready to get out?"
"I can be, I'm probably too comfortable."
"As much as I enjoy seeing you sitting in the water in nothing but your underwear, some clothes would be wonderful."
"Yeah, you're right." He stood up on his own. "Can you hand me my walking stick? Can you grab my clothes from yesterday? Set them by the rock and I'll wash them in the lake. Put anything else from yesterday that could use a scrub down there as well. It will give me something to do."
"No problem."
"Also I'm going to put on a pair of dry boxers. You may want to avert your eyes somewhere."
"In the middle of camp?"
"It's easier here where I can stand or sit. In the tent, it's a little awkward. I'll make it quick."
I quickly collected some of the clothes we used last night and set them in a pile. I then went back by the latrine and gave him some time. After a while, I came down the path some, "Is it safe to come out?"
"All clear."
He sat on a log waiting for help to put new wrapping on his cut. He had a plain shirt and shorts on. He was barefoot but was looking better than he did when he emerged from the tent earlier.
The sap and everything were ready. I used a piece of unused clothing we still had hung up from yesterday and dabbed it in the hot pine needle water. I used the cloth around the cut. Then I took some leaves and put the sap on them again, it was only freshening up some spots along the wound. "Wash the corset patch in the lake as best you can. Then cut up one of my shirts with the knife into pieces about the size of my hand. We'll put those as inserts so we can use the same wrap around the wound." He guided me.
We had all day as we didn't make plans to leave anywhere today. It was a day for healing and recovery. I cut a piece of cloth so we could tie up our "corset" wrapping over the wound. The cloth acted like a buffer from anything I didn't clean off in the water. So I sat cutting more pieces for the days to come, while he went down to wash his boots and clothes from yesterday. I had a new pot of water boiling and he put some of the dirty clothes in that could fit. After fifteen minutes he'd take a stick and snag them out and hang them to dry. Put some new clothes in and repeat the process.
After I was done with cutting patches I went to collect more needles and leaves for later in the trip as we still needed to get back to the car at some point. Who knew what would be available to us, better to collect some now.
After our labor, we tidied up the camp to make it as clean as possible. We pulled some of the larger driftwood right by the shore to sit on. "Do we try to find a ranger?" I wondered.
"No, I think at this point we have the cut under control. It seems to be scabbing and no issues with infection or bleeding. If I saw either of those two, I'd be concerned."
"So are we just going to try and make it to the car tomorrow?"
"I think rest is the most important thing right now. If we take our time and do not push ourselves too hard, I think the ankle will keep improving. I'll be able to paddle without any trouble. So traveling over water is good for us. The cut won't affect my walking, but the ankle will. We will be paddling the whole way tomorrow and moving closer to our exit out of here. Let's just see how far we can paddle and how the injuries respond."
"So I'm guessing we are scrapping going the long way around Coleman Island now?"
"Yeah, we'll skip that."
"We won't have to worry about going over the Canadian border then?" I grabbed the map and sat next to him. He pointed to a red dot on the map, "That's our campsite. We're going to head south hugging the eastern shoreline. It will push us due east until we reach the Canadian border and then we head south by Kelsey lake. There are a bunch of campsites in the area and I hope we can find an open one."
"Looks like no portages."
"Exactly."
"Are you sure you don't want to seek help?"
"Not yet. We'll see how I'm doing when we get to a portage. Luckily where we are heading is a busy part of the lake. Without going to Canada, this will be our best spot for help anyways."
"If you say so."
"The way you've been able to handle yourself, I'd say you're the boss."
To receive his praise made me blush a little. "So we chill tonight, paddle out in the morning?"
"Yep. The best thing we can do is nothing. I'm feeling more like myself after getting in the water. Sorry that I was a bit out of it, and you've had to take on quite the load."
"You don't have to keep apologizing. It's Ok, You didn't do it on purpose. Unless you and the bear had this planned."
"Obviously."
"Speaking of the bear, you don't think he'll come back tonight?"
"No, I wouldn't worry about it." I knew he only said that to calm my fears. Of course, the bear could come back, we were in its backyard.