“Good. First thing we should do is catch up with the group because like you, I don’t know the first thing about camping. Or canoeing.”
She laughs again, the wonderful sound filling my ears. “Okay, we better catch them because if not, Thiago is going to be right about us.”
We both start to paddle a little harder, and soon we’re moving swiftly down the river. Now that things feel better between us, I find myself glancing at her bottom, well, not so much glancing as gazing intently. God, that’s a nice, nice ass. Even in cargo pants. I should not be staring at it so much. And yet…
A splash to our right snaps me out of my trance. When I look up, I see a pink dolphin surfacing, then another following close behind.
“Look!” Gwen says.
“Wow, they really are pink.”
“Right?”
We both stop paddling and watch the pair play in the water nearby.
“If you ask me, there are far too few pink animals on the planet,” I tell her.
“True. You’ve got your flamingos, I guess.”
“These are better. Flamingos are too showy.”
“Agreed,” she says, grinning at me. “And they have weird knobby knees. But these guys are so graceful.”
“And beautiful.”
And distracting. Because neither of us sees the big rock up ahead…
23
Thiago is a Psychic Wizard…
Gwen
“Oh, fuck!” Ty yells, as the canoe smashes into the rock and splits down the middle.
“Shit!” Water immediately starts filling the vessel, soaking my feet and legs. Like a total idiot, I’m still paddling, hoping that if we go fast enough, we can outrun the water.
“Grab our gear,” Ty says. “It’s sinking.”
My heart pounds wildly and a surge of adrenaline courses through me as panic sets in. I clutch my paddle with one hand and reach for my backpack with the other.
“Drop the paddle! It’s of no use now,” Ty yells.
“I can use it to fight off a crocodile!”
With the canoe now under me, I pull myself to my left to get to the closest shore, only to realize I’m going to have to tread water with everything in me just to manage to keep my head above water. Half of the broken canoe pops back up and rushes away from us, propelled by the swift current. In the distance, I hear the trill of a dolphin.
The dolphins! They’ll save us. “Help, Flipper! Help!!!” I scream.
“What?”
Ignoring Ty, I shout, “Pink dolphins! I command you to save us!”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Ty says, and I suddenly realize he’s right behind me. He grabs me around my waist and yanks me to the left while I grip my bag and the paddle with everything in me.
Okay, this is okay. Ty’s got me. I’m going to live. I pull it together and start to kick my legs to help get us to shore. Finally, I let go of the paddle so I can use my free arm as well. Something brushes against my leg and I shout, “Did you feel that? It’s a croc!”
“That was me,” he says. “Try to calm down.”