Legacy

One never knows what a day will bring; but for Fred and Dora Jenkins and their three children ages 14, 12, and 8 it got mighty interesting.

Fred had been saving for five years to buy a Speed Boat; one that had the power to pull water skiers and also could be fished out of.  Pushing the money envelope a bit, Fred a Dora went down to the Marina and looked at boats with an eye to buy.

There was a huge selection.  Some were to drool over with a price tag out of sight for the average guy and Fred was average.  After a few hours of very serious looking, and weeding out the trash grade boats.  Then the arduous task of finding a decent one within budget began in earnest. Finally it came down to two.  One a little higher priced than the other.  The cheaper one would allow room for a top of the line outboard motor.  The more pricy one would mean a maybe dependable motor versus a for sure dependable motor.

Dora who somehow manages to get the last word most of the time, insisted on the pricier one as it was her favorite color.  Good sense logic, at least to Dora.  So that was the one they got, along with a maybe it will, maybe it won’t run dependably motor.

The rest of that day and part of the next was committed to discussing where to try it out first.  They decided in order to save some time they would take it to the local river, a popular boating area.

On the way there they got a flat tire on the boat trailer, fortunately it came with a spare.  There was a little muttering on Dora’s part about the cheap trailer,  Fred thought it would have been better if the extra money hadn’t been spent on someone’s favorite color, instead of the more sensible boat.  Of course Fred had enough sense to keep that thought to himself.

Fred hoped the motor would be less disappointing.  Anyway they got to the boat ramp on the river and slid the boat right in.

It was a successful launch.  Everyone was feeling better about it all.  The motor started right up and purred like a kitten.  Thank god for that Fred thought.

They ran up and down the river weaving and turning and powering up for straight runs.  Having a wonderful time.  It started to cloud up and look like rain so they decided they better call it a day and go back in.

They were only about a quarter of a mile from the boat dock when that new cheaper priced motor conked out.  Fred did everything to restart it, but it wouldn’t cooperate.  Dora said that ruins my day, oh well Fred use the paddle and get us back.  Duh! And oh no!  Fred hadn’t bought an emergency paddle, plain and simply it escaped his mind.  He knew right then and there he wouldn’t escape Dora’s.  Fred wondered if it might just be easier to jump overboard and drown himself.

But he didn’t.  Now this river had a current not a real fast  one, but fast enough.

Sometimes a little goes a long ways, but it was fast enough that it was helping the now dead in the water new Speed  Boat drift downstream.  Swim for it was an option for everyone but two of the children.  It was still considered thinking the two adults could help the two youngest children.  That would have meant abandoning the new and expensive boat.

To make matters worse, Dora’s tongue was wagging a mile a minute.  With all the things Dora was saying no one had noticed the speed of the current was picking up.  When they did it was a big shock that made everyone gasp.  They could hear the sounds of the water going over the thirty foot high spill way only a quarter of a mile down stream and the current speed was getting faster.

Needless to say, instant panic, much yelling and screaming for help which of course didn’t come.  With only about an eight of a mile to go before it would be over the spill way, the boat came to a slow and certain stop.  Everyone looked shocked, relieved and puzzled as to what stopped the boat.  It was still pointed down stream, but it was like a giant hand was holding it from the rear.

Fred investigated and found the bottom of the outboard had gotten tangled in an illegal trot line.  Now trot lines are lines that are stretched across a stream or river with hooks every three or four feet with the idea of catching fish while one was home sleeping.  Trot lining is not allowed on any old stream and it wasn’t allowed on this one either. Where they are allowed there is supposed to be a float tied to the middle to alert boaters to pull up their motor until they get past and to warn swimmers.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that rain that looked like it was coming, came.  They were getting soaked.  Dora had gone from screaming to crying, and so were the kids.  Fred had an idea, he took out his pocket knife and cut the trot line about a foot from where it was caught in the motor.  So with one end of the line tied to a little tree and the other tangled in the motor, the boat then swung from the middle of the river toward the bank.

Current was fairly fierce at this point so the boat was still held by it about fifteen feet from shore.  A whole lot better than the fifty feet it had been, but still over ones head and treacherous.

Fred knew he only had one choice.  He went over the side holding onto the sheared trot line to keep from being swept away, he headed towards the bank figuring once he got there he could grab the line  and pull the boat close enough to allow the rest to get safely on the shore.

That was a reasonable thing to try under the circumstance.  It got a little difficult for Fred.  He got one of the large trailing fish hooks in his leg, had to cut it free from the main line and it was not an easy task.  Fred only had about five more feet to go and got another fish hook.  Same song, second verse, it hurt and it was difficult, but Fred dealt with it.

Fred climbed out on the bank a grabbed the trot line and began to pull.  It required a Herculean effort as the current had a strong hold on that boat.  Fortunately, Fred was successful and all scrambled to safety.  Using the much stronger rope on board the boat, it was safely secured for pickup and tow later.

It was only about a hundred feet through the woods to a road.  There they flagged down a mini van which fortunately had room for them all.  That nice driver took them back to the boat ramp where they had left their car and boat trailer.  From there they drove to the Emergency Room to deal with those large imbedded fish hooks in Fred’s leg.

On the way home from Emergency room, all Fred got out of Dora was how glad she was he was alright, he had saved them all, he was the man.  Fred was happy to get such rare praise from Dora, and he simply reveled in it.  Fred was also grateful that Dora hadn’t notice that in addition to forgetting an emergency paddle; that he’d also left the cell phone at home.