My cousin doesn’t like me now. I mean come on, just because I flipped your canoe, got you soaking wet from head to toe, and almost busted your phone but come on, don’t hate me for it.
It all started on a lovely Wednesday morning. The sky was blue not a cloud in the sky, and the sun blazed the earth like it wanted to fry us. Our cousins had come from Texas to visit for the summer and they wanted to do something. Thing is Emily, Genesis, and my sister didn’t want to go outside but Daniel and I did.
“It’s too hot out and we want to go to the beach” said Emily . She had just sat down at the dinner table and was waiting for food. My mom and my Aunt were making pancakes and cutting apples and pouring orange juice into our cups.
“ We just went to Ocean city last Saturday” postured Daniel. He didn’t have much fun at the beach because he hated that the girls dragged him on his heels to the roller coaster. He was still mad at them for that and didn’t want to go back.
“ Lets do something that Daniel and I want to do for once” I said. “ That way you and Emily can pick the next thing we’ll do”.
“That sounds good to me” stated my sister. She was one of those people who could agree to things that were fair to everyone .
“ Okay then, Me and Enrique wanted to go kayaking today so why don’t we do that . Go for about two hours or so on the Potomac River.” asked Daniel, probably happy that he was going somewhere that wasn’t the beach.
“No!” protested Emily “ I don’t want to sit in a kayak for TWO whole hours rowing! Its gonna be boring” (O key my cousin my sound sassy but hey, When you’re 16, you’re 16 )
“Emily” shouted her mom, “ just let the boys do something they want to do”.
“ Fine” She said , knowing that she couldn’t win. What a mom says is what goes.
For the next two hours , we got prepared for the trip. Daniel was trying to find clothes in his suitcase that could get wet. Emily woke up Genesis, told her what was going on then started to take a shower(not sure why because she was most likely gonna get wet). My sister was getting food ready with the moms.And I was out in the back yard getting out our kayak and walked around to get in one top of the car. When we were set to leave, there was a teen foot long kayak strap to the top of the van, the rope look tight and strong, and that told me that it would hold till I untied them. After the girls stuffed all the food,water, and towels into the trunk of the car, it looked like the trunk would blow. We all got in, buckled up and heard the small roar of the engine starting up. We drove down to the banks of the Potomac River, to the the Marina a few minutes away from Mount Vernon(George Washington’s home). We park the car under a big tree to keep it cool from the hot summer sun. “ Okay” said mom, “ you’re all going to each take something from the car , Daniel,Enrique, you two take down the Kayak and start walking it over to the docks”.
Daniel and I got out of the car and I climbed on to the roof to untie the knots. I looked around and saw people were here and there,some running, others walking their dog, or just having a outdoor barbeque. I looked out to see the river and the National harbor glowed in the distance. Man, you can get a really good look at the place from up here.
After we got all the knots taken care of, I said” Daniel, get to the back of the van and I’ll SLOWLY push it down “
“Okay but don’t squish me” he said, while walking to the back of the van.I slowly started to push it down, hoping that he had a good grip on it. Slowly, after a lot of “stop” and “wait”, we slung the kayak over our heads, stiffened my elbows and started to walk down to the docks. I thought we look pretty funny cause all people saw were two bodies and a yellow Kayak on their shoulders , walking on the sidewalk .
After about a 3 minute walk , we made it to the docks. All around us there were so many types of boats. From small little fishing boats, to luxury yachts. When I grow up I want to have one of those beauties, I thought, looking at a huge white two deck yacht on the left side that probably had another floor underwater. We kept walking to the end,where there was a big shed with a boy standing next to it, filled with lots of life jackets and oars, and canoe where all around.
“ Hello there” he said.He was about as tall as 5 and half inches, wearing green shorts and a plain white shirt and some sandals.
“ Hello” I said, “ can we launch of your canoe over here?”I asked this because I looked across the shed and there was a plank like green mat just going into the water.
“ You sure can” said the boy, “just put down your canoe over here” he pointed at the part of the mat that started going into the water” after that just get some jackets from the shed and you can be one your way” . Daniel and I gently set the kayak on the mat and started to slide it into the water. It slid down smoothly into the water but we left the back half on land so it couldn’t float away. The we made our way into the shed and chose which jacket we wanted. I looked down the road to find two girls pulling a small cart and three adult women (although one look younger than the rest ) heading our way. When the stopped at the ramp , my mom explained to the man that they bought a canoe for two hours and wanted help to find who was in charge.
“ That would be me, my names Adam” said the man named Adam “ just go ahead and pick one that you guys want to use then get your life jackets and a pair of oars.”
The girls picked out light green canoe that could fit four and went into the shed. Daniels mom told us to start packing the food. I sat at the front of the kayak then Daniel sat himself in the middle and my mom sat in the back. Adam came over and pushed our kayak into the water. The water was very shallow so I stuck my paddle into the water and push ed so we moved further away from the docks . As I looked around, I saw many boats that were out in the water and had been tied to the river floor so they wouldn’t float away. There was a few pieces of wood floating on the surface of the dark blue water. I thought it look like a good view to me , and that is would be nice to take a swim at the moment. When we reached deeper water, we started to paddle our way, having to make sharp turns every now and then to not ram into a boat and headed into the areas that did not have any grass. We found the canal that lead to a small island at the mouth of the river we found a few years back. as we made our way to the turn that lead towards the island, I remembered about the girls . Man, how could I be so stupid. Me and dad were the only ones who knew where it was. I stood up and looked around and saw them only about a half mile away, in the maze of boats. I waved my hands and my sister waved back.
“ Mom, the girls are over there lets just wait for them” I said. We slowly stopped and you could see the small island in the distance, just a small plot of land with a trees. and a sandy shore. After about fifteen minutes I heard a “hay” and looked to see the girls canoe heading straight for us! “Pedal “ I shouted. Thank god Daniel knew what I meant. He drop the book that he started to read and pedaled like crazy. How could they be so stupid to do something like that. After they went passed us , We started to follow them to the island in the distance . When we were about to hit the sand, I jumped out into the water . I felt like i was taking a cold shower when i sank to the bottom but the water only went to my waist. I pulled the kayak into the sand bed and then pulled the front into land. I swam back and did the same for the girls . They bought the out the hot dogs that they made and started to pass them out. After about an hour, we started to make our way back onto the boat. The girls got on their boat and I started to push them out. I kept pushing and the canoe started to tilt. I didn’t know that and as I kept pushing, the canoe flipped over , knee deep in water. The girls first reaction was to scream.
“O MY GOD ENRIQUE!” Emily screamed. After a long time of grabbing things out of the water and taking out water, we left. For the rest of the day, none of the girls said a word to me. As soon as they got home, They took a shower and stayed in there rooms. As for Daniel and I, we had a laugh talking about what happened. Hey, what happens ,happens.