Read Online Finding Jim by Susan Oakey-Baker - Free Book Online Page B

and scream. Her husband bent quickly to haul her out. Jim would later submit an article about the trip to an outdoor magazine, but they responded that the story was not believable.
    After five months on the road, we touched down on Canadian soil and heaved a sigh. Clean air, mountains that beckoned and a language our brains could compute effortlessly. But we weren’t home long before we headed off on another adventure. Two months remained before my teaching term began.
    We drove 22 hours north in our own province of British Columbia to the Spatsizi River. We rented a canoe and drove to the put-in where we began our 10-day trip. The most difficult rapid we ran was Class III , but the consequences of an accident were severe given the remoteness of our location. Our only link to the outside world was a hunters’ lodge halfway down the river, but it was early in the season and we did not expect anyone to be there. The sun shone every day and a chill in the air kept the bugs at bay. Each morning we loaded the canoe and covered our gear with a green tarp to protect it from waves. The first few days were mellow and we dipped our paddles lazily. Caribou wandered close to the shore to drink, and we marvelled at their fuzzy antlers. We camped on sandbars to avoid the bears and wolves. In the evenings, we sat on our fold-up chairs and watched the sunset. I was exactly where I wanted to be with exactly the right person.
    One afternoon we stopped to have lunch and I disappeared into the tangled alder to go to the bathroom. Jim’s yell pierced the silence: “Sue! Sue! Bear!” I waddled as quickly as I could back into the open, pulling up my pants as I went, and met Jim, who was backing away from the brush toward the river.
    â€œWhat happened?” I panted. Jim’s face was a chalky white. He kept his eyes riveted to the same spot in the trees, directly behind our picnic area.
    â€œI heard this rustle right behind me and at first I thought it was you, so I didn’t do anything. But then the sound was getting closer and I thought that it was weird that you would go to the bathroom right behind me, so I turned around. And he was right there, this black bear. He raised his big furry head, and we were almost nose-to-nose. That’s when I leaped up and called to you. The bear turned tail and ran. I think he was pretty scared too!” The bear must have swum over from the mainland. We made a mental note to be on the lookout for animals, even on the sandbars.
    Our guidebook indicated we would encounter a Class  II plus rapid on day three. As we navigated a bubbly rocky section, we saw up ahead that the river widened and turned a 90° bend. The waves stood up at this point and a wall of striated rock blocked the river’s course. I spread my knees wide on the scratchy floor of the fibreglass canoe to balance against the roll of the waves, and I raised my voice to compete with the roaring water.
    â€œRock river right!” I yelled.
    â€œGot it,” Jim replied. Faster and faster the river pulled us toward the rock wall, where it rushed up the sides before heading right. We fought the current to avoid being sucked against the wall. “Draw,” Jim commanded. “Draw!” Jim yelled more insistently.
    â€œI am!” I yelled back as the water splashed over the gunwales of the canoe.
    â€œI mean cross-bow draw,” Jim corrected himself. We drew closer to the wall. “Paddle harder, Sue!” We both dug in, but the boat seemed to stall for a few very long seconds before edging forward away from the wall. My shoulders relaxed. If something happened to Jim and me out here, it would be days before anyone even thought to look for us.
    The river widened and meandered through marsh, sandbars and forested banks. I leaned back against the mound of gear and dangled my legs over either side of the canoe, dipping my paddle with one hand. Jim chuckled behind me, “I guess that’s