“Do you miss your dad’s old boat?” Jasmine yelled over the loud motor.
El gave her a quick sideways glance, and called back, “Oh, yeah.” She zoomed across the lake and then idled down cupping her hand over her eyes and searching the shore front. “I think it’s that way.” She pointed towards a mountain in the distance. “I remember seeing Borestone Mountain from the water, until you get too close to the shore, and then the trees block it. The trees block everything!”
Jasmine's lips smacked, “I have a feeling that you could see it from quite a lot of the shore front, El.”
“I suppose that’s true, except I remember a bunch of large rocks huddled together in a small alcove—like those." She pointed to a small grouping of large rocks nestled in the secluded bay. "We had to dock our boat a few miles down shore because of the rocks, and walk in to the camp from there.”
“Oh.” Jasmine's mouth curled into a sour pucker, “How much of a walk?”
“It took us a long while, maybe thirty, forty minutes—but that was five years ago, and I was much younger. It probably just felt like that long” She shook her head and scanned the trees. “I'm not sure that this is even the right place. I think it’s around here, but I don’t know—maybe this isn’t such a good idea, Jas.”
Jasmine frowned, “Hey—what’s the worst that could happen? We go for a nice hike and if we don’t find anything, we'll come back to the boat and still have an hour or so to play on the water before we have to return it.”
“I guess so.” El killed the motor and coasted towards the wooded shoreline. “Help me hoist the motor up, Jas.”
As the neared the shore, the clear water revealed tiny pebbles and deep brown sand. El stuck an oar in the water and tested the depth and then slipped over the side with the tow line and wrapped it around the nearest tree. They pulled the boat up onto a narrow beach and secured it with the line tied to the tree. “Haven’t you seen any movies, El?” Jasmine pushed the small boat further up the shore between two larger trees. She stepped back, “hmmm, you can still see it.” She reached up and broke a thin evergreen bough and leaned it up against the hull. “Well, it’s not completely covered, but at least you’d have to squint to make it out from a distance.”
“You’re such a nerd, Jas—why don’t you want anyone to see the boat?”
The corner of Jasmine’s lip curled, “Oh come on now, El—do I have to explain everything to you? Who knows what dangers could befall two babes like us alone in the Maine woods?”
El swallowed. She didn’t like the sound of that, even though she knew that Jasmine was joking.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.