Chapter Fifteen: The Game
In 25 minutes, I had completely forgotten about Stella. We all hung out around the table where the kids listened to the adults telling stories. Olly’s aunt told the story of how they’d first decided to get the lake house in San Marcos and even mentioned a few stories of Olly when he was a younger.
Padfoot was actually quite well behaved and napped on the deck, his head under the table.
I thought the stories were interesting, though Olly turned a bit pink at the ears. Apparently, he had tried to sell his parents’ brand new car for $500 when he was six. Olly’s uncle and aunt came to visit and Olly’s uncle, Greg, complimented the car and asked jokingly if it was for sale. Olly, thinking he was getting a good deal for his dad, told Greg confidently that he could have it if he paid $500 – which was maybe 1 percent of what the car was actually worth.
After the kids had sat listening to the grownups for maybe half an hour, and consumed WAY too many helpings of HEB brownies coated in chocolate frosting, and chips and salsa, Greg suggested we all head down to the dock and take out the kayaks.
Soooo cool! As we walked down the long flight of wooden steps from the deck, down across the yard toward a mini-house on the water, I kept looking around trying to imagine living here full time.
“This is the dock.” Olly said spreading his arms wide, as we got to the bottom of the yard. “And that’s the boathouse where the nice boat is.”
He pointed to a large, sleek white motor boat that looked like it might fit 10 people. It rocked gently along by a dock in front of the boathouse, covered by a little roof extending from the main building.
“We’re going to get the kayaks from in there too.” Olly walked on a small wooden walkway between the docked motor boat and the boathouse, and then opened the door. We all filed into a slightly cooler, dark room that smelled like wood.
“We’ll need two kayaks, the paddles, and life vests which are hanging on the wall,” Olly said, flipping the lights on.
Ash grabbed four life jackets while Olly and I pulled the first kayak along a small shelf it was sitting on. There was a rope with a little plastic handle at the front of the boat and the back, so using these were able to pick the kayak up and walk it carefully through the doorway. Liam guided, us making sure we didn’t hit the doorframe or step backward off the dock.
“We have one-person kayaks too,” Olly said, “But Uncle Greg recommended we take out the 2-P's.”
When both kayaks were laid on the dock and life vests were distributed, we carefully tilted them off the dock into the water. Liam and Ash carefully stepped into theirs, a bright orange and yellow boat, and pushed off, while Olly and I got into our blue and green swirled one. As we drew away from the dock, Olly and I caught up to Liam and Ash and we paddled more or less side by side.
We continued along the shoreline for a while. The lake was pretty big, and while it seemed tempting to go right across, that would probably take quite a while.
Instead, a little later on, our side of the lake seemed to branch out and Olly lead us in paddling in and beaching our boats on what was either an isthmus or a big island.
“Come on, let’s get off here,” Olly said. And we went exploring.
“Can you imagine what settlers in the old days would’ve thought when they came to new land?” Liam said. “Just, like, you go exploring and then here’s land. And maybe you meet some people. Or maybe it’s entirely empty.”
“Let’s not meet any creepy people in the forest,” Ash said.
“But really, like, in the old days when people came to different places, even if they came across someone, would they even speak each other’s languages? Imagine that. You’re just like ‘Hey dude’ and maybe you don’t even realize the person you’ve met speaks a totally different language.”
We continued walking, following a loosely defined trail further into the woody island.
“Don’t get bit by a snake,” I joked - mostly.
“We should play a game…” Ash mused, following her own train of thought.
“What kind of game?"
“Last to the boat.”
“What’s last to the boat?”
“It’s where we all keep walking for a little bit, and then we stop and turn around. And I’ll yell GO! And then we all need to run to the boats, and last to the boat gets left behind…”
Now there’s a pleasant idea, I thought sarcastically.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll see who’s the fastest.”
“I…” I stated to say, not sure if I was going to make a joke or ask a question but Ash had stopped and was now raising and lowering her eyebrows at us, challenging us.
“One. Two. Three!” She turned tail and ran.
“Dang!” Liam said, and started running after her. Olly and I began to run too. None of us wanted to be last to the boat…. We ran hard through the woods, and little twigs and vines and woody plants scratched at my legs as I hurried, trying to keep track of the trail. Were we even going the right direction? Ahead of me I saw Liam’s legs and the soles of his water shoes as he ran. I banked to the right, off the trail, as the trail began to slowly turn, hoping I’d be able to make up some distance on Liam and Ash. I crunched over the dry ground and made it back to the little trail just in front of someone, although I didn’t look back to see if it was Olly or Liam.
And then I nearly tripped through some brambles, straying from the trail a little again, but praying I knew which direction the trail would turn next.
And there they were. The swirly yellow and orange kayak and the swirly blue and green kayak… Breathing hard, I looked around. No one else was yet here.
I hesitated… and then moved one to the water's edge and stood, ankles in the water, wondering if I should hop on. Then, Ash was there. She hopped on the other kayak and without hesitation pushed out. Feeling the pressure of having hardly any time, I pushed off almost simultaneously. Apparently Ash was okay with taking the boats even if that meant that would leave two of us behind.
There was a big splash and Liam hit the water, swimming out toward and catching Ash’s boat, and then climbing up on the side nearly capsizing it. He dragged himself up grabbing onto her arm, sopping wet, and she shrieked and giggled and told him to stop.
The kayaks drifted further from shore...
Where was Olly?
We waited about 35 feet out, staring in anticipation at the shoreline, but Olly didn’t come.
“Welp.” Liam said with an air of gusto. “We lost our dear host Olly. Ah well, he’s the only one who doesn’t have to go home today or tomorrow. He can just stay with his aunt and uncle. Let’s go tell everyone we stranded him on a deserted island…”
But of course, we didn’t move. Two minutes turned into 5 minutes which turned into 10 minutes…
“Uh, do you think he’s hurt?” Ash asked, looking toward the shore. She started paddling back toward shore and Liam and I followed suit.
“Olly?” Ash called.
We looked around… I was sure someone had been behind me after my shortcut when I was running but I wasn’t sure if that was Olly or Liam… probably Liam. So where the heck was Olly?
“He might just pop out and then steal all our boats.” Liam suggested.
“Might.” Ash concurred.
We kept walking… Up and up the trail we had come on. The trail was quiet, and weaved through the woods as we moved further and further in. Did we really walk this far in before?
“Olly!” I called. “Can you hear us?” I wasn’t sure if he was just pranking us or had gotten bitten by a snake or something.
“Olly!” Liam echoed as we looked hither and thither.
Then finally, I heard Ash saying, “You jerk!”
I looked up. Olly was standing on the path in front of us.
“I stated running,” Olly began. “But, I was probably going to be last… and I didn’t want to go back to the kayaks yet anyway.”
I felt a mixture of grudging respect and irritation at Olly. Joke was on Ash I guess, unless we’d actually left him on the island. For the briefest moment, in my irritation I envisioned us all floating away and going back to eat more brownies. But then I put away the thought.
“Did you even move at all?” Ash asked, fuming.
“You didn’t wait for what I had to show you.” Olly said in defense.
“What?” We gathered in a square in the forest, the slightly humid heat making our clothes cling to our skin.
“I just explored a bit and was going to go back to the boats if you guys didn’t come back in a while. I want to show you something just discovered last time I was here with my uncle... this way.” Irritation melting away, we walked after Olly, who followed the trail for another 300 feet or so and then veered off to the left. We walked further along and the ground seemed to slope down toward a different, smaller body of water – maybe a small outlet from the large lake.
Olly slowed, indicating we were close, and walked toward the water’s edge, reflected through the trees.
“Welcome…” Olly said, in a coarse whisper as I tried to figure out what I was looking at, “to the boat graveyard.”
Padfoot was actually quite well behaved and napped on the deck, his head under the table.
I thought the stories were interesting, though Olly turned a bit pink at the ears. Apparently, he had tried to sell his parents’ brand new car for $500 when he was six. Olly’s uncle and aunt came to visit and Olly’s uncle, Greg, complimented the car and asked jokingly if it was for sale. Olly, thinking he was getting a good deal for his dad, told Greg confidently that he could have it if he paid $500 – which was maybe 1 percent of what the car was actually worth.
After the kids had sat listening to the grownups for maybe half an hour, and consumed WAY too many helpings of HEB brownies coated in chocolate frosting, and chips and salsa, Greg suggested we all head down to the dock and take out the kayaks.
Soooo cool! As we walked down the long flight of wooden steps from the deck, down across the yard toward a mini-house on the water, I kept looking around trying to imagine living here full time.
“This is the dock.” Olly said spreading his arms wide, as we got to the bottom of the yard. “And that’s the boathouse where the nice boat is.”
He pointed to a large, sleek white motor boat that looked like it might fit 10 people. It rocked gently along by a dock in front of the boathouse, covered by a little roof extending from the main building.
“We’re going to get the kayaks from in there too.” Olly walked on a small wooden walkway between the docked motor boat and the boathouse, and then opened the door. We all filed into a slightly cooler, dark room that smelled like wood.
“We’ll need two kayaks, the paddles, and life vests which are hanging on the wall,” Olly said, flipping the lights on.
Ash grabbed four life jackets while Olly and I pulled the first kayak along a small shelf it was sitting on. There was a rope with a little plastic handle at the front of the boat and the back, so using these were able to pick the kayak up and walk it carefully through the doorway. Liam guided, us making sure we didn’t hit the doorframe or step backward off the dock.
“We have one-person kayaks too,” Olly said, “But Uncle Greg recommended we take out the 2-P's.”
When both kayaks were laid on the dock and life vests were distributed, we carefully tilted them off the dock into the water. Liam and Ash carefully stepped into theirs, a bright orange and yellow boat, and pushed off, while Olly and I got into our blue and green swirled one. As we drew away from the dock, Olly and I caught up to Liam and Ash and we paddled more or less side by side.
We continued along the shoreline for a while. The lake was pretty big, and while it seemed tempting to go right across, that would probably take quite a while.
Instead, a little later on, our side of the lake seemed to branch out and Olly lead us in paddling in and beaching our boats on what was either an isthmus or a big island.
“Come on, let’s get off here,” Olly said. And we went exploring.
“Can you imagine what settlers in the old days would’ve thought when they came to new land?” Liam said. “Just, like, you go exploring and then here’s land. And maybe you meet some people. Or maybe it’s entirely empty.”
“Let’s not meet any creepy people in the forest,” Ash said.
“But really, like, in the old days when people came to different places, even if they came across someone, would they even speak each other’s languages? Imagine that. You’re just like ‘Hey dude’ and maybe you don’t even realize the person you’ve met speaks a totally different language.”
We continued walking, following a loosely defined trail further into the woody island.
“Don’t get bit by a snake,” I joked - mostly.
“We should play a game…” Ash mused, following her own train of thought.
“What kind of game?"
“Last to the boat.”
“What’s last to the boat?”
“It’s where we all keep walking for a little bit, and then we stop and turn around. And I’ll yell GO! And then we all need to run to the boats, and last to the boat gets left behind…”
Now there’s a pleasant idea, I thought sarcastically.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll see who’s the fastest.”
“I…” I stated to say, not sure if I was going to make a joke or ask a question but Ash had stopped and was now raising and lowering her eyebrows at us, challenging us.
“One. Two. Three!” She turned tail and ran.
“Dang!” Liam said, and started running after her. Olly and I began to run too. None of us wanted to be last to the boat…. We ran hard through the woods, and little twigs and vines and woody plants scratched at my legs as I hurried, trying to keep track of the trail. Were we even going the right direction? Ahead of me I saw Liam’s legs and the soles of his water shoes as he ran. I banked to the right, off the trail, as the trail began to slowly turn, hoping I’d be able to make up some distance on Liam and Ash. I crunched over the dry ground and made it back to the little trail just in front of someone, although I didn’t look back to see if it was Olly or Liam.
And then I nearly tripped through some brambles, straying from the trail a little again, but praying I knew which direction the trail would turn next.
And there they were. The swirly yellow and orange kayak and the swirly blue and green kayak… Breathing hard, I looked around. No one else was yet here.
I hesitated… and then moved one to the water's edge and stood, ankles in the water, wondering if I should hop on. Then, Ash was there. She hopped on the other kayak and without hesitation pushed out. Feeling the pressure of having hardly any time, I pushed off almost simultaneously. Apparently Ash was okay with taking the boats even if that meant that would leave two of us behind.
There was a big splash and Liam hit the water, swimming out toward and catching Ash’s boat, and then climbing up on the side nearly capsizing it. He dragged himself up grabbing onto her arm, sopping wet, and she shrieked and giggled and told him to stop.
The kayaks drifted further from shore...
Where was Olly?
We waited about 35 feet out, staring in anticipation at the shoreline, but Olly didn’t come.
“Welp.” Liam said with an air of gusto. “We lost our dear host Olly. Ah well, he’s the only one who doesn’t have to go home today or tomorrow. He can just stay with his aunt and uncle. Let’s go tell everyone we stranded him on a deserted island…”
But of course, we didn’t move. Two minutes turned into 5 minutes which turned into 10 minutes…
“Uh, do you think he’s hurt?” Ash asked, looking toward the shore. She started paddling back toward shore and Liam and I followed suit.
“Olly?” Ash called.
We looked around… I was sure someone had been behind me after my shortcut when I was running but I wasn’t sure if that was Olly or Liam… probably Liam. So where the heck was Olly?
“He might just pop out and then steal all our boats.” Liam suggested.
“Might.” Ash concurred.
We kept walking… Up and up the trail we had come on. The trail was quiet, and weaved through the woods as we moved further and further in. Did we really walk this far in before?
“Olly!” I called. “Can you hear us?” I wasn’t sure if he was just pranking us or had gotten bitten by a snake or something.
“Olly!” Liam echoed as we looked hither and thither.
Then finally, I heard Ash saying, “You jerk!”
I looked up. Olly was standing on the path in front of us.
“I stated running,” Olly began. “But, I was probably going to be last… and I didn’t want to go back to the kayaks yet anyway.”
I felt a mixture of grudging respect and irritation at Olly. Joke was on Ash I guess, unless we’d actually left him on the island. For the briefest moment, in my irritation I envisioned us all floating away and going back to eat more brownies. But then I put away the thought.
“Did you even move at all?” Ash asked, fuming.
“You didn’t wait for what I had to show you.” Olly said in defense.
“What?” We gathered in a square in the forest, the slightly humid heat making our clothes cling to our skin.
“I just explored a bit and was going to go back to the boats if you guys didn’t come back in a while. I want to show you something just discovered last time I was here with my uncle... this way.” Irritation melting away, we walked after Olly, who followed the trail for another 300 feet or so and then veered off to the left. We walked further along and the ground seemed to slope down toward a different, smaller body of water – maybe a small outlet from the large lake.
Olly slowed, indicating we were close, and walked toward the water’s edge, reflected through the trees.
“Welcome…” Olly said, in a coarse whisper as I tried to figure out what I was looking at, “to the boat graveyard.”
