The river ran smooth for a few minutes, giving us time to ham it up a little for the camera. Flip was a ways down the embankment, but had these enormous camera lenses that help him photograph things from miles away. So we smiled and waved, and then we actually did “The Wave.” We spelled “hi” with our paddles, but I was giggling so much I had to sit down, so then it looked like “li.” We almost distracted Flip too much. I saw Rusty tug on his shirt and point down the river. Then he gave us a quick wave and hobbled out of sight. I watched a minute to see if they made it to the top of the lookout beyond the Butter-Churn rapids, but I didn’t see them before we had to get our game faces on and start paddling.
I heard the rushing water again, only this time my ears didn’t pound so much. I was glad because it made it easier to hear Matt’s commands.
“Okay ladies, a rapid and two waterfalls, right in a row. Let’s finish this thing! ALL FORWARD.”
I felt extra strong this time. I shoved my foot under the seat in the raft to secure myself. The river narrowed up in front of us, and I dug my paddle in the water as hard as I could. I watched as we approached the first tall, flat rock of the Butter-Churn. Then I remembered how this rapid went from practice. Three big rocks that look like paddles in a butter churn. We just needed to make sure we didn’t hit any of them.
“Get down!” I guess Matt didn’t need our help any further. I brought my paddle up and got ready for the plunge.
Right before I flattened out on the bottom of the raft, I noticed something moving in the water in front of us. It looked like a big bunch of branches or something. No worries. Our raft would run right over whatever it was. At least that’s what I thought. Instead, whatever it was rose out of the water, caught my paddle and yanked it right out of my hand.
“AAAAAHHHHH!” I heard Matt yell. Then I heard nothing. I was afraid my paddle had hit him in the head. I looked back, praying he wouldn’t be sitting there with a bloody forehead.
But he wasn’t sitting there at all. Matt was gone.
Rock number two was approaching so fast that we didn’t have time to do anything to avoid it. So we hit. The force from the river pushed the back of the raft around so that we were now riding backwards, headed straight for rock number three.
“Brace yourself!” Mom launched herself on top of me and grabbed a handle on the side of the raft. “Hold on, Riley,” she cried as we hit rock number three — hard. Then we stuck there.
“Tube suck!” Fawn shouted. “High side!” She grabbed Mom and pulled her up to the back of the raft. I stayed plastered to the floor as I watched them struggle to bounce the raft off the rock. But the current was too strong — the water had us pinned. They needed more weight to free the raft. Just a few more pounds. They needed . . . me.
The next seconds seemed like slow motion. Staying in a crouched position, I turned to face the back of the raft. I crawled — grabbing hold of the side handles — up to where I could reach Mom’s feet. “Pull me up!” I held my hand up to Mom.
She shook her head at first, but then the front of the raft started taking on water. It curled under us from the force of the river. We were going to flip! Mom grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I stood and bounced with everything I had, which broke the suction of the water and released our raft — front first — right at the top of the waterfall.
The next thing I knew, I was in the river, over my head. The water swirled above and below me, and I felt around, hoping that the raft was somewhere nearby. I couldn’t see anything. I tried to swim, but the current was so strong it was no use.
Turn on your back. Like a lounge chair.
I somehow remembered Matt’s words and managed to flip over on my back. My feet bounced off rocks, but I was finally able to look up and see the sun. I gulped for air and turned my head in every direction looking for the raft. I finally saw it — behind me.
Someone yelled “Hang on, Riley,” but what was I supposed to hang on to? Branches hung low over the edges of the river. If I could just swim to one, maybe I could grab it. I tried once and missed. On the second try I got one. But the river’s pull was too strong, and it yanked me back in the water.
That’s when I smashed the back of my hand on something hard. Rock number four. I’d forgotten about that one.
The pain in my hand was unbearable for a second, but then, when the whole thing went numb, I was sure it had been ripped from my body. I grabbed for it with my other hand, and pulled it up to my face to make sure it was still there. Whew, yes, there it was. I thought of softball for a brief moment, and about the importance of having both hands to play. Whatever was wrong could be fixed — I hoped — as long as it was still attached. But for now, I was going to swim like crazy with just the left hand.
“RILEY!” Mom screamed, and I looked back again to see her point forward and then wrap her arms around her body. She looked like she was curling up into a ball.
That’s when I realized what I was supposed to do next. Ball up. Because it was time for GET-OUT-NOW.