One of the older girls at age 14 reminded everyone that the video had told us to stay in the center of the river and get back to the livery as quickly as possible. Normally a quiet girl who struggles with a stutter, she began barking orders to those around her, having stronger paddlers switch to the rear of the canoe and even advising some to switch canoes.
Amanda and I switched with the frog-fearing boys. Rain circles were dotting the water and the wind was picking up. Thunder boomed overhead. The boys were having difficulties fighting the wind. With Amanda and I in separate boats, we pushed everyone forward.
We have one deaf girl in our group. Her one-on-one teacher Susan is a wonderful deaf woman. She had insisted that the two had a canoe to themselves because she wanted to work with the teen on teamwork and wanted her to have the experience of canoeing on her own.
I noticed the teacher struggling to keep the canoe moving, and the stubborn thirteen-year-old refusing to help. I motioned to them to keep going. The teen just crossed her arms and dropped the paddle. The rain was coming down heavily now, and the rest of our party was out of sight around the bend in the river. There had to be a mile and a half to two miles left to go. Splashing the teen with water, Susan yelled incoherently. The panic was spreading over her face as lightning flashed nearby.
Desperate, Susan exited the canoe and started walking chest-deep pulling the canoe in tow. Waving and shouting at the deaf teen, I was furious at her for not helping. She can be a very self-centered child, and this was not the time for her to act up. She refused to look at me, chin up and eyes closed.
Thunder roared overhead and the wind tore past us ferociously. Not knowing what else to do, I instructed my canoe mate to paddle hard and quick. Our best bet would be get back and send help from the livery. With only the twelve-year-old boy with me, there was nothing else I could think of us to do.
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