Daydream Believer

xxxi. early mornings and canoeing trips

xxxi. early mornings and canoeing trips

"Wake up!" Daddy shouted.

I rolled out of my sleeping bag. It was cold that morning. The smoky, burning fire was gone. There was just a pile of ashes where it had been. The sun was just peeking up into the sky. I stood up and put on my ugly maroon sweater that I would have to pass on to Noah eventually.

Noah, Mommy, and Daddy were already awake. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"Canoeing!" Daddy said.

"Yay!" Noah shouted. "Canoeing!"

"Neil, really?" Mommy said. "Do we really need to rent a canoe?"

"Don't you want to take the kids canoeing?" Daddy asked.

"Not really," Mommy said.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Daddy said.

"I'll just stay onshore," Mommy said.

Daddy shrugged. "Let's go kids."

We followed Daddy down a path into the forest. It didn't seem as scary as it had the night before when it was dark. Now the forest seemed happier, with birds chirping and the sun shining through the trees. We followed the path all the way to a big, blue lake. I looked into the water and I could see myself. I looked kind of messy, but it was okay. We were on vacation. Noah was moving his hand around in the water and Daddy was pulling out the canoe. It was a big, silver boat with three paddles, one for each of us.

"Are you ready?" Daddy asked.

Noah and I nodded. I got into the boat first. I carefully put one foot into the canoe and then the other. Then I sat down. Noah got in and we started paddling away.

"Where are we going?" Noah asked. Noah was barely paddling. It was more like slapping the paddle on the water.

"It's a surprise," Daddy said. He was doing the most paddling because he was bigger and stronger than both of us. "Go left," he said. I started paddling left. "The other left." I paddled the other direction.

My arms were starting to get tired. Noah thought the same thing. "Can we go back?" he asked. "My arms hurt."

"We're almost there," Daddy said.

I kept paddling. I hoped we would get there soon.

Suddenly, I saw it.

A waterfall.

It wasn't just any waterfall. It was the biggest, prettiest waterfall I had ever seen. There were pretty, green leaves around it and the water gently ran down the rocky cliff. I smiled and looked at it some more.

"Seriously?" Noah said. "We came all the way here for a stupid waterfall?"

"Yes. Isn't it beautiful?" Daddy said.

"No," Noah said.

"McKenna, do you like it?"

I nodded, but that wasn't really enough. It was too pretty for that.

After a while, we paddled away. Daddy did most of the paddling on the way back. I got out of the canoe and hugged Daddy. "Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"Taking us," I said.

"You're welcome," Daddy said. "You're welcome."