The ski did not make a good paddle after all. It was too wide to hold on to comfortably. It was also too short. Emily had to lean uncomfortably far over the side to thrust the ski into the water. It wasn’t long before her arm muscles, still sore from the previous day’s exertions, were causing her to cry out in agony.
The leak seemed to be getting worse every minute. She could only paddle a minute or two before having to stop and bail. Then the wind completely disappeared. There was nothing to blow the smoke away, so it blanketed the lake in layers that grew steadily thicker. By the time Emily reached what she thought was the middle of the lake it was no longer possible to see either shore. She wasn’t even positive she was still going in the right direction. Her arms were rubbery, the water level inside the canoe was halfway up her calves, and even if she’d still had enough energy to bail there was no way she could keep ahead of the leak.
Emily sat morosely on the wooden seat and watched the inside of the boat steadily fill up with water. The poodle scrambled onto the pile of life jackets and barked angrily. He seemed to blame Emily for the fact he was getting wet again.
Exhausted, Emily felt her earlier sense of optimism evaporate. There was no way she’d be able to finish the journey in the canoe. It was heading slowly but surely toward the bottom of the lake. Even if there’d been one person to bail steadily, and another to do nothing but paddle, the leak was too bad to overcome. Two-thirds of the vessel was now underwater and it was too heavy to paddle. It looked like water would soon start pouring in over the sides.
Emily was reluctant to leave the canoe until she had some idea of which direction to head. She looked around forlornly, seeing nothing but smoke. Then Buttons stuck his head over the bow of the canoe and stared into the general direction where Emily thought the far shore might be.
“Is that the way to land? Maybe you can smell something that I can’t see.” She sighed. “There’s no point in staying in the canoe. My bum is getting wet anyway.”
Emily cut off a short piece of her rope and tied the cooler to the life jackets. She carefully lifted the makeshift raft out of the canoe, picked up the poodle, and slowly leaned over until the boat tipped onto its side and she slid into the lake.
The cool water once again brought temporary relief to her throbbing muscles and various burns, although she knew that wouldn’t last. Experience had taught her that, before long, the water would start sucking the last reserves of energy and warmth from her body.
The life jacket was designed to keep a person’s head out of the water, even if they were unconscious. Experience had taught Emily that the easiest way to swim in one was to lie on her back and kick. She held the poodle to her chest with one hand, grabbed onto the raft with the other, and hoped she was headed in the right direction. There was a real risk of going around in circles.
“Can you die from hypothermia in a heat wave?” asked Emily. “I now believe it is possible. I nearly froze last night. I read somewhere that freezing to death is peaceful, but it sure didn’t feel that way to me. I would have given anything for dry clothes and a blanket.”
Every once in a while Buttons would raise his head, stare into the distance, sniff, and bark. Emily would immediately adjust her course to head in that direction. She had no idea if the dog knew where shore was, but she hoped that Buttons was being guided by instincts and senses that humans lacked.
She didn’t want to ask her sore and weary body to do more than it could, so Emily tried to pace herself. She would kick thirty times and then take a break, counting slowly to sixty. Buttons became increasingly fidgety and it was getting harder to hold onto him. After a while the poodle’s teeth started chattering. Emily couldn’t tell if it was because of fear or the cold water. She patted the dog’s head and talked soothingly in hopes of calming him down. Then, totally unexpectedly and with astonishing speed, the dog launched himself into the lake.
“Buttons!”
Emily turned onto her stomach and saw Buttons splashing through shallow water.