Chapter 24

• Maybe the fact that she survived a wolf encounter and felt braver than she had ever felt before is why she found herself standing on the shore of the lake looking at the canoe. Rayne hugged the container she’d sealed her camera in, mostly because she treasured it and drowning it would upset her more than drowning herself. Do I want to try canoeing? Yes, mostly. She set the camera down and walked over to the canoe. Taking a deep breath, she flipped it over, finding out it was much heavier than it had looked. The paddle was on the ground, having been hidden underneath. Picking it up, she frowned at it. It was almost as tall as she was. Rayne looked at the water and then back to the canoe, there was no way around it, some of her was going to get wet. She knew she didn’t have the strength to climb in on shore and shove it out into the water. She placed the paddle in and then her shoes, carefully setting the camera on top.
• Grabbing the handle as she’d seen Devin do, she yanked on it only to discover that it was going to be a challenge just getting it to the water, never mind getting in it once it was there. Would pushing it be easier? Doubtful. Rayne grabbed the handle again with both hands and backed towards the lake, one inch at a time. This gave her a new-found respect for early settlers that used to carry their canoes over their heads when they hit a spot without water. Obviously modern life made people soft and weak, well, at least it had her.
• During the back-straining event of getting the canoe to the water thinking that would be the hardest part, and she was wrong. Rayne stood in the water up to her knees holding the canoe and trying to figure out the best way to get inside it without tipping right out the other side only to land on her face with a splash. She wasn’t going to make the mistake again of thinking any part of this was going to be easy. Balancing on one foot, she lifted the other one to rest inside, longer legs probably would have made this simpler, but, she didn’t have any of those handy. Rayne stretched so her foot was close to the middle and then slowly shifted her weight to swing the other foot in. Her yoga instructor would have been proud of her technique and flexibility when she finally had both feet inside.