Episode 15: Departures

That morning, every one was pretty excited; the word had come down a couple of days ago that Hartwell would be gone for four days for a camp director's conference, out of state. He had left the afternoon of the day before, leaving Jennifer in charge. In order to cover their asses, both Pete and Lisa had made 'official' requests for outings; Pete saying that his cabin had wanted to see the damage at the girls' camp while Lisa's cabin was supposed to paddle to Hawker's Cove to see the new lodge a family of beavers had been building. Pete's group, supposedly having further to paddle, had packed most of the gear the night before and had left right after breakfast.

Cabin 7 would spend the morning packing enough food for the overnight, their bedding and a couple of 4-person dome tents into three canoes and leave after lunch. Since they were seven, Lisa would carry Susan while Ginger would be bowman, Samantha would take Heather as bowman and carry the tents and the bedding while Linda would take Karen, the spare clothing and the foodstuffs. Karen would have wanted to be stern-man but Lisa nixed that idea as Linda was better at the 'J'-stroke, which was true. To make peace, she proposed that she and Heather practice her technique at the overnight site.

At lunch, the group's usual table being half empty, Lisa suggested that the twins, who usually ate at another table, join them as she had something to propose.

"I have heard that the guys, the older ones, at any rate, frequently go to one of the islands in the middle of the lake. They call the island 'Skinny dipper island' and they spend all their time playing games and 'letting it all hang out'. Instead of paddling to the beaver lodge, what would you say if we were to paddle to that island and have a look around while the guys are over at the other end of the lake?"

All the girls in the team, on cue, agreed it would be a nifty idea and the twins, curious as well about an island where the guys would want to run around bare-assed, went along with the idea, too.

After lunch, every one prepared for the great send-off. They made sure the gear was securely fastened and then while Lisa, Samantha and Linda held the canoes steady, the other girls climbed aboard, then they shoved off and stepped aboard as well.

They had been paddling steadily for a little over two hours and were nearing the island when Linda looked back at Lisa who was in the tail canoe and gave a little nod. She then edged closer to Samantha and when they were pretty much abeam, Linda made a wild move and bumped Samantha's canoe, hard. Samantha cried "Hey! Watch it!" for effect and both girls grabbed each other's gunwale and pushed down. Both canoes swamped immediately. Linda made sure that her canoe flipped over completely by half diving overboard while hooking her knees to the side of the canoe.