Bonsai Hunting

"Look," Aya said pointing into the water. A huge snapping turtle slowly swam off.

We came to a pool lined with reeds. "Drop the anchor," I said to Aya. "You my dear lady, are going to fish." She looked at me with anxiety in her face.

"Aya, I seriously doubt that we'll find the same size pike here. In this creek there will only be little pike and suckers. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Suckers?"

"Little bottom feeders."

I showed her how to set the spinning reel to cast, how to let go of the line with her finger and how to direct the lure to where she wanted it to go. After a few comical moments she did get the hang of it, although there were a few where I was a little concerned for my own personal safety. A Rapala earring is not exactly my fashion style. Nevertheless with her thrashing about in the boat, the fish were long ago spooked. She didn't catch anything. We moved on. The basics had been learned.

We saw a Great Blue Heron standing majestically at the edge of the creek. He eyed us suspiciously as Aya snapped a picture of him with her point and shoot camera.

We putted along. We made a slow sweeping turn, now off of my map, into a bit of a swamp that stretched back to my left. I angled the boat into reeds and killed the engine. Aya looked at me, clearly puzzled.

"Pick up your binoculars Aya." She did. "Turn around."

"Oh my god," she said. Not more than a hundred and fifty feet from us was a massive bull moose. His rack must have been five feet across. He was huge! He was watching us intently as we watched him. Slowly he waded through the water which was half way up his long legs, munching water lilies the whole time. He never took his eyes off of us. We didn't take our eyes off of him. He was magnificent. Eventually he made his way out of the swamp and climbed up into the forest, then disappeared.

Aya was dumbstruck. I know my heart was pounding after the encounter. Aya pulled her little point and shoot camera from her pocket.

"I didn't even think to take a picture," she said.

"Neither did I. Wasn't that awesome?"

"My God, what a beautiful animal."

"Something else isn't it?"

We sat there in silence contemplating what had just happened. I said to Aya, "I find it amazing that a moose can walk through the forest with those antlers and not get caught up in the trees."

"That is odd isn't it? But clearly he's in his element." I was a little surprised at Aya's retort, she was getting tuned into the environment.

"I've never seen a moose walk through a forest, but I've seen one run."

"Run?"

"It was amazing Aya, he just put his head down and ran. Branches were flying everywhere. Nothing was going to stop him. But I still can't figure how he can just walk through."

Aya picked up her fishing rod and stood up. "Shhhh," she whispered with a smirk on her face. I covered my ears as she cast the smaller, four inch Rapala along the weed bed edge. She made a great cast and clicked the reel into place like a pro.

Nothing, then within three revolutions of reeling it in -- splash!

"Ahhhh!"

"Set the hook!" She whacked the rod back, probably too hard. The fish was on. I could see the end of the rod bouncing up and down. Aya was freaking out.

"Ahhhh! What do I do? Ahhh!"

"Reel it in Aya. Reel it in."

Aya was bouncing up and down in the boat. She was like a little girl. I could see by the bend in the rod that it was just a little fish, but it was all too priceless. In a fury she reeled it in. Suddenly the fish was out of the water and dangling on the end of her line. It was a skinny little pike about eighteen inches long, at best. Twisting and gyrating off the end of the line. I had to duck not to get slapped on the side of the head with it.

"What do I doooo?" The wiggly fish seemed to be doing laps around our heads as she held on to the rod with both hands. "Ro-aaaab!"

I knew what to do. I couldn't help myself. I climbed forward towards Aya in the rocking little boat. I just missed the fish and the lure as it swung by, then grabbed Aya's tits through her jacket with both hands.

"Stop it! Stop it! Not now!" Aya tried to wiggle free of my hands. The fish hit me in the back of the head then got hooked to the back of my windbreaker jacket collar. I was attached to the fish, which was wiggling, with sharp hooks, on the back of my neck, which was attached to Aya by rod and reel. I was attached to her tits, but more for stability than anything else at that point.

"What are you doing Rob! Stop it!" I was seriously questioning my sanity. Aya sat down on the seat, pulled the rod up and reeled me and the pike in further. The line tightened. I was standing with my jacket pulled right up to my nose. The fish flopped around on top of my head. She broke out in a fit of laughter.

It wasn't funny.

I pulled the windbreaker and pike over my head and off. Before I had a chance to grab hold of them Aya had both the pike and jacket swinging around our heads. She was in hysterics, laughing and couldn't control the rod. Finally I managed to capture my jacket just before it and the pike landed up in the water. I had the little pike swimming back in the water in no time.

"You should have seen your face Rob!" She was holding her belly laughing; tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Fish head, fish head!"

I started laughing too as I tried to unhook the lure from my jacket. I must have been quite the sight.

"Ohhh I caught a big one!" she was gagging, rolling on her seat.

I couldn't get the lure off, I was laughing too hard.

"What kind of fish was it Rob?" she was gasping in hysterics. "Did I catch a sucker?"

"Ahhhhhh!" Tears were streaming down my face. My chest was hurting.

"Are you...a bottom feeder Rob?"

"Ahhhhhh!" I needed air. "I'll eat yours!" I spurted out before I totally lost it.

We were both sprawled out in the boat, unable to control ourselves laughing. I still couldn't get the lure out of my jacket. It was a long, long while until we were able to get control of ourselves.

"Let's go Aya," I fired up the motor, wiping tears from my face.

We putted along up the creek.

We came across a boggy area with a cluster of bare slender trees extending down from the forest to the bog. At the very edge were quite a number of young trees.

"Larch trees Aya, do you want to get some?"

"Are they dead?" Always the same with Aya.

"No, they're just not in leaf yet. Excellent bonsai material Aya. Larix laricina also known as Tamarack. The leaves grow in clusters that resemble needles. But with an overall soft appearance."

She didn't answer.

"Have you ever considered doing a group planting?" I asked.

She was very unsure. It was boggy. I angled the boat towards the little larch and gunned the engine. We landed up right in the middle of a small patch. They stood between a foot tall and continued up in height to fully mature trees up the bank. Out of the bonsai backpack I pulled out my fold-up camping shovel and the long handled pruning shears. Collecting was relatively easy. I showed Aya how to pull on the thin trunk, while stabbing the bog below the roots with the shovel to free the trees. Several needed a quick root clip with the shears. With some careful angle runs in and out of the bog we managed to collect eleven little trees. The tallest was perhaps four foot high, but most were about three. Aya did most of the work as she was at the front of the boat. I slipped a plastic shopping bag around each wet root ball.

Aya was grinning at her catch, which piled together in the center of the boat, was a huge mound of tangled branches.

We putted along for another hour or two simply taking in the scenery. Occasionally I would make a cast or two along a reed bed or off a boulder. Aya graciously declined all my invitations for her to cast. It was simply a nice tour up a pristine boreal forest creek. We would catch the odd breeze here and there and as we motored along, the sun actually poked through between clouds several times instantly warming the air. Eventually we came up to the waterfall that Henri had referred to. He was correct, there was no way to go further. The water fall was only three foot high, but above it, it was all rapids.

"This is it?" Aya asked, "This is Bridal Veil Falls?" She had an incredulous look on her face.

I let the boat drift back. "No apparently not." I had missed the feeder stream to left and had to in fact search it out. The boat barely made it through the low brush that was the so called feeder stream. "It's up this way." I had to stand at the back of the boat with the tiller throttle angled up to see a clear way through. Aya sat at the front of the boat with the paddle in hand, pushing away the odd log. The feeder stream basically meandered through a large bog.

I was very dubious about the whole venture, as I'm sure Aya was too. The feeder stream varied in width from about ten feet wide to just barely wide enough to get the boat through.

One thing I did notice which seemed very odd given the overall boggy environment, the water was flowing towards us at a good rate. I had to fight the current.

And we had to jump beaver dams. Eight of them. Those were an adventure in themselves. With a little practice Aya and I managed to perfect the technique. Aya would sit at the back of the boat with me, easing the bow up a little. I would gun the engine giving us as much momentum as possible. As the dam passed under the boat Aya would scramble forwards through the larch patch shifting the weight from the stern of the boat as I simultaneously lifted the engine propeller out of the water. It was a challenge but we managed.

Not only that, but it was a hell of a lot of fun too. With each successful beaver dam jump we each high fived our efforts. Aya was quite the trooper through it all. I admired her verve. And of course her cute ass on the aluminium seat.

Henri had said that when we got to a point where we couldn't go any further that there was a large rock on the right where we can land the boat. We had to take a narrow path up the rock for about a quarter mile before we reached the falls.

We couldn't go further, the water was swirling too fast and it appeared we had reached the end of the bog area. Sure enough there was a large rock on the right. We landed the boat, tied it securely and grabbed what we needed. Henkell Trocken, the lunch that Aya made, a small blue tarp and a few other items which I normally carry including the EpiPen.

Aya was just a step or two ahead of me as we made our way up the lichen covered path. I was able to answer the rhetorical question to myself 'does a bear shit in the woods?' In fact I was able to answer that question several times. I didn't mention anything to Aya about it. We continued to trundle along the path with our packs, the sun had come out again and I was getting warm in my clothes layers.

"Oh my god!" Aya exclaimed. Suddenly the waterfall was right in front of us. It was huge, roaring, glistening white. We both stood there with our jaws dropped, speechless staring at the spectacle.

Bridal Veil Falls had to be thirty foot wide and fifty foot high. Countless logs had slipped over the falls and had lodged themselves below at varying heights. Each log stump would cause the falling water to splash into a white froth. Together, the undulating white froths created an overall effect that did resemble a splayed out white bridal veil. The sun hitting it made the cascades glisten and shimmer before us.

I realized why the current was moving so swiftly in the feeder stream, the waterfall was huge!

About fifty feet further on we found a perfect place to sit and spread the blue picnic tarp while watching the falls. We were so close to it that some of the spray from the falls would occasionally hit us when the breeze shifted, but not so close that we would get wet, or be in peril of falling into the swirling water below.

There we sat in front of one of nature's majestic jewels, deep inside the boreal forest, unreachable except for a few weeks during the spring and unseen but for a few lucky souls. There we sat, Aya and I, as we sipped bubbly, cool, Henkell Trocken wine from the martini glasses and nibbled on little smoked salmon hors d'oeuvres each topped with slivered shallot and sprinkled with capers. Aya squeezed a little lime onto mine.

"Sorry we used up the lemon last night," she said smiling.

"Sorry?" I asked, I'm sure with astonishment in my voice, "this couldn't be better Aya. It's like a dream."

Next in Aya's bento box lunch was a layer of mini sandwiches made with cucumber, chopped green onion and cream cheese, just ever so slightly salted. Those were followed by fresh strawberries served on paper napkins.

Where did she get all this stuff?

We sat on the tarp, naturally softened by the lichen below it, facing the falls with our glasses of bubbly in one hand, the other arm draped around the other's waist.

I watched Aya as she watched the waterfall. I think she watched me too.

We kissed. It was a warm kiss. Not hot and full of passion. But a kiss that said, 'thank you' to each other. A kiss that said, 'thank you for being here to share this magical moment'. A kiss that said, thank you to fate, or to God for putting us together at that place, at that time. A kiss that said, 'I don't want this moment to ever end.'

It was at that precise moment that I realized I had fallen in love with Aya.

I put my empty glass down into the lichen and nestled hers down next to it. I turned to her a little and picked up both of her hands in mine. The red nail polish on her slender fingers was a little chipped at the edges. I kissed her hands. She smiled at me. We gazed in each other's eyes.

"Aya, I love you."

Tears immediately rolled down her cheeks.

"I love you," she barely managed before planting her wet tearful lips onto mine. That kiss was hot and passionate. We pulled each other together with our arms. Our tongues danced against each other I lay her down, missing the tarp with her head. Her hair became entangled with the grey-green reindeer lichen. She couldn't be more beautiful.

She started giggling as I hovered atop of her, our lips barely touching. I was giddy too. My heart was filled with joy as I held her in my arms.

"You're not like other guys Rob," she whispered.

"You're not like other girls Aya." I kissed her again as she pulled me towards her.

We lay in each other's arms, half on the tarp, half off, whispering how much we loved each other and giggling to each other, while the waterfall continued to roar behind us, sending a cool, light spray onto us.

A few minutes later we realized that the reason we seemed to be getting wetter and wetter as we lay there kissing was because it had started to lightly rain.

"Okay that's it," I said as I pulled her from the lichen carpet.

We both pulled bits of lichen from her black hair as she said, "I'm never going to forget this place Rob. Never."

We both smiled at each other and gazed at the water fall.

"I've got to pee," she announced and started making her way to a clump of trees behind us.

Remembering the bear poo, I stood up quickly and said, "I'm coming too."

"It's okay Rob, I can do this by myself."

"I'm sure you can Aya, but I'm still coming with you." She looked at me funny as I followed her.

I peed facing the other way, into the bush as Aya squatted with her pants around her ankles. She found a tissue in her pocket. She had a very suspicious look on her face as she zipped up her pants.

"I'll explain later," I said.

Jumping beaver dams was much easier going with the current. Plus, our trip to the falls had softened each of the structures somewhat. We put on our raingear just as we made it back to the main creek.

"Why did you insist on going with me to pee?"

"There was bear poo everywhere."

She thought for a moment then said, "I'm glad you didn't tell me."

"Mmmm."

We passed a little birch that I hadn't noticed on the trip up the creek. I put the engine into reverse. Aya swung around on the seat holding her gloved hands out, "What is it?"

I eased the boat to the bank and killed the engine. "This little birch."

"What about it?"

"Look at it Aya. It's got great potential. The original trunk is long gone, no doubt eaten by beaver." I managed to climb out of the boat and onto the bank. I gave the trunk a shake. It moved. "See this white trunk here," I said holding onto a branch about fourteen inches long, "A birch doesn't get the white bark on it until it's twenty or twenty five years old. See how it's been successively chewed by beaver?"

The entire shrub was perhaps four foot high and four foot in diameter. The buds were starting to swell. With the fold up shovel and a little work I managed to dig it and a lot of the root ball out. Aya sat and watched from the boat. The whole process took about twenty minutes.

As I bundled plastic around the root ball I explained to Aya, "In Chinese bonsai, or penjing there is a cultivation method called 'lingnan'. Literally 'grow and clip'. The results are quite dramatic producing gnarled and twisted trees. The Chinese don't try to hide a tree's natural scars, they accentuate them." Aya was watching me intently. "Mr. Beaver has been letting this tree grow and then comes along and clips it. That's been going on for decades."

I stuffed the birch into the boat alongside the larches.

We arrived back at the highway and the pick-up truck about five o'clock in the rain. An hour later everything was stowed away. I left the boat on the trailer.

"Martinis?" Aya asked with a grin on her face as we entered the cabin with the last of our gear.

"We finished the gin yesterday. How 'bout a glass of Beaujolais?"

Aya gave me two thumbs up. Luckily I had brought enough firewood in the previous night. Everything was soaked outside. Aya brought two wine glasses and some paper napkins as I fished the bottle out of the make-shift mini bar and opened it, pouring us two tall glasses. She sat on the couch with her knees crossed as I lit the Franklin stove.

"Ro-ab?"

"Ay-ah?" I was getting the hang of it now.

"Did you mean it, what you said?" Her voice was plaintive, a little unsteady.

"Of course I did Aya," my tongue was firmly in my cheek. "Lingnan styled bonsai can be very dramatic."

"Not that," a scrunched up paper napkin hit the side of my head.

I sat on the couch next to her and picked up my wine glass, she was staring at me with an incredulous expression.

I grinned. "Aya, I didn't think I would ever fall in love again. But I did, with you. Yes I meant it. With all my heart." Her arm reached out to me, her chipped red fingernails scratched me behind my ear. She smiled but she also looked as if she was about to cry.

"Don't be crying on me Aya."

"I'm sorry," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek, "say it again."

"I love you Aya." Tears poured from her. I put my wineglass down.

"Aya, why are you crying?"

"Because I'm so happy, that's why. You have no idea how long it's been. For eight years I had to live a lie. I wasn't really happy. And now for the first time in my life I can turn to my family and say, this is Rob, this is the man I love. And he loves me."

I thought I was about to cry too.

I leant over to Aya and put my hand on her thigh. She uncrossed her knees. "Aya can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," she said, still sobbing.

I moved my hand to her pussy, "What's for dessert?"

She whacked me on the back of my head, "Stop it...you're just like every other guy!"

I rolled off the couch onto the floor and quickly recovered, I positioned myself on the floor between Aya's knees. I rubbed each thigh with my hands as I gazed up into her teary brown eyes. "You are unlike any girl I've ever met."

She grinned at me.

"I think I need more lesbian lessons."