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ChapterThirty-Four
Leo
The waterthat hit my face was cold, but not icy like I'd expected when we'd first got in the kayak.
"Hey, Ben," I said."Try to keep the paddle lower, then maybe I won't get so wet."
He giggled and the sound made me relax.How could I possibly be tense when my son was sitting in front of me and was having fun?Life was good.
"Sorry, Leo," he said."I do that to Mom too."
"Okay, let's try this again.Ready?"
"Yup."
"When I say left, put the left side of the paddle in," I instructed."And then—"
"Which way's left?"
"This side."I raised the left side of the paddle in the air and Ben turned, causing the whole boat to shift.
"Whoa."I dropped the paddle and tried to steady the boat.
"Sorry," Ben said and giggled again.
"Okay, let's try this a different way.Put your paddle in the water."
"Which side?"he asked.
"You pick."
Ben put the right paddle in the water.
"Okay, let's say that side is 'boom.'So every time you put that side in the water, we'll say, 'boom.'"
Ben lifted the oar and dipped it in again; this time he said, "Boom."
"Try again," I prodded."But every time you say it, you have to say it a bit louder and we'll do it together."
Trying to follow his lead, I raised my oar and brought it down at the same time as Ben.Together we yelled, "Boom."
Ben laughed and said, "Okay, what about the other side?"
"How about when we paddle on the other side, we say, 'pow'?"
"Pow?"
"Just try it."
Together, we lifted the left side of the oar and this time when we pulled it through the water we said, "Pow."
"That's silly," Ben said.
"No way," I said."It sounds cool when you do it together.Ready?Start with boom."So we did.We paddled right, left, right calling out, "Boom, pow, boom."
"That's awesome!"Ben yelled.
"Keep going," I called.
