Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  The smell of mildew made her wrinkle her nose. She closed the flap and latched it, then sat down and braced her boots against the row in front of her and kicked against it.

  It was more solid than she’d expected. The metal was welded down to the decking structure and though it wasn’t comfortable she didn’t get a sense it was going anywhere. “Huh.” She stood up and yanked at the rail.

  Kerry went past her to the back row, where the two comfortable chairs had miraculously survived, and the captain’s station behind it, sans the engine of course. The supply lockers had been taken off leaving open spaces on the deck, but the supports were close enough together she felt relatively secure walking.

  She turned and looked out over the river, wanting suddenly and pungently to be gone from the canyon. Despite the ragged condition of the raft, it felt like it was capable of floating and she wanted more than anything to be riding on that current out.

  Screw the risk. Walking out would be a risk. Staying where they were would be a risk.

  Life was a risk.

  Dar jumped up and down on the frame, holding onto the rail by the second set of seats, and she looked up and their eyes met. Dar stopped her shenanigans and wandered over, as Ira inspected the pontoons on the side.

  “Let’s just do it,” Dar and Kerry said, at the same time.

  “The rest of them want to and what the hell, we can swim,” Dar concluded. “Let’s get our gear.”

  “Done deal.” Kerry said.

  Ira looked up as they approached. “Hey, I was looking at this and...”

  Dar waved him off. “Yeah, we think so too. Let’s get moving,” she said. “We wasted enough time.” She hopped off the pontoon to the ground and turned, offering Kerry a hand.

  Kerry’s eyes twinkled a little. She accepted the help and leapt to the rocks then headed off toward the shelter at a brisk walk.

  “Sure.” Ira followed them. “Only live once, right?” He lifted his hands in a shrug as he followed them, head shaking slowly back and forth. “Shoulda gone with Mom to the mall, damn it.”

  “SO, FOR YOU guys let me see if I can rig up these tarps.” Rich rambled around the back row, where Todd and Marcia were sitting in the comfortable chairs. “Keep the rain off ya.” He started opening one of the somewhat worn and tattered plastic sheets and Dave went to help him.

  Marcia got sick, fast. She was coughing almost continuously, and huddled in both her jacket and Don’s, with the sleeping bag they’d used tucked around her. She clutched a steaming cup, the last bit of the tea.

  Though the clouds were building overhead, and the wind came up a little, so far the rain had held off as they humped all the gear down the slope to the shore and maneuvered it onboard, finding places to stow it amidst the wreckage.

  Pete and Janet were huddled near the back of the craft with Ira standing by next to them and most of the rest were in the second row trying to find a way to tie things down.

  Dar was in the first row, studying the wreck of it, and Kerry was helping PJ wrap her foot up with the last of the gauze she’d found in the aid kit.

  “After all that stuff, I dunno,” PJ said, stifling a sneeze. “Oh crap.”

  “Yeah.” Kerry ripped off a piece of tape and applied it. “It’s all a mess, but Dar figures it’s better if we give this a try than stay back there and I’m with her on it.” She straightened up. “I mean, we almost had a whole mountain come down on top of us, been washed away by crazy rain...”

  “What a drag,” PJ said in a mournful tone.

  “Yeah.” Kerry finished her taping and put the roll back in the battered kit. “At least that looks like it’s healing okay.” She gave the girl a pat on her ankle. “One good thing.”

  PJ looked at her appendage. “I should have known when this happened it was going to go downhill.” She glanced around and then back at Kerry. “Hey, can I ask you a question?” she said. “Since we’re still getting ready here?”

  “Sure.”

  “Is tech really a good career?”

  It was the last thing on earth Kerry expected to be asked, and it made her laugh a little in surprise. “You mean in general?” she countered. “Or for women? It’s tough in some areas for us. You go to most of the really technical conventions and it’s a sausage fest,” she admitted. “That gets old sometimes.”

  “Is it easier for you being gay?” PJ asked, after a moment’s thoughtful silence. “I mean, with the guys?”

  Kerry had to consider that. She sat back and folded her arms, watching Dar out of the corner of her eye as Dar banged a strut into place and used a bit of the climbing rope to secure it. “Well,” she finally said, “I never really thought of it like that.”

  “Or do they hit on you anyway?” PJ asked, with a knowing grin.

  “When I was single, yeah.” Kerry smiled a little. “It happened. But when I’m with Dar, now, no.” She shook her head. “Dar has such a reputation in the industry most of the time when guys come up to me and talk it’s because they want me to ask her something for them.”

  PJ laughed. “Really?”

  “Really.” Kerry set the kit down and stifled a yawn. There was too much coughing and sneezing for good solid sleep and she felt lagged from it. “It’s kind of funny, actually, because Dar never minds sharing what she knows, but everyone’s afraid to ask her because they don’t want to look dumb. So they test the question on me first.”

  “Dudes.”

  “Yeah, some women, too, though,” Kerry said, “Dar can be intimidating. And she’s got no reluctance to expose you for being an idiot if you are and most anyone who’s been in the industry for any length of time knows it.” She watched Dar take a step back and regard the two makeshift seats she’d made for them. “But in answer to your question, yes.”

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, it’s worthwhile to make a living at,” Kerry said, briskly. “It changes enough so you don’t get bored. I like it.” She felt the motion as the crew lifted the last of the supplies, scant though they were, into the raft and then stood by on shore to lose the ropes. “Whoops. I guess we’re going.”

  “I guess,” PJ stood up carefully and limped to where Sally and her sister were tying down gear. She sat down on one end of the metal bench and tucked her foot up under her thigh, settling herself. Her companions came over and joined her. Sally moved up to the front row next to Dar.

  “Okay.” Janet got up onto one of the steel cabinets in the back of the raft. “We’re going to get moving. We have a couple of paddles back here, and a steering pole, and we’ll do the best we can with Ira’s help.”

  Ira was standing by with his hands in his pockets, his plaid flannel shirt half unbuttoned, hair braided back and fastened into a knot at his neck. His expression was noncommittal.

  “Everyone please put on your safety jackets. Please tie everything down.” Janet continued, “Please try to be safe.” She got down and motioned to the crew to cast off the lines and board, the raft already half loose and jerking against the final ropes.

  Kerry moved to where Dar was standing, holding a float jacket in her hands and as she came closer Dar opened it up and she put her arms through it. “Here we go,” she said.

  “Here we go.” Dar braced herself as the ropes came loose and the frame of the raft shuddered, creaking and groaning as the water current grabbed them and pulled them out into the river, now seeming strange and dangerous after being off it for so long.

  It felt a little out of control, and Kerry wedged her boot against the bare metal frame in front of them as she felt the raft dip and turn abruptly, with no engine to counter the motion. She jerked to the side with some violence. Dar grabbed hold of her and she relaxed, just a little.

  They swept around a wide bend and then they were in a relatively straight length of river, churning and rustling around them but with no big rapids. Thunder rumbled overhead and the wind pushed at their back. She poked Dar in the ribs. “Put your jacket on.”

  For a minute, she th
ought Dar was going to ignore the request. Dar had that look about her. But then she released her hold on Kerry and removed the jacket from the back of the aluminum support and slipped it on. Kerry helped her buckle it, then she turned again to the front, as they rushed past the towering walls.

  This part, at least, seemed okay. “Hope it stays like this,” she said to Sally, who stood, braced next to her. “Maybe we can make good time.”

  “Faster than walking that’s for sure,” Sally said. “But it won’t. There are rapids just past that next curve. I’ve been through them.”

  “Bad?”

  Sally shrugged. “Class 4’s. Not really that bad. We’ve been through the worst already.”

  “Oh.” Kerry felt heartened. “Great.”

  “Yeah, we should have done this to begin with.” Sally shook her head, and her sister did likewise. “Hindsight’s twenty-twenty.”

  “This was the worst option couple days back,” Kerry reminded them. “It just became the best option when it was the last one, really.”

  “Better than staying in that shack,” PJ piped up from behind them. “At least we’re getting somewhere.”

  Don had a long paddle, and he was on the port side of the raft, Rich and Dave were on the starboard. Ira had the steering pole, and as Kerry looked behind her, he pushed off some rocks with casual expertise that relieved her slightly.

  “Yep, we are,” Kerry said. “About time.”

  Dar nodded. “About time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  THE RAIN STARTED as they rolled through a narrow, fast stretch that rocked the raft with some violence. Dar sat on her makeshift seat with her boots braced against the bare aluminum framing. Kerry stood between her knees with Dar’s arms wrapped around her middle.

  Kerry blinked into the rain, which was cool and tasted of the clouds now socked in overhead. With the jacket, and Dar’s hold she felt warm and secure, despite the uncertain motion of the raft under her boots as they rolled along the””for now””straight path forward.

  At least they were making good time. The flow of the river caused small whitecaps but the section they were in had no rapids and she could see a bend in the distance.

  Behind her she heard Marcia and Todd coughing. Pete knelt in a sheltered corner, his elbows braced on a bench and his hands curled around the front of it.

  Sally and her sister had gotten a tarp up over the second row of seats, and now Sally was cautiously pulling the end of the tarp over where Dar and Kerry were. “Want to grab this and tie it?”

  Kerry turned around and took the edge of the tarp and tied the bungee cord to the framing next to Dar’s boot. It gave them a bit of shelter and Dar wriggled backwards a little to take advantage of it pulling Kerry with her. “Thanks.”

  The blue tarp fabric rattled in the wind. “Best we can do for now.” Sally said, as she took a seat next to Dar and secured the fourth end of the tarp on the other side of her. “Rich you need a swap out?”

  “Okay for now.” Rich was sitting at the side of the raft, holding his paddle. He’d taken a piece of the climbing rope and passed it around his body, and snapped a carabiner to one of the supports with a top piece missing. He dangled his legs over the side, his boots ruffling through the water.

  Don handed his paddle over to Dave and went to Marcia’s side. “How about some tea?” He took a battered thermos and uncapped it, tipping it to pour some of the tea from the camp into the cap. “Before it gets cold?”

  Amy was seated on the deck of the raft next to the big seat where her fiancé was slumped, wrapped in a hoodie and jacket and cargo shorts that showed the raw scrapes and cuts he’d gotten from the climb. He coughed and held his shoulder to try and keep it from moving.

  Kerry eyed him. “Should I give him the Advil I have left?” She asked Dar in a low tone.

  “No,” Dar said calmly, tightening her hold. “With our current luck we’ll both get our period and need them for cramps.”

  Kerry chuckled wryly.

  “Not kidding.”

  “No. I know.” She leaned back against Dar’s body, ignoring the rain that dampened her knees. “I just remember what that felt like.” She let her hands rest on Dar’s thighs, feeling the solid muscle under the denim, with a sense of security, as she was held in place.

  “Besides someone else like Pete might need them more,” Dar said, after a brief silence.

  Kerry glanced behind them. “That’s true. Poor guy.” She faced forward again. “And I just remembered that jackass kicking him in the back so forget I said anything to begin with.”

  Dar smiled grimly.

  PJ leaned forward from behind them. “I heard them talking,” she said. “In the back, I mean.” She lowered her voice. “They’re worried about the rapids just past that turn there.”

  “I’m worried about any rapids in this thing so that’s not a surprise.” Dar said. “Is it a big one?”

  Sally joined them. “You talking about the whitewater coming up?” She asked. “Rich was saying something about it being pretty treacherous.”

  “It is,” PJ said. “There’s a big rock in the middle of the stream, and if you go on the wrong side they were saying we could easily capsize.”

  “Nice.”

  “Well they can paddle,” Sally said. “And the guy back there seems to know what he’s doing with the steering pole.”

  “True,” Dar said. “We can help too.” She indicated a stack of worn wooden paddles that were lashed under the row of seats behind them. “Maybe up on those pontoons, where Rich and they were sitting.”

  “Mm.” Kerry watched the water wash up over them.

  “No that’s true,” PJ nodded. “Even I can help. That doesn’t need a foot.” She got off her seat and sat on the deck of the raft instead and started to work at the lashing that held the paddles.

  “We should get ready.”

  “At least get those closer to us,” Sally said and joined her.

  “Hmph.” Kerry studied the bend ahead, which now seemed a lot closer to them. “If they do this all the time, how bad can it be really? The other operations use paddling boats.”

  “Did you have to say that?” Dar sighed.

  Kerry half turned and gave her an affectionate look. Then she reached up to wipe a raindrop off Dar’s nose and tweak it. “Sorry, hon.” She turned around all the way and rested her hands on Dar’s shoulders, spending a moment just gazing into her eyes. “It is what it is.”

  “It is what it is.” Dar smiled in return. “Just remember, if we get tossed off this thing hold your breath.”

  Kerry’s head tilted a little to one side. “You mean under the water?”

  “Yes.”

  “Should I have to remember that?” Kerry asked, in a somewhat puzzled tone “Isn’t it a natural thing?”

  Dar cleared her throat and glanced past Kerry’s shoulder to gauge the distance to the bend. “For normal people sure. Even babies will hold their breath when they go underwater.”

  “How would you know that?”

  Dar paused, then chuckled. “Probably read it in a book. Anyway, when you dive what’s the first thing you do when you step in?”

  Kerry’s eyes went a little unfocused, as she thought about that. She put herself on the back of their boat, hand on the ladder brace, taking that step off into the water in a plunge and... “Suck in a breath off my reg,” she said. “Matter of fact I did that when we snorkeled the last time and didn’t realize I was so deep I got a mouthful of seawater and nearly choked.”

  Dar nodded. “Helps not to have the reg in your mouth, but think about it if you get tossed in,” she said, in a practical tone.

  “Got it.” Kerry leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips, tasting rain water and a hint of the morning’s tea. “Thank you, my love.” She touched her forehead to Dar’s. “For always keeping an eye out for me.”

  “Always.” Dar confirmed. “Turn around.”

  Kerry did, and saw the bend coming at them. She
squirmed around and braced her legs, glancing over as Sally handed her one of the paddles. “Not sure I’m going to do anything useful with it, but sure.” She tucked the paddle down between her hip and Dar’s leg.

  “What’s the plan?” Dar was calling back to Janet. “We need to do anything?”

  They could hear the roar of whitewater now in the distance. Janet squirmed up between the two rows, looking more than harried. “Okay, so.” She looked past them. “We’re going to steer hard near the inside wall there, and just ride the right-hand side through the rapids. It’ll be fine,” she said. “Just hold on tight.”

  The raft started into the bend and both Rich and Dave paddled like mad men, with seemingly little effect. Ira was at the back left corner pushing with his pole, and as they came around the corner they could see what the issue was.

  It was a short stretch of river between them and the next bend ahead, which was visibly lower than they were. The water was racing and bubbling, and in the center of the passage was a craggy island of rock. On the right side, a relatively smooth path, but on the left, it went into a whirlpool that was all white and green.

  “Eh,” Kerry uttered.

  “Ho boy.” Dar straightened up and released her. She took hold of the paddle that almost fell in the motion of the raft.

  “Need some help!” Rich hollered. “We gotta get to the wall!”

  Dar got out from behind the framing and scrambled down onto the back of the middle pontoon, immediately soaked as a wash of river water came over the front of the raft. She ignored it and plunged the paddle into the water, pulling to her right as hard as she could.

  Moments later, Kerry was on the pontoon next to her, the paddle she’d grabbed from Sally in her hands, and right after that Don was on the third, and they were all pitching in.

  The raft plunged right down the middle, and hesitated, between two flows, slid sideways as voices raised in alarm. Dar lifted herself and splayed forward, digging into the river as deeply as she could as the water came over her.

  Ira jumped to the side of the raft and hooked a leg around one of the supports, reached out with his pole. He heaved at the last second possible and let out a yell. With a hitch the raft swirled in a circle and took the right path.