Storymania - Lake Of The Woods by Stephanie Black

Lake Of The Woods
Stephanie Black

The sun came up. The air felt crisp. The dew of the wet grass soaked the three families’ shoes as they sleepily got everything together and piled into their cars. They were headed for the wilderness and weren’t going to waste any time. The hours went by like days but finally they got to their destination, Canada. Once they arrived, they searched for their houseboats that they were going to take into the wilderness for two weeks. The search ended as they saw the clear lake come into view and the boats swaying back and forth at the dock. Everyone became excited and they quickly pulled up and began to load their boats with food, clothes, and other necessities for the isolated voyage into the waters of Canada. What they didn’t know though was that the trip was going to bring them close calls with nature in the following days that they would never forget.
They did the finishing touches and checks on the boat and all their supplies. Then the chugging of the engines began. The motors were so loud that they echoed through the bay like thunder. The loud noise didn’t stop the families from leaving though. The families were quite large, fourteen people all together, so there was a lot to do before the sun went down and they knew they had to go. They quickly took off then, and as the boats tugged along the men drove and the rest of them busily unpacked and reorganized. On Boat 4, Cora, Carol, Andy, and Jeff put things together while Larry with his sophisticated glasses gazed the water and marked the way. On Boat 5 Carly and Jared fought for top bunk, both pushing each other with their strong arms, while Mark and Mary searched the map and tried to follow the way to the first landing spot. Lastly on the Bay Cruiser boat Stephanie, Quentin, and Whitney started in on all the food that was packed while Tracie relaxed in the front of the boat, letting the wind pull on her short curly hair and Bruce followed the other two boats as they made their way in the beautiful lake of the woods.
The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky. The sun was warm but the cool breeze kept the sweat from forming on their bodies. Once the packing and excitement started to wear down, everyone relaxed in the great weather, while the boats pushed ahead for the long haul. On the Bay Cruiser, Stephanie decided to start on her tan so she headed to the top of the boat where she found a perfect little deck to lay on. The people on the other boats saw this too and decided to go up top in the warm moist breeze. Once the relaxing began to get just too boring, they decided that it was party time. The walkie-talkies that the families each had boomed with music from each boat and the voices of each person flicked on and off. Then a voice came on that was different, more serious and stern, and announced, “We’ve found our first landing spot! Everyone get ready to pull in.” As this was heard everyone began jumping and yelling! They were so excited to finally get off the boat and wander in the wilderness.
The boats slowed down, as they got closer to the land. Grunts came over the walkie-talkie saying, “This is going to be a tough one!” The rocks jutted out from the land and the boats couldn’t hit! So slowly but surely the boats wiggled their way through and grounded on shore where the families would be able to get off and finally converse without the crackling of the walkie-talkies.
The sun was still warm but it was now turning a deeper orange color and hiding behind the trees. The families saw this and knew they must get settled soon. On all the boats feet trampled back and forth in search for something to do to help get the boats sturdy and still on the shore of the large stone hill. Andy on Boat 4 quickly jumped off the side of his boat in to the cool and now cloudy, dark water to find the rope that had dropped. It was supposed to be on shore to anchor the boat properly, not dangling into the depths of the water! What he forgot though was that his three hundred dollar glasses were still on his slim, pale face when he made the plunge. So now the rope was saved and the boat was docked but the glasses were lost on the rocky bottom of the lake. That was the first mission for the crew.
Everyone got their swimsuits on and slowly dipped into the water for the search. The rocks were slippery and some were sharp so it made the search harder. The biggest thing for three of the cousins, Stephanie, Carly and Quentin, was that the waters and crevasses of the rocks were taken over by big mean crayfish! None of them wanted to put even a toe in the water for the fear that the pinchers of the small crabs would take it right off. They knew that they were supposed to help, though, so together they counted slowly, “One, two, three, JUMP!” and they all crashed into the water with a splash! The terrified little screams came out of them as they quickly doggie-paddled to the deeper part of the water so that none of the crabs could get them. They decided that they made the wrong choice once they got in because not only did they hate the crabs but the goose bumps quickly popped up everywhere on their bodies and their lips began to quiver. They decided to tough it out for a little bit while the older people searched with their big goggles and funny, bright colored snorkels. Larry, Andy’s dad, searched the most since it was his son’s glasses and partly his money. His head never came out of the water. The bubbles formed rapidly around his snorkel and muffled sounds came from under the water like he was trying to tell them something. Sure enough his small round, unshaven face flew from the water and a huge smile stretched across and took over his face as his hand came out of the water and the glasses in his cold fingers. “I found them! Yea!” he yelled and shouted to everyone. Everyone was now happy because not only did they find them but they could now all get out of the chilly water. Stephanie, Carly and Quentin were especially happy!
After everyone was dry and dressed in warm clothes, they all made their way out to the middle of the land where the boats were docked and began to talk about their day. The main discussion was that it was only the first day and they already had to battle with nature. The sun kept moving downward and the night air began to fill with mosquitoes. The bugs were bad and they weren’t allowed to have a fire because the weather was very dry and so they were not allowed to. So the bugs continued to swarm them and the darkness blinded their sight. Once this happened they sadly packed up their chairs they had been lounging in and walked to the planks of their boats. Everyone yelled, “Good night!” and soon the lights disappeared in everyone’s boat.
The wind howled through their boats that night and made their boats knock on the rocks of the dark water as the families tried to sleep. Eventually their ears tuned it out, and they slept quietly as the bright moon moved across the sky.
The sun came up early the next morning and the birds began to sing. The families awoke to this and started moving about. The sun warmed their skin and got them ready for the new day. Each family made a large breakfast and ate while listening to their small radio on the boat that had local Canadian news. The news was shocking. A bear had been sited on two boats. One was on the boat and would not leave and the other robbed the boat’s food and made its way back home into the woods. It scared them all a little but it was nothing that they really worried about.
The boys had gone fishing and were frying up fish that morning. Stephanie and her mom loved fish so they went to Boat 5 and ate some, even though their stomachs bulged with bacon, toast and hash browns from before. Quentin, Stephanie’s brother decided to relax by himself on the top of the rock they were parked on with his CD player while Bruce their father got ready for fishing later on the day. The others were on boat 4 just keeping themselves busy. It was so calm and quite nice until they all heard a shrill, piercing voice scream “Bear, there’s a bear!!” Cora had yelled this and was flipping out. She screamed at the top of her lungs to the others and Quentin who was on shore! Quentin was relaxing in a chair with his hood up on his gray dirty sweatshirt and the small speakers of his cd player plugged his ears. He had no idea what was going on. Once everyone saw that Quentin was out there all alone on shore and the bear getting closer and closer they began to panic! Everyone was terrified and didn’t know what to do! The bear emerged from the woods. Its fur was dark black and its shoulders were strong and wide. Its nose and ears perked up as it smelled the food frying and it made its way to get some.
It slowly came toward Quentin and sniffed the air around him. Quentin sat paralyzed once he understood what was happening. The bear’s thick claws scratched the rock as it slowly circled Quentin. It sniffed the chair and then must have been disappointed with what he found so he moved closer to boat 5 where the fried fish seemed to make him excited. Once the bear moved far away from Quentin and closer to the other boat he took off and flew to the others on boat 4. The pulsing of everyone’s hearts seemed to slow once they knew Quentin was safe but they were still frightened with the fact that the bear was going to try to get on the boat. The bear wanted that fish and wasn’t going to let anyone stop him.
They searched for something to scare it away with but they felt clueless, until someone yelled with all the breath in their lungs, “Sound your horn!” So all at once the three boats began honking back and forth. The sound echoed through the woods. The bear became confused and frustrated. It backed away and searched everywhere it could trying not to let the sound get to him. It paced back and forth from boat to boat but only got to the water in front of the boats because the planks were not down and the yelling and loud noises kept startling it.
Finally it gave up and angrily went back into the thick woods where it belonged. Everyone gave a sigh of relief and finally realized that it could have been so much worse. They all praised Quentin for his bravery and then timidly left their boats to search the rock for any destruction from the bear. Everyone was so startled yet that every crack of twigs or a large breeze made chills go down their spines till they jumped with fear. They then went about their own way. The boys were going to go fishing and in search for a spot with no bears to park on and the girls were going to play a card game. So everyone was busy and happy trying to forget about the bear when a faint cry was heard saying, “Pull up the planks, here comes another one!” the boys yelled this as they watched another bear stumble on to the rock. So the girls quickly scattered the cards and ran to yank in the plank and shut all the doors. Another larger black bear was then seen by them all trudging it’s way up the rocky surface and scanning the boats. It was the mother bear and it was going to see what had happened to her baby.
While it wandered the shore, everyone headed for the top of the boat with cameras in hand to get the perfect glimpse and picture of the large, burly bear. The screams this time held excitement and curiosity in them instead of fright. It was a once in a lifetime experience and they were now almost happy that it had happened to them. They waited a little bit this time before scaring it away so that they could see its beauty. Then they furiously yelled and slammed on their horns to make it move back into the woods. This bear acted smarter and quickly yet unscared made it’s way back home.
They all stayed on the boats this time because who knows when the next bear would come. The men then quickly got in their small fishing boats to find a new safer place and assured the women that they would be fine.
Later that day when the sun was high in the sky the boys came back with exciting news that their was a large beach with white sand that they could pull up to, but that another boat was headed for it so they had jump on it and head out fast. When they all heard this they began running all around collecting their things and getting ready to untie and unanchored the boats.
Stephanie and her mother Tracie untied the Bay Cruiser but it was too soon and the wind took the boat and smashed it on the side of the rocks. They were now stranded on the island by themselves. The other boats had already broken loose and chugged out into the dark blue waters. They were scared that a bear would come and the boat was out of reach to help them. It took them a while for the boat to come loose from the rocks with the help of the other boats and the two had to swim out into the luke warm water to get back on the boat. They were free now though and could go.
It was finally ok now and everyone settled down after the exciting morning. They were headed for a better place and hopefully no more scares. Everyone looked out into the lake at the old resting spot and sat in amazement of what fear took over their body that morning. The sun lighted their way though and they were now prepared for the worse. It had made them all stronger and they knew nature was nothing to fight with anymore.