by Robin Roseau
"Sorry."
I made everyone practice that, both tipping their kayaks and helping someone right theirs. Only two people let go of their paddles, but they floated and were quickly retrieved.
"You guys can try this next one if you want," I said. "But it takes practice." I nodded to Elisabeth. She paddled a short distance away, flipped her kayak, and then attempted to right it herself. It took her three attempts, but she got it. "Nice job, Elisabeth." I waited for her to pump out her kayak. "Help me with this now if you would, Elisabeth." I flipped and immediately exited, popping to the surface. Elisabeth paddled over and I explained what we were doing.
I righted my kayak in the water, and Elisabeth paddled to the front end, her kayak forming a T against mine. I swam to the front of her kayak and steadied it. Elisabeth reached down, grabbed my kayak by the handle, and pulled it across hers. She flipped it over, tipping the water out of it, then set it back in the water.
"Lara, go to the other side and stead Elisabeth's kayak." I waited until she was in place, then with Elisabeth steadying mine, and Lara steadying Elisabeth's, I climbed back in, slipping into the cockpit.
"We're not going to practice that," I said. They laughed. I told them to wait where they were, bringing Elisabeth with me. We retrieved the fishing gear and food from shore, storing everything in our kayaks. And then we began our tour of the waterfront.
We paddled around in front of Bayfield for a half hour before I was sure everyone knew how to paddle properly and they could be trusted not to screw around. After that, we left the harbor. There was only a light breeze, and this portion of the lake was sheltered. Everyone rode the very light waves very well. We pointed our kayaks north and proceeded up the shore.
At first, everyone stayed clustered together, but the further we paddled, the more obvious it became the wolves were bored with the pace one little fox was setting. As a were, even as small as I was, I was strong compared to a human, but tiny, so my speed over the water was significant. We had traveled much further than a human would have paddled. But I was close compared to the wolves, and they were growing bored. They began screwing around. I sighed.
Lara looked over at me. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"Probably." I looked at Elisabeth. "Paddle ahead of us, two hundred yards, and stop. Everyone else stay here."
She nodded and really set her paddle into the water, shooting ahead of us. When I deemed the distance was good, I told Lara, "That's far enough." She whistled loudly, and Elisabeth came to a stop, turning around to face us.
"All right, time to race." Four wolf ears perked right up. "From here, past Elisabeth, and back here. Contact with Elisabeth's boat is a forfeit. Two at a time."
"Me and June," Rory said immediately. I looked at her and she nodded.
We got them lined up and I said, "The alpha will call the start and the winner."
"Three, two, one, go!" Lara said immediately. Both of them dug their paddles in and set off.
Damn! They were fast. Sloppy, but fast. June settled into a cleaner pace sooner than Rory did, and she was turned around and heading back a second or two ahead of Rory. Halfway back, it was clear she was a boat length or so ahead, but Rory was really pulling hard on the water.
I had thought that I would race as well. My style was significantly better than anyone else here, and that was an advantage. I also had a sleeker kayak than the ones they were using, a better paddle, and due to my size, I rode lighter in the water. But no way did I have the upper body strength I'd just seen June display.
June flashed between my boat and Lara's, Rory a half length behind her.
"The win to June," Lara declared. The winner raised her paddle in victory. From across the water, Elisabeth offered a wolf call to celebrate the win.
"David and Lara next," I declared. "Rory, if you can paddle wide of their path, please head down and replace Elisabeth. Tell her to conserve her strength."
Lara and David lined up. I called the start and they were off. David took an instant lead, but they were neck and neck when they turned around, and Lara won by a small amount. Both of them were breathing hard and grinning. With Rory now at the other end, Elisabeth followed them at a sedate pace.
I made everyone run multiple races, watching them tire themselves out. The men all relied on brute strength. The women did, as well, although their style was better than the men's. Finally, when everyone had raced everyone, and I saw a lot of heavy breathing and people working out stiff shoulder muscles, I said, "Last race. Lara and me." She had just raced Elisabeth, and they had both been very competitive about it. "Call the start, Elisabeth."
I was already set to go and was hoping Elisabeth would call the start before Lara was even ready, but she waited for the alpha to line up and nod to her before getting us started.
I paddled firmly but easily, maintaining a crisp clean track through the water. Lara relied on her strength. By the time we reached David, serving as the turning point, Lara was ahead by a half boat. I did a crisp reversal whereas Lara's was sloppy, and I gained a full boat length on her during the turn.
"Damn it!" she said from behind me. I could tell from the sounds that she put renewed energy into winning the race.
But she was just a wolf, and I was the fox. I waited until I saw the bow of her boat out of the corner of my right eye and began edging towards the right. "Don't run me over," I told her. "The passing boat is responsible for passing cleanly."
She continued to gain on me, and I continued to edge her further towards the right. Soon we faced towards the shore rather than the finish line.
"What are you doing?" she asked me.
"Playing to win, Alpha."
I knew the moment she dug a paddle in to turn towards the finish instead of being pushed closer to shore. I turned faster, and her boat dropped behind my peripheral vision again. I'd regained the lead I'd had from the turnaround.
This time, she came up on my left side. As soon as I saw her boat, I turned further to the left. She realized it right away and she swore at me.
I pushed her slightly left, but we only had fifty yards to go, and I turned immediately towards the finish. Elisabeth and June were marking the finish, and Lara and I would need to pass between their boats. I aimed my boat on a line that would take me very near Elisabeth's boat with no room for Lara to pass between me and Elisabeth. With twenty yards to go, she had almost caught up to me before she realized what I was doing.
"You fox!" Lara yelled.
"Don't hit anyone," I yelled back.
Seconds later I flashed across the finish line. Lara narrowly missed Elisabeth's boat on the wrong side.
"The cheating little fox won," Elisabeth declared.
Lara and I came to a stop well past the others. I paddled over to her. "Are you angry with me?" I asked her.
Panting, she shook her head. "No. You just demonstrated why I want you around. You didn't win on strength, you won by being more clever."
I grinned at her. "That was hardly clever."
"So you had more tricks up your sleeves?"
"Sure. I didn't even have to tip your boat over."
"Oh, like this?" and then she reached over and leaned on the edge of my cockpit. I counter balanced, and she suddenly straightened, pulling up on the cockpit of my boat, flipping me over.
She'd caught me completely by surprise.
I did an Eskimo roll, but just before I was fully upright, Lara used her paddle against my side to roll me back upside down. She did it twice more, and I hung from my boat, out of breath, then reached up and tapped the bottom of my boat several times. I felt her grab my wrist, and she gently pulled me upright. I came up, sputtering.
Once upright, I saw that Elisabeth had moved closer and was hovering nearby, ready to assist if I'd needed it. She saw I was all right and then said, "I should have warned you, Michaela. My little sister is a poor loser."
"Naw," I said. "She just needed to reassert her dominance. She keeps forgetting I am outside the pack hi
erarchy." I began paddling slowly, taking us to my favorite fishing spot. The wolves had burnt off quite a bit of their excess energy, but it wasn't long before they were paddling circles around me or challenging each other to additional races. Lara held herself aloof from all of it but after a while paddled up next to me.
"Does it bother you?" she asked me.
"Does what?"
"The reason I tipped you over."
I laughed. "No. It bothers me I have to reign in the paybacks."
"Paybacks? Like what?"
"Hmm," I said. I glanced over at her and frowned.
"What?"
"Something is wrong with your paddle. Let me see it, please."
Without even thinking about it, she handed me her paddle. I grinned and immediately paddled away from her. It took her a few seconds to realize I'd left her stranded, out in the lake without a paddle, and she began laughing.
"Who wants to race Lara now?" I asked, loud enough for the other wolves to hear. Four wolves and one fox grinned at the alpha as she bobbed alone in the big lake.
"Rory," she said in a clear voice. "Give me your paddle." She used her alpha voice, and Rory immediately paddled over to her, relinquishing his paddle to her. Lara grinned at me.
"Point to the fox," Elisabeth said in a clear voice. "Half a point to the alpha. The fox is up two to one and a half."
"How do you figure that, Elisabeth?" asked Lara.
"Point for winning the race. I am tempted to add a half point for how she won, but that finish was a little dangerous. You got a half point for tipping her over and another half point making her ask for help."
"Another point to the fox for taking us kayaking," June yelled out.
"I thought about that," Elisabeth yelled back. "But she lost that point for practically making me airsick on the way here."
After that, the bantering went back and forth, with Lara and I gaining and losing points as fast as the wolves could come up with reasons for them. Finally I broke my own silence. "All I can say is, I'm glad the points started this morning and not last night."
There was gentle laughter at that. "Why not last night?"
"Ten points to the fox for making Elisabeth submit to her," Lara immediately declared.
That earned a round of laughter amidst Elisabeth's declarations she hadn't submitted to me, she'd submitted to Lara. Then Elisabeth asked, "But why not last night's points, little fox? Seems like you're way ahead."
"How many points is a deer kill?" I asked.
"Not as much as first kill for the pack," Lara declared immediately.
"Oh yeah," David said. "First kill is always a big deal. And you didn't even share in it. Did you go off and find four more for yourself?"
"It wasn't my first kill," I said.
"First kill for pack," David said.
"I'm not pack," I said.
"That's not what Lara says," Elisabeth said.
"Shut up, Elisabeth," Lara said immediately.
The two of them glared at each other, and I interjected. "I'm not pack. But how about friend of the pack?"
Lara looked at me for a moment, then smiled. "For now, I'll accept that."
Rory hadn't been involved in the banter. Instead, he'd been paddling rapidly around the group of kayaks. I had kept track of him with my ears. I heard him coast, then I heard the sound of a life vest being taken off and a wet suit zipper sliding down.
"Rory," I said. "Freeze right now!"
"I'm hot," he complained.
"I said freeze, Rory!"
He ignored me.
I turned my boat to face him. "Zip that back up and put that life jacket back on," I ordered.
He ignored me and unzipped his wet suit until it hung open. I sighed and looked at Lara.
"If he has to bail out, it just went from no big deal to potentially life threatening."
"I can swim," he said.
I paddled over to him. "You're hot?" I asked him. He nodded.
So I tipped him into the cold lake and paddled away from him so he couldn't tip me over when he came up. He paddle went one direction, his life vest in another, and he didn't appear.
I sat back and waited. An arm came up, and he rapped the bottom of his kayak.
"Leave off, Elisabeth," I said quietly. I'd heard her begin to paddle to assist.
I waited, and he rapped again. Elisabeth started forward, but I heard Lara tell her, "Let the fox handle this."
He rapped again, and David began paddling forward. "No," said the alpha.
Finally Rory did what he should have done as soon as his first request for help went unanswered. He exited his boat and came up next to it, sputtering. He looked over at me, glaring. He treaded water, not smart enough to use his overturned kayak for flotation.
"You are wondering why I didn't help you," I told him quietly. "I didn't help you because I didn't know you wouldn't come up swinging at me."
"You didn't have to tip me over," he said. He began panting, and his lips were beginning to turn blue.
"Still hot?"
"Freezing," he said.
"Enjoying treading water?"
"Not particularly."
"You've never been swimming in Lake Superior before," I said. "How's the water?"
"Fucking freezing. Are you going to help me?" He looked to Lara. "Alpha?"
"The fox is in charge, Rory," Lara said quietly.
"Let me know when you get tired, Rory,"
"I'm already tired," he said.
"There is a very large flotation device three feet from you. Why don't you use it?"
He looked around, looking for his lifejacket, ignoring the boat. "Where?"
"The boat, Rory. Do you notice it is floating?"
I heard June snicker and Lara shushed her. Rory paddled over to his boat and draped across it.
"How deep is it out here?" he asked me.
"About a hundred and fifty feet. Anything over ten and it doesn't matter, does it?"
"Are you going to help me or do I have to swim for shore?"
I looked to the west. "I don't think you'll get that far, but if you do, I don't think you can climb that cliff." It was a sheer drop to the water. "Your teeth are chattering, what are you going to do about it?"
"Michaela," he said through chattering teeth. "Please help me or let the alpha do it."
"You'll stay warmer if you zip your wetsuit back up, Rory."
He struggled with it, but he managed to zip it all the way back up. His teeth were still chattering, and I knew it would be a while before he was warm. I also knew he wouldn't last in the water much longer.
"Rory, we're past the point of screwing around. Do I have to worry you'll do something to me if I help?"
"No, Michaela. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry."
"Elisabeth, I need you," I said. "David, can you collect the errant paddle and life vest?"
"I've got the vest," June said.
It took Elisabeth and I working together, but we got Rory's kayak flipped over and him back safely inside his boat. He sat there, panting and shivering for a while. He put the life jacket back on and accepted his paddle from David. Once the drama was over, Lara paddled closely to me. I turned to her and mouthed a "thank you". She nodded.
"Do I need to worry about revenge?" I asked her.
"No. He can be thick headed, but he forgives quickly."
I nodded to her, then paddled away and slipped between Rory and the rest of the crowd. I peeled him away from the pack and asked him, once we were far enough no one else would hear, "Are we okay?"
"Yes, little fox," he said. "But I wouldn't have hit you."
"I needed you to understand how cold the lake is, and how fast you can get tired, even a strong wolf like you."
"What should I have done?"
In response, I opened my wetsuit zipper a few inches then used the hand pump to pump some cold water into the wet suit. It felt nice. David saw me do it, and soon everyone was filling their suit with some lake water.
* * * *
We arrived at my favorite fishing spot. Elisabeth and I passed out fishing gear, and soon three wolves were casting their lines. Then we passed out the food we'd brought. I even found someone had made fox sized snacks. I appreciated that. With a little food inside me, I wet my own line.
We caught some fish. "Those are lunch," I said. "We can grill them back at my house later. If we don't catch enough, someone can run to the store for steaks."
"And beer," Elisabeth suggested.
We fished for an hour, Lara staying near my side the entire time. We talked quietly and watched the other wolves tease each other.
"This was a great idea, Michaela," Lara told me. "This is the most fun I've had in a long time."
"Will they be tired out by the time we get back, or do I need to give them some more exercise."
"This snack isn't going to hold them very long. We'll need lunch. But a little more exercise would be good."
I nodded. "Okay, guys. As much fun as this is, I think we should pack it up. Who is ready for one long race?"
We stowed the gear. I looked between all the boats, then attached the stringer of fish to the back of Lara's boat. Elisabeth grinned at me. I'd just given the alpha a handicap. Lara didn't realize it right away. I led everyone further away from shore and pointed.
"Everyone see that rock? About two more miles? The race is to that rock. That's where we turn around. Do not go past it. Call the start, alpha."
"Ready, go!" she yelled and was the first to dig her paddle in.
I didn't even try to race but instead set a comfortable pace. I was just letting the wolves wear themselves out again. They all pulled away from me, Lara falling behind them. Ten pounds of fish dangling off the back of a kayak is almost as good as an anchor.
She turned around and gave me a dirty look, then let me catch up to her.
"Not fair," she told me.
"I thought we'd paddle together," I replied.
I didn't see who won. I figured Elisabeth would keep an eye on them, and they were way too far away from me to see how it ended. But when Lara and I pulled to within a few hundred yards of the finish, I saw that David and Rory had set themselves another race.