Chapter 22: The Birth of a New Legend

Gemma looked up from the floor and straight at her mother and repeated what she had just said, “They are now half way to Hamilton on the river in Keith’s leaky canoe!”

Another deadly silence followed before Keith added, “She’s right! The fat guy was getting abusive with your daughter so I sent them both packing down the river in my canoe with the hole in it.”

Both the police officers just stared at Keith with their mouths slightly open. The police woman finally asked, “And how long ago was this do you reckon, sir?”

Keith looked at the woman then at Gemma as he was doing some mental calculations then said, “About an hour ago now at the most. They didn’t have a paddle. I took that off them so they could only drift with the current so they should be about 2 to 3 kilometres down stream at the most ... unless they managed to drift into shore somewhere. In which case they could be anywhere between here and Hamilton. And oh ... they will be completely naked ... apart from one life-jacket ... I let them have one of those ... but nothing else. And the boat won’t sink completely. They’ll just be floating along with their butts in the water until you find them or they hit land as I said before.”

Moments after Keith’s confession the female officer disappeared outside to call up a rescue chopper to search along the Waikato River for a naked couple floating along in a sinking canoe or for any reports or sightings of the two coming to shore somewhere and what direction they might have headed off in. Then moments after that the two officers were in their car and racing out onto the road. Evidently the two had been found and were already being detained by the NZ Police at the Waikato Hospital for a physical checkup before being placed under arrest on pending assault and robbery charges.

“Well, now” said Emily Greene as they all watched that squad car disappear out onto the road, “ ... not only are you good at fixing oven timers and helping out with the chores about the place but you seem to be a dab hand at catching criminals too. Anything else we should know about you Mr Keith Poata?”

Keith didn’t know what to say to Emily’s question so just replied with, “ ... urrr ... no ... I guess not ... but ... I might need a place to stay for ... for a few nights until I can go home with my own folks ... now that I don’t have a canoe anymore and my river adventure is over. I’ll do any chores you want and pay my way ... if ... if ... that is OK with you guys?”

David Greene looked at Keith and laughed, “Yer, son ... of course that’s OK ... and it will be on the house. We won’t be charging you a cent. But first you two are going to sit down and tell us EVERYTHING that happened. It sure sounds like one hell of a story that’s going to get passed on down through many generations to come ... the Legend of Mr Keith-from-the-river ... how does that sound?”

“I like it!” said Gemma. “The birth of a new legend. The Legend of Mr Keith-from-the-river and How He Rescued a Fair Maiden from the Clutches of Evil.”

Gemma gave Keith and her mum and her dad a big hug as her mind then also began to expand on the crazy idea she had had earlier. This was an idea that she knew now would have her own parents as allies but first, however, there was the rest of the week to get through and as yet no one was even naked! This was a nudist camp but not a single person was naked yet ... and that had to change before anything else could happen ... and it did!