Smooth Sailing

May 22, 2011

May 22, 2011

"Mrs. Morrison!" Brooke shouted. "Eden's trying to rock the boat!"

Audrey sighed, already exasperated with Troop 642's behavior. The canoe trip hadn't even started yet, and too many things had gone wrong already. Audrey had argued endlessly with Brooke's parents and Eden's parents to convince them to let their daughters go on an overnight trip, and then Audrey made the not too bright decision to let her nine year old daughter pack for herself, leading her to forget nearly everything. Now, Eden was misbehaving, and Audrey was still responsible for these three girls for the next twenty four hours. Maybe we shouldn't have done this, Audrey thought to herself.

That was when Audrey remembered why she had planned this trip in the first place. Audrey wanted Sylvie and her friends to do some truly exciting, and even if her troop couldn't raise enough money to travel more than a few miles outside of Clearwater Lake, she could at least create the perfect canoe and camping trip for the girls. It was the sort of childhood experience that Audrey wanted Sylvie to have, and she was glad that she could share it with Eden and Brooke.

"Eden, could you please sit still for a moment?" Audrey asked.

"Okay, Mrs. Morrison," Eden said. The normally fidgety child managed to stay still for a few moments, but she soon got bored and went back to attempting to tip the boat over.

"Eden!" Audrey shouted. "Sylvie and I still need to get into the canoe. Can you please cooperate for one minute?"

Eden went silent, but she did sit still, giving Sylvie enough time to get into the canoe. Finally, all of the girls were on the boat, and Audrey gave them a push and then climbed into the canoe with them. "Which way do we go?" Sylvie asked as she played with her canoe paddle.

"We're going to go that way," Audrey said, pointing northwest. "The Wakeneau River flows out of Clearwater Lake, and the campground that we're going to is on the shores of the river."

"I can't wait to go camping!" Eden exclaimed, bouncing up and down. Much to Audrey's irritation, she was rocking the boat, but Audrey didn't want to lecture Eden again.

"Me neither!" Sylvie shouted.

"I'm glad that you girls are excited," Audrey said, smiling. "We need to row though. Come on, let's row towards the river."

Sylvie, Eden, and Brooke all rowed, but Audrey still felt like she was doing most of the work. She didn't really care though. All she wanted was for the girls to have fun, and they were. As long as her girls were enjoying themselves, that was all that mattered.

Within ten minutes, the canoe had reached the edge of Clearwater Lake. The girls rowed under a bridge and into the waters of the Wakeneau River. The morning sun beat down on the canoe, and after about half an hour, all of the girls were sweaty and tired. "I want to go home," Brooke said.

"Come on, we're halfway there," Audrey said, attempting to stay positive. She kept the canoe moving as Sylvie dipped her toes in the water and Brooke tried to braid Eden's hair. "At this rate, we're never going to get to the campground," Audrey mumbled under her breath. None of the girls seemed to care that the canoe wasn't moving, so Audrey said, "Hey girls, why don't we sing a song while we're rowing!"

"Songs!" Eden exclaimed. "I love songs!"

"I want to sing 'If I Weren't A Girl Scout!'" Brooke suggested.

The girls immediately starting singing about how they would be cannibals if they weren't Girl Scouts, and Audrey considered suggesting a different song. However, she realized that none of the other Girl Scout songs were any less gruesome. At least Troop 642 was rowing now, even if they were doing so to a song about slicing and dicing people up.