Chapter 40

Amaris had no idea where their final destination was. They had been on the water for several hours. The sun was high in the sky by this time. They would simply look like tourists to any on lookers except for the fact that none of them had any safety gear on. No helmets, no life jackets, nothing. They only had their backpacks and their paddles. Lyle seemed to have a destination in mind. He led with Gran and Continued without stopping. Anna and Amaris both had paddles, but since the river at this time of year was low and therefore fairly tame they did not have too much to do. There had not been much for rain in a while. Finally they came to a wide bend in the river and a huge sand bar in the center of the curve. It appeared that in times of heavy rain or in the spring thaw this was under water but the rest of the time it looked like it was a favorite play ground for the local otters. There were hundreds of foot prints up and down the sand.

Lyle pulled his kayak off here onto the sand and the others followed. “We will make camp here on the inside of the sand bar.” Lyle left Gran in his kayak and walked over to get something out of the back compartment of his boat. He pulled out 2 large bags. They were tents. As Ben came over with the pieces of the stretcher and put them in Lyle’s seat, he grabbed one of the bags from Lyle. “Here this is for your family and I will set up this one for Amaris, Gran and myself.” Everyone pitched in setting up the tents, which went quickly and then the girls gathered firewood and stones to make a fire Incase they needed it. They had decided that they would not light it unless they really needed it. Since they did not have blankets, it may get cold. They would have to huddle tonight for warmth. The tents may help a little, but once the sun went down the temperature would drop. Lyle pulled out a solar powered tea kettle to heat the water for their MREs for dinner. Amaris suddenly realized that none of them had eaten all day. After paddling on the water she was starving. The warm meal was welcome for everyone as they were all cold, wet, and hungry by this time.

“Will Gran be ok? She has not eaten or had anything to drink  in quite a while.” Amaris asked as they sat between the two tents on a couple of logs that they had pulled up on either side of the makeshift fire pit. “Where we are going that there will be medical facilities where they will be able to help her. She just needs to hold out a little longer.” Lyle said. He looked at Amaris with sympathy for her concern. “Where are we going?” Amaris asked now curious as no one had said much all day for fear of being over heard. “ We are going to the human town at the bottom of the mountain that has a hospital. It is big enough for us to hide in and I have a few friends there that will be able to help us.” IAfter everyone was through eating, they all decided to get some sleep so that they could be ready to go at first light. It had gotten dark much more quickly than usual.  Clouds had started to roll in.  Everything except the tents were packed and ready to go in anticipation of leaving at first light. Anna and her parents said good night and zipped themselves inside their tent. Amaris and Lyle climbed in theirs. Gran was on her stretcher and they had placed her to one side of the tent so that there would be space to lay down for the two of them. Amaris laid down on her side with her head pillowed on her arm. Lyle laid down next to her. They were facing one another and it felt awkward to Amaris since she was not sure what to do. She was still not comfortable with Lyle as a boyfriend or whatever he was supposed to be. “Mate” as they called it. However she could not deny the attraction that she had to him and wanted to be with him. Close to him, even held in his arms. Lyle reached out and stroked her cheek and whispered “good night.” There was a small smile on his face. Amaris knew that he would not do anything without her permission first, which meant that she would have to make the first move. She scooted over in his direction and kissed him. A small sweet kiss that lingered on his lips just enough to ignite the usual flash burn they both felt each time they touched each other. “Good night” Amaris whispered as she pulled back. Lyle followed her movement and kissed her again. This time he reached up and took her face in his hands. Amaris wrapped her arms around his back and up, holding his strong muscled shoulders. They held each other tight as the kiss lingered each beginning to explore the other. Their tongues darting into the other’s mouth feeling and caressing. Their hands moving up and down each other rubbing and gripping and also discovering each new part of the other. Lyle moved at the same pace as Amaris not wanting to push her to do anything that she was not comfortable with. Finally with a sigh, breathing a little heavier, Amaris pulled away and rolled over on her other side and snuggled back into him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair and then her neck and shoulder. Amaris turned her face to him and kissed him back and then they both settled down and fell asleep.

It was about an hour later when Amaris woke to the first sounds of rain. Plunk, plunk, plunk.