Jess is finally going! That New Zealand holiday is at its dawn, and all she can think of is landscapes, walks and adventures. But what she does not expect to find, is what is waiting around the corner - someone.
Someone who will turn her holiday up...
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Uncle Sam was driving again. Aunt Charlotte had declared that morning that it was his turn to drive, and Jess mused it was because this drive was a long haul. They were headed back home - and on long drives, Uncle Sam was adamantly called upon to 'enjoy his turn driving'.
Jess, sitting on the back seat, had spent the last four hours reliving every moment of the walk, and was still doing so. But as she watched the mountains, through the rear-view mirror, drawing further and further away, their gleaming peaks blending into the sky, her thoughts turned. She thought instead of the last day of the trip - this morning, before they had left for home.
They had set out, up to the mountains again, though not quite as early this time, for a mystery destination. Only when they arrived, was it revealed that their ascent into the mountains had taken them to the other side of the lake they had been to, the day before.
This side was not quite as picturesque, for it was much less secluded, and by ten o'clock, when they had gotten there, people were already milling around, enjoying the sunshine and a day by the water.
Jess, for a moment - after her initial delight had worn off - wondered why her aunt and uncle had brought them here. Then she saw the people on the kayaks.
She probably could have jumped up and down in glee, right then and there. Instead, she settled for staring at her aunt and uncle, who grinned back.
The morning was spent, at first at least, gliding across the serene water. There was something about the feeling of driving her paddle through the water, that felt incredibly powerful to Jess. To think that there was all that water contained snugly in that lake, and you could stick something in and push some aside-
it made it all feel surreal in a way that made - not very surprisingly, as it was born of Jess's wild enthusiasm - almost no sense.
Of course after a while, no one could be satisfied with just paddling about... not when there was an endless supply of water and a rather crafty wielder of the waves. Indeed, after Uncle Sam started them off, there was no turning back. Their little bit of the lake was filled with a cacophony of shouts and laughter, and lots of splashing.
When they had finally been forced, by the ticking of Aunt Charlotte's watch, to leave the lake, they walked, soaking and shivering, to the car.
They had actually, by ganging up on him, managed to tip Uncle Sam right into the lake. He had been fine - Uncle Sam was always up for 'adventure', and he was an eternal sport. The moment his astonished face had bobbed up above the water, he had laughed louder and longer than the rest of them, and vowed, quite fruitlessly, to drag them all down with him.
Still, sunny as it may have been that day, a lake full of frigid water is still a lake full of frigid water, whether or not the air above it is a few degrees warmer. At least, when they reached the car, it was wonderfully warm inside. Though they'd had quite a job of trying to keep the seats dry. Not without finding it utterly hilarious, of course.
