Nicole Scharn

       The bright sun beats down hard on my skin,  forcing my eyes to squint and my body to instantly sweat, as I stepped on to our patio overlooking the East Okoboji Lake. It was a typical cloudless summer morning with quick-rising temperatures. The sun reflected off the clear waters, as the lake sat still, motionless. Chirping birds and a hushed boat accompanied the morning in its beauty. I held a cup of coffee in my hand as I sat down on our old rocker to relax. I closed my eyes in hope to rest a little more before the day got started. My eyes quickly opened to the sound of a woman and a child. The two kayakers were passing my house-their kayaks gliding across the water with such ease. I jumped up, excited for what was to come. I quickly ran in the house and yelled, "Jill!" I continued running until I saw the third room on the left. I barged in the room she was sleeping in- swinging the door open hard, in hope that she'd hear me. 

      "Jill! Jill!"I yelled once again when I got to my best-friend's room. I bounced on the bed to annoy her. It worked.

           Within a half an hour, Jill and I were heading down to the dock, ready to kayak and experience the peace and serenity-just like that woman. We carried our yellow and black paddles down the tedious stairs of the dock, and began dragging the kayaks out from the underbrush. The weeds and plants had seemed to take over the kayaks, but with a few pulls, we luckly got them out. The blue and red kayak awaited us, as the now subtle waves caused them to bob up and down. With great difficulty, we managed to hop in the kayaks from the side of the dock instead of the front. Then, we were off. We began paddling towards the hot sun. The heat became suffocating, as the rays of sun caused my skin to tingle. The freqeunt dripping of the water on my legs sent a sense of relief through my body. Everything was so peaceful- the sun, the water, the ride in general. 

     Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched scream come from the kayak next to me. I turn my head to find Jill's kayak wobbling in the water back-and-forth, almost in slow motion. WHOOSSH! She could not regain her balance. The kayak flipped over, sending Jill and her paddle into the water. Jill's screams were silenced by the water overtaking her, along with her kayak. Her head popped out of the water only a second later, and laughter soon filled the air, as we couldn't contain ourselves.

     "There was a spider!" she claimed, trying to give a valuable reason.

     Jill and I sat there for a minute, enjoying the warm weather and trying to figure out how to move on.

     "How are we supposed to get home?" I asked Jill, as I was looking at the distance we had to travel back- we were across the lake from my house. 

     Water was trapped inside the kayak, making it nearly impossible to flip it over. Jill and I realized at the same time that we only had one option. We had to drag the kayak back to the dock. 

     "This is gonna be miserable," I said to Jill as I searched for our tiny dock in the distance.

      "I know," she said, while she began swimming back to my house.

     We eventually made it back home, after a long period of swimming and paddling. We never went on another kayak right without cleaning them out first!