Rainbow River

I could literally feel my body decompress. I was hooked. I'd have to thank Beverly for her advice to get out there and experience the world around me again. When I made it down to where the Rainbow River met with the Withlacoochee River, the current picked up substantially. No problem for me. I was fit and the kayak I had purchased easily cut through the current. I was enjoying this immensely. I'd spent most of the day out on the water, unsure of the number of miles I must have traveled.

After I had paddled back home and pulled the kayak out of the river, I cleaned up and then fired up my grill. I threw on a steak and uncorked a bottle of my favorite red. I took my dinner down to the picnic table I had down on the dock and finished my day taking in the pristine beauty. It should come as no surprise that when my head hit the pillow that night, I went out like a light. Best part about it was that I was so tired that the nightmares about my failed marriage I usually suffered in the dead of the night never came. I'd need to report this success to my therapist.

Over the next few months I became more and more familiar with traversing both rivers and their tributaries. I discovered so many beautiful vistas as I explored. I even found a private cove with a small beach surrounded by flowering plants and shrubs. I often came there to relax and escape from the rest of the world. The clear pond of the cove was refreshing during the hot, humid months of summer. It quickly became my favorite place to stop.

-- Rebecca --

We weren't 5 minutes into Rainbow Springs State Park when my 7 year old son, Jason, ran as fast as he could toward the boat house.

"Mom! Mom! Please! Can we go out on the water? I want to paddle a boat!" yelled Jason.

"I don't think you're old enough," I replied.

The attendant, who I'm sure meant well, piped up, "We have kayaks and life jackets for kids. We've had many children younger than him paddle their own kayak with no issue."

"Please Mom! Please! He says I can do it!" pleaded Jason once more.

I wasn't convinced. "Jason, what would I do with your sister? Kelly is only 4, she can't handle her own kayak."

"Ma'am, we have tandem kayaks. You and your daughter can ride the tandem and your son can take a single," offered the attendant.

"I don't know," I hemmed and hawed. "I don't think my son can do this."

"Let me set him up here at the dock and we can see if he can handle this," he said.

"Mom! Please! I want to!" yelled Jason again.

"Okay," I said warily. "Let's see how you do at the dock." The attendant spoke to me as he outfitted Jason for the ride, trying to assure me that kids do this all the time and the current in the river was quite slow. If he was a good swimmer he shouldn't have any problems.

Once Jason was outfitted and in his kayak, the attendant pushed him out into the pool beyond the dock. After a quick instruction, it seemed like Jason had control of his boat. Maybe I was just being too much of a worrier. But can you blame me? Jason's father, Kirk, had died in a jet ski accident just over 3 years ago.

I wasn't even there when it happened. Kelly was still an infant. I was so mad at Kirk for leaving me home again with the baby while he went out to have fun with his friends. I was overwhelmed and I lashed out at him as he went to leave. If I had only known it would be the last time we'd ever speak to each other.

Kirk always had to be the first and the best at everything. Problem was he was always trying to do things so over the top, he had more than his fair share of accidents. He'd wreck our cars street racing and had a bad motorcycle accident trying to weave in and out of traffic. It seemed the cops had his number too, he lost his license more than once for too many speeding tickets. It made my life hell. Even having children didn't settle his ass down. Our marriage was a constant battle of him causing trouble and me trying to fix it for our family. It was like I had three children. Scratch that, two children and one very overgrown, uncontrollable child.

All his risk taking caught up to him that day. He was trying to show off to his friends as they would try to jump the large wakes from passing boats on the intercoastal. The story, as it was told to me, was that he headed toward a rather large boat that was probably speeding on the river, leaving a particularly large wake. He hit it at full speed, launching him into the sky. He never saw the other boat just on the other side of the wake. His jet ski flipped in mid-air and he crashed down onto the deck and railing of the passing craft. His jet ski crashed on top of him, crushed him and tore off his leg.

He had lost too much blood by the time the boat was able to bring him to shore. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital and they tried to save him, but he was too far gone. I found out he had died several hours later when I was notified by the authorities. None of his friends could bring themselves to call me with the bad news. I had to wait until I could get my children to sleep before I could break down and begin to mourn him. I sobbed all night into my pillow.

It wasn't long before things got even worse for me. First the jet ski company came after us. Kirk broke the safety rules he'd signed. I was now responsible for the cost of a new jet ski. Then the hospital started sending medical bills. Kirk was in-between jobs and had let our medical lapse. It was a nightmare. Then the owner of the boat he crashed into sued us. I was at my wits end when I found out that he had also missed payments on his life insurance.

Here I was, a young widow with children, no resources, no family in the area, a mortgage payment due and lawsuits everywhere I turned. It was all too much. I declared bankruptcy, dusted off my teaching degree, got a job and moved across the state into a small apartment that I could afford.

I did nothing but work, eat, and take care of my kids. Being the single parent of a 4 year old boy and 1 year old girl at the time, meant that I didn't get to sleep much at all. I did everything I could to soften the blow to my children of losing their dad. Kelly wouldn't even remember him, but Jason did. No matter how much love and care I poured into Jason, I couldn't fill the hole his father had left behind.

I was still wary as I donned my life jacket and nestled Kelly into her seat on the tandem kayak, but the calm crystal clear water looked soothing. Jason was getting impatient already, he wanted to get moving down river. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. These weren't jet skis and there weren't any wakes. We set out from the dock for our journey.

Kelly was having fun laughing at the ducks as they quacked next to our boat. The ducks looked like they were visiting everyone around us. The river was pretty busy with boats and kayaks going to and fro. I had to keep an eye on Jason, yelling at him to stay close whenever he started to wander off.

Even though Kelly and I pretty much paddled a straight line, Jason zig-zagged everywhere. He loved chasing the turtles off the logs and rocks along the shore. He'd speed up everytime he saw one. More than once I had to make sure he would watch where he was going. I had to apologize to a few boaters.

We had been on the water for a good bit of time and I wanted to turn back. I was getting tired and we still needed to paddle upstream to return the rented kayaks. I slowed down to begin to turn around.

"Jason! We need to turn around now and go back!" I yelled.

"I don't want to go back!" protested Jason. Just like any 7 year old, he showed his displeasure by sprinting off in the opposite direction.

"Jason!...No!...Come back!...Oh my god!...

-- Bryan --

I was on my way back up the Withlacoochee River after a long day of paddling. It had been significantly harder to move around out on the river due to the sheer number of people out and about. I normally didn't go out on the river on the weekends because of all the 'amateurs' that would be boating, but I really needed to clear my mind. Work had been getting on my nerves. The river was my only solace.

When I reached the fork for the Rainbow River, I started to make the turn. I was alarmed as I realized a kayak was barreling toward me. The young boy at the helm had his head turned behind him. He was yelling at someone but not looking where he was going. He must not have noticed that the stronger current of the Withlacoochee had changed his trajectory. He was getting dangerously close.

"Lookout!" I yelled. The boy turned his head and saw that he was going to crash straight into me. He must have panicked because he didn't even try to evade me at all. I stopped as best I could in the little time I had, but it was to no avail. He crashed into the side of my kayak and flipped us both over.

I was pretty pissed when I broke the surface, but my anger quickly turned to concern when I saw the young lad was struggling in the current. I figured he hadn't ever tried to swim with a bulky life jacket on. I could see the fear in his eyes as he started to cry.

I could hear screaming coming from up the river, but I didn't have time to address that. I needed to get this child back on a boat and calmed down. I flipped my kayak over, grabbed him by the life jacket and began to hoist him up onto my craft.

I got him seated and started speaking to him from the water to try to calm him down. He was obviously scared. I guessed that he'd never done this before and didn't realize things could go south so quickly. The screaming started getting louder. Whoever it was must be getting nearer to me. That's when I recognized one of the words that whoever was screaming had yelled. "Alligator!"...shit.

I looked around and a small gator must have been attracted to all the splashing. Maybe he thought an injured fish would be an easy meal. He wasn't really that big, but he was getting close. I grabbed my oar and swung it down in his direction. One pop on the noggin convinced the reptile that he didn't want whatever was making the splashing he was attracted to. He turned tail and swam off.

"What's your name, young man?" I said as I turned back toward him.

"J..J..Jason," he replied in a scared tone. "Was that a real alligator?"

"Yep," I replied. "I guess he thought you and I might be dinner."

"Cool!" replied Jason.

Just like a young boy to think being eaten would be 'Cool'. Not that we were really in danger. That little gator wouldn't bother with anything Jason sized.

"I'm going to get back up on the kayak, Jason. Hold on!" I instructed. I lifted myself into the rear chair of my tandem. The kayak tilted but Jason held on. "Are you okay? Where are your parents?" I asked.

"Mom's right there," he said as he pointed to a tandem that was pulling up alongside.

"Oh my god!...Jason, are you okay? I'm so sorry sir, he's never been out on a kayak before. Are either of you hurt? Did he damage anything? Oh my god!" his mother couldn't stop rambling.

"We're all okay, ma'am," I responded. "Just a little wet."

"Mom! Mom! Did you see that?" shouted Jason. "Did you see the alligator?! It almost ate us!"

I laughed out loud. "Jason, I don't think the alligator was all that hungry."

I looked over toward his mother and was going to introduce myself, but as I did I noticed that she was looking quite pale. I quickly maneuvered right next to her kayak and grabbed her arm. I didn't want to have her fainting and falling over into the river.

"Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay?" I said as I patted her hand.

-- Rebecca --

Hearing Jason talk about being eaten by an alligator made my thoughts rush back to the awful time when I had lost his father. Just the mere thought of losing Jason caused me to have an anxiety attack. I must have zoned out because the next thing I knew, I was being consoled by this handsome man who'd just plucked my son out of the river.

"I'm...I'm okay...I think," I barely muttered in reply.

"Good," he said. "I don't have room on my kayak for anymore people and I don't feel like going swimming anymore!"

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I knew this wasn't a good idea. It was just that the attendant at the dock convinced us Jason could handle the kayak."

"Well, he got this far," he responded. "He just needs to learn to pay more attention next time."

"I doubt there will be a next time," I responded.

"Oh Mom!" interrupted Jason. "Why not? This is fun!"

"Jason, you scared me and now I'm embarrassed," I said as I turned to the man on the kayak. "Again I apologize, you must think I'm an awful parent."

"Not at all, and by the way, my name is Bryan. Bryan Steele." He patted my hand once more. I hadn't realized he was holding me all this time. I looked down at his hand holding my arm and I immediately felt goosebumps. I don't know why.

"I'm Rebecca, Rebecca Reins, and this is my daughter, Kelly." I looked down at Kelly and noticed she was sitting in awe of the man next to us. I smiled as Bryan leaned over and greeted her. She giggled as he smiled at her.

I felt a quick pang in my heart as he interacted with my daughter. The gaping hole that Kirk had left in our family hit me like a ton of bricks. I started to tear up.

When Bryan looked back up into my eyes I was sure he could see the tears, but instead of looking away or making some kind of joke, he just looked back at me and held my arm once more. I felt he understood the hole in my heart and he wanted to comfort me. It was like a complete stranger knew everything I was thinking in just those few brief seconds. It made me shudder a little.

"I...I...We need to head back," I managed to mumble.

"Right," said Bryan. "Tell you what, let me get Jason's kayak and we'll tie it to the back of mine. Jason can ride with me on my tandem."

"Really? Cool!" shouted Jason.

"You don't have to go through all that," I said.

"No problem, I was heading back myself," answered Bryan. "And besides, I think Jason has had enough solo kayak practice for one day." He gave me a wink and a smile.

"Okay," I responded. "I really do appreciate it. I can't imagine what I would have done if it wasn't for you. I really owe you one."

Bryan paddled forward a bit more to wrangle Jason's wayward kayak. It was caught up in some weeds, but Bryan quickly retrieved it and tied it to the back of his kayak. We began the return trip.

The trip back up the river was so much more pleasurable for me now that I didn't have to worry about Jason so much. I caught myself smiling as I watched Bryan and Jason zip through the water. I laughed at one point as I heard Jason urge Bryan to go faster. When I looked up, Bryan's paddle looked like a blur and Jason was squealing with joy. Even Kelly laughed at them.

They made a quick turn and headed back toward us at high speed. When Bryan pulled up alongside, Jason yelled, "Mom! You're a slowpoke!"

"I know Jason," I replied. "But my arms are getting tired. We're going against the current and Kelly isn't holding up her end of the bargain."

"I guess not," Bryan laughed. "To tell you the truth, these rental kayaks are pretty beat up and have a lot more drag than mine. That's probably why your arms are tired. If you'd like, my house is coming up soon. We can stop for a break if you need it."

I was about to decline his offer when Kelly pipped in. "I need to pee!" she said way too loud.

"Me too!" yelled Jason.

"Well, I guess that settles it," said Bryan. "Look, it's the second dock up ahead. Just follow me."

Bryan took the lead but kept the pace slow enough so that I could keep up. I was happy that we were taking a break because I really was tired, but worried about getting the kayaks back in time. This little excursion was expensive enough as it was and I didn't want to have to pay a late fee.

"Bryan!" I called out as I pulled up along side. "We need to make this quick, I don't want to go over time on my rental and it will still take a while to get back to the state park."

"Hmmm," Bryan said. "Let me make a call when we get back to my house. The boat house manager is a good friend of mine. I think I can smooth things over for you."

-- Bryan --

Aside from the original mishap, I was actually enjoying my time palling around with Jason. I don't know why. Maybe it was because it's been so long since I've experienced things through the lens of a child. He was certainly having fun. When I hit my top speed on the kayak he nearly lifted himself out of the chair with joy. Put a big smile on my face. Add to that his cute as a button little sister and a mom who was easy on the eyes, well, I guess you could say I was a bit smitten. Of course I had to remind myself that they probably had to get home soon back to Rebecca's husband.

When we arrived at my dock, Jason nearly capsized me again, jumping onto the dock with no warning.

"Whoa there partner," I said. "You need to warn me next time you're going to make a flying leap like that. You almost dunked me again!"

"Sorry, Mr. Steele," he said as he fidgeted. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Just inside the door to your right," I replied. "Door should be open." He took off in a flash. I turned to help the ladies out of their kayak.

"You first little one!" I said to Kelly. "Rebecca, hold on to the cleat next to you for balance." I deftly lifted Kelly into the air. She squealed and gave me a hug as I pulled her up to chest height.

"Let me help your mom," I said with a bit of a laugh. Kelly wouldn't let go, so I held out my hand to Rebecca. She grasped my hand strongly and stepped up onto the dock. She was a little unsteady so I pulled her in toward me. We ended up in a three way hug. Kelly giggled again as Rebecca reached for her.

"Thank you so much," offered Rebecca. She smiled at me and then made her way up toward the house.

When I got back to the house I went upstairs to the kitchen and reached for my phone. I dialed up my good friend, Craig. He was the manager over at the boat house.

"Hey Craig, It's Bryan Steele," I started.

"Hi Bryan, what can I do for you?" replied Craig.

"I ended up having a mishap with a party that rented a couple of your boats," I explained. "Everyone is ok, but I don't think they'll be able to bring the boats all the way back. The last name is Reins. Yeah, that's right, Rebecca Reins."

"Glad to hear everyone is ok," said Craig. "Where are the boats now?"

"Tied up at my dock," I said. "There's no damage. Would you be able to send someone down to retrieve them?"

"Sure," replied Craig.

"Hey, what are the charges?" I asked. "I'll pay for them over the phone."

"For you, dude? Nothing! I'll comp them," said Craig.

"Thanks man," I replied. "Guess I owe you a round next time!"

"Deal!" said Craig. "I'll send up a guy around closing to tow the kayaks back. Let me know next time you're headed to the Blue Gator Bar so I can collect on that promise!"

"Sure thing, Craig." I replied. "Thanks! Later!"

--

I yelled down the stairwell to my guests, "When you're done down there come on up."

Jason came running up the stairs excitedly, "Look what I found!" He showed me a toy truck.

"Jason, you need to put that back!" said his mom as she followed up the stairs with Kelly in her arms.

"Oh Mom!" complained Jason.

"I see you found the toy box," I commented to Jason. "Don't worry Rebecca, he's welcome to anything in there."

"Do you have children, Bryan?" she asked.

"No..No I don't," I said with a frown. "The toybox is for when my sister visits with her kids."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy," sighed Rebecca. "I just thought with the toys..."

"Not your fault," I replied a bit tersely. "No children, although by now I thought I'd have one. Things between me and my ex didn't work out so well." My head bowed down. I guess she could sense my sadness with this statement. She reached out and put her hand on my arm.