Let me tell you about Coming out while being up a creek.
Hank's sister Kelly and my sister Kate were free and in need of escape too, so they decided to join us. We also made arrangements with my sister Lorraine to drive Hank’s car back down from Canning Lake and park it at the farm with the plan that we’d call her when we got down to our destination at Caesarea on Lake Scugog.
Hank has always had a bit of a crush on Kate even though she's a few years older than us. And for me, Kelly isn't too hard on the eyes either, although she's a bit older than Kate.
Kate can be a bit of a princess and gets a kick out of Hank waiting on her. Kelly is much more of a Tomboy and won't tolerate being fussed over and curses like a longshoreman. She's a hoot! Especially since she’s an Elementary School teacher and has to control her mouth all day in front of impressionable children.
Early summer the river water level is just right. Not too low that you have to wade through the shallows leading your canoe and not too wild from spring melt to make the rapids dangerous. Fewer spots require full portaging. Kelly had taught us years ago how to read the rapids in order to avoid smashing into the rocks. With four skilled paddlers there wasn't any real challenge. Just a relaxing wilderness getaway.
In the rapids the water forms arrows as it rushes over and around the rocks. Follow the arrows in the direction you are traveling. Steer away from the arrows pointed at you.
Walk the portage trail and read the river so that you can plan your route first.
And don't get turned sideways!
Best case scenario; the canoe swamps and you might even recover, or you overturn and get dragged with the current. Soaking wet, scraped and bruised on the rocks.
Wear a life jacket. Maybe a helmet if things are really fierce.
Of course it can even be deadly, but that wasn't likely on this route.
The first day of the expedition was uneventful. Launching onto Canning Lake in the early afternoon and making our way to the mouth of the Drag River. Once into the bush, we set camp for the night.
Hank and I set out right away and armed with trusty bows we got a pair of rabbits in time for dinner. We had carrots, potatoes and onions with us as well as salt and seasonings to make stew for the four of us. Since Kate is interning as a surgeon, she made short work of skinning and cleaning the game and Hank and I cleaned up the pelts for tanning.
The next day we met the Burnt River, ran a couple of rapids and then spent the afternoon fishing for dinner: Fish fried with fresh fiddleheads.
The third day, we stayed put while the heavens opened upon us. Downpour after downpour turned the river into a brown and white raging torrent.
On the Forth, we set out with the water still raging although the rain had stopped overnight. The rapids we hit were not what we were used to. I sterned for Kelly, and Kate sterned for Hank. It was a surreal scene watching Hank and Kate ahead of us as they got turned sideways and then reversed. The stern dug deep and the bow, with Hank in it, shot upwards catapulting Hank into the air. Hank landed with a splash and bobbed along with the current. Kate was able to hang onto the canoe and got dragged along with it.
We got to the end of the rapids and Kelly and I fished everyone and everything we could out of the water. Hank was bellowing like a wounded animal, which he was. Kate was battered and bruised too and the pair of them were choking and gasping. I attended to Kate’s scrapes and bruises while Kate took care of Hank. Kelly got a fire going. Stripped out of wet clothing and set beside a roaring fire in dry clothes and blankets, Kate assessed Hank's apparently broken left shoulder. Without warning, Kate shoved Hank over shouting “Trust me, I’m almost a Doctor.” as she thrust her foot into his armpit and yanked on his arm. There was a sickening suck/pop sound that was mostly drowned out by Hank’s scream as she reset the dislocation.
Although he was still in a lot of pain, he was mostly relieved with it being reset. Hank insisted that he was well enough to continue and didn’t require a medivac. So Kate trussed him up in triangular bandages from our first aid supplies and kept an eye on swelling and circulation.
It was at that point that I saw all the blood and realized that Kate was bleeding badly from a gash on the back of her head. Her dark and wet brunette hair had hidden the wound until the blood had soaked down into her shirt and the blanket she was wrapped in.
I grabbed a towel and applied pressure to the wound.
"Now we need a medivac because this wound needs stitches." I said.
None of our cell phones had a signal so we discussed hiking the kilometer or two distance we figured it was out to the highway but the prospects of hitching a ride before dark were slim.
Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to pull out the portal I had stashed in my bag for an emergency like this.
Kate looked at me and said "This is a strange time for you to be pulling out one of your toys Jo."
"This is an emergency and I need to get you and Hank to a hospital."
Hank looked me in the eyes and said "You don't have to do that…"
"Yes I do. You have an athletic scholarship and my sister can't stitch up her own head."
Kelly looked at the rest of us with a puzzled look.
"I can get us back home to the farm, and from there we can get to a hospital. It's going to be weird but I can't explain right now." I said with authority.
I grabbed Kate around her shoulders with my left hand and Hank grabbed his sister the same way with his good right arm and pulled Kelly over and said "Grab onto Jo, we're going for a ride."
I concentrated as hard as I could on the old and crusty looking model of the trap door that led to the bunker on the farm.
There were gasps as I pulled everyone through the portal with me.
Kate stumbled and fainted. I gently laid her on the ground in the meadow beside the trap door to the bunker.
Kelly let off a string of expletives.
"Listen," I said "from here we've got some options but I need to revive Kate first." I wasn't sure if it was the head wound, the shock of porting or a combination that knocked Kate out, but I was scared.
Hank got down on the ground next to me and gave Kate a gentle shake to wake her.
"She's not sleeping, she's unconscious." I said as I dug my knuckles into her sternum.
Kate's eyes snapped open and she gasped from the pain. She slapped me as I said "Good morning." I rubbed my stinging cheek, relieved.
"Can you get up?" She nodded and Hank and I pulled her up to her feet.
Kelly was just catching her breath as the flow of expletives slowed to a trickle.
"We can drive to Lindsay or Port Perry. Or, I can portal us into the city from here."
"Port Perry is closer and the trained monkeys there can handle a simple X-Ray and a few stitches." Kate said as she started walking towards the driveway and Hank's wagon.
"Uh, Lorraine has the keys," Hank reminded me.
"Oh, that's right…" I remembered as we all walked towards the car. "I can hotwire it for now."
"I'll explain this to you," I continued gesturing with the portal still in my hand, "but I'm not ready to tell Lorraine how we got here."
Thankfully, there wasn't anyone around at the moment and the wagon was unlocked, which saved some time and trouble.
I got the car started and Kelly jumped behind the wheel with Hank in the passenger seat while I got in the back seat next to Kate as I continued to apply pressure to her wound.
"God, Jo, it feels like you're wiggling your fingers around inside my brain.
"I know that feeling." I said, remembering the gash in my own head back when I was twelve and fell off the barn roof that first time after the flood had subsided. I also felt a twinge in my shoulder, being reminded of that and looking at Hank's trussed up arm.
On the drive into Port Perry and while we waited to be taken care of in the Port Perry Clinic, I quietly told the girls about how I 'fell off the roof' of the barn the summer I was sixteen.
"Holy shit Jo…" Kate hissed through her teeth, "The government locks up people like you and dissects them."
"What they don't know won't hurt me."
Kelly leaned in and said "You're like a brother to me. Your secret is safe with me."
"Well, I'm not going to turn in my own brother either. Especially now that he’s my new travel agent."
"It doesn't exactly work that way… I haven't been to Paris or Milan. So unless I've actually been to a place, I haven't been able to make a portal to it. I've tried. And portals are only good for a few one way trips before they wear out. I just burnt out the one for the bunker bringing us all through at once."
Kate got her head wound stitched up and Hank's X-Ray showed that Kate had reset his shoulder properly and it would heal up without any permanent damage.
"So, what do we do now?" Kelly asked.
"We could drive up and recover our gear and make up some story about finishing our trip early," I suggested.
"Or we could call and say we're having a great time and we're going to be coming back late" Hank replied.
Kate smiled at this and said "The worst is over. The rest of the trip is by lake and canal. Easy-peasy. I know you've made dozens of those toys, Jo. Do you have a tent portal that'll take us back to the campsite?"
"No. Don't be ridiculous."
Everyone looked disappointed, "But I have the canoes." I said with a grin.
Kelly slugged me in the shoulder and laughed.
We hit the burger shack and stuffed our faces while I told them more about my portals. Then we drove back to the farm, arriving after dark. We drove in with the car lights off and coasted into the spot where it had been parked earlier.
Then, we crept out into the meadow to the bunker and Kate got a signal on her cellphone to call Lorraine. She let her know everyone was safe and having a great time. Remarkably, Lorraine hadn't noticed that Hank's car had gone missing earlier that day, or at least she never mentioned it...
Meanwhile, I climbed down into the bunker and found my canoe portal. A diorama of two 1:18 scale, 300mm long aluminium Grumman canoes crossed over each other in a canoe over canoe rescue floating on resin water.
With everyone huddled together we were transported back to the shore of the Burnt River.
The majority of our kit was recovered. The odd bits we didn’t find right away were found along the shore of the river when we continued our journey. The only real loss were the rabbit pelts that had been stretched out on some wood drying on top of the load.
We spent an extra day resting before setting out again. The river had settled down and the paddling got easier when we got out onto Cameron Lake. The girls now in one canoe and me doing all the paddling with Hank in my bow.
Fenelon Falls was nice. We beached and got ice cream. The Lockmaster doesn’t like to pass such small craft but we made sad faces and pointed to Hank and how we shouldn’t have to carry everything around the lock so he let us pass though.
Sturgeon Lake is gorgeous and the pretty chirping of Ospreys is amazing!
We took our time and camped here and there along the way.
In Lindsay, we hit our usual spot for Dinner at the Grand Experience. The Lockmaster in Lindsay knows us and didn't hesitate to give us passage.
We camped at Mariposa Brook at the North end of Lake Scugog with a bunch of kids from the local summer camp. That was fun since Kelly had been a Camp Counsellor and Canoe Instructor at the camp and knew the staff and some of the kids.
Hank got the pity of all the girls from the summer camp and had a great time.
The next day, we all paddled together as a flotilla down Lake Scugog with the breeze to our backs and got invited into their main camp for more fun and games that night.
The camp nurse looked over Kate's stitches and cleaned them up. The swelling around Hank's shoulder had gone down leaving mottled black, blue, orange and yellow bruises. Even a little bit of green. It was stiff and sore, but he could move it around a bit.
The last day of our adventure took us around the point and into Caesarea. We were a few days overdue from our original plan but accounting for the weather and our experience, it was totally worth it. The most important thing for me was getting back to work and making a new portal for the bunker on the farm so that I alway had access and could protect my other portals.
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