The Draft Dodgers: Part 2
Adventure story. Part two of three.
Part 1 Recap: Jack has been drafted to serve in the Army. Unwilling to leave his brother Danny alone in a home for the disabled, Jack plans to flee to Canada via rowboat (incorrectly termed “canoe” in the original iteration) with his brother and girlfriend Rachel. Danny uses his savant knowledge of star constellations to guide them up the shoreline. Just before they reach the rendezvous point with Rachel, Danny thinks he spots a patrol boat. In an effort to quiet him, Jack accidentally pushes him over the edge into frigid Lake Superior.
Jack knew if he could get behind Danny there wouldn’t be the desperate thrashing to contend with. But the water was set against him. The cold shot through his clothes and skin and stiffened his muscles. Everything clenched. He felt the bubbles escape and roll past his face toward the surface. His knees instinctively tucked to his stomach, and he was about to bump into Danny.
Jack kicked the best he could and reached and pulled himself under Danny’s grasping range. He was slow and stiff. He stretched out his hand and found the middle of Danny’s back. He wrapped his arms around Danny’s chest just below the shoulders and kicked toward the surface. It felt just as it was: fighting the cold, fighting the water, fighting his brother.
Jack broke the surface and took a sharp breath. The air brought some of that cold into his lungs. He arched himself back to bring Danny’s head above water. Danny breathed so deep and loud it sounded like a cry. His arms swung wildly again and back under they went.
Jack pushed them back up, but this time he gave a hard tug on the rope he had wrapped around his hand. The stern turned toward them. He grabbed behind the slack and pulled again. They came closer, but Danny was slipping through his arm.
“Stay up!”
Danny’s head dipped under again. Jack let go of the slack, keeping one coil around his hand. He got under Danny’s shoulders and kicked them back up to the surface. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it a third time. Once they surfaced he tried swinging the rope where Danny’s hand was grasping.
“Take it!”
Danny pulled hard and fast enough to stay above water. They reached the back of the boat, and Jack realized he had to climb in first and pull Danny up. He saw his breath pour out in front of him and settle in the boat. The water felt like ice clinging to his body. The edge of the boat dug into his ribs. More than anything he wanted to curl up into a ball. But that wasn’t an option.
Danny clung to the edge. Jack gathered the rope, passed it under Danny’s arms and behind his back, and counted to three.
On the third try, Jack got him high enough he could grab the back of Danny’s belt and pull him the rest of the way in. He helped Danny shed his clothes and dug a towel out from the bag. Then he stripped himself.
Someone throttled a motor not far away. It was the fishing boat. They were headed away to the south. Jack would’ve welcomed being found out right then. He wondered what anyone would think if they found two young men buck naked and soaking wet in a rowboat in the middle of the night. It would’ve been a funny story.
He saw Danny drop the towel and stand there hunched over and swaying. They had to get to the dock and Rachel. He grabbed the towel and wiped his brother dry. In the pale moonlight he saw dark marks raised up on Danny’s back, but he didn’t think much of it. Then he grabbed the wool blanket and wrapped it around Danny as tightly as he could. The last thing was to gently set him down on the bench.
He dried himself and put on fresh clothes. He was still insanely cold but could feel things starting to turn. The oars were there waiting.
He turned the boat in the direction he thought the waiting dock would be. After a couple minutes the pain in his arms melted.
“Are we on the right track, Danny?”
His brother shivered under the wool blanket. Danny gave no indication he’d heard the question. Jack picked up the pace.
Rachel was supposed to do a steady sequence with a flashlight, five seconds on five seconds off.
Just as he got nervous no light would come, he turned and saw the beam a little further up the shore.
She came to the edge of the dock as they pulled up. Jack watched the light pass over his shoulders to the piles of wet clothes and Danny still shivering in the blanket.
“What happened to you guys?”
Jack tossed her the rope. She caught it and leaned back hard. Jack hopped out and tied the boat to the dock.
“He saw a boat and thought they were patrol and stood up and shouted. I tried to push him down in his seat, but he slipped and fell over the edge.”
She smacked him on the shoulder. “Jack! You can’t let him fall in the water.”
Fully aware of this, he looked in her eyes. “It’s good to see you too. We should help him out.”
She relented and kissed his cheek. “Hurry up.”
They got him out of the boat and up on the dock.
“Feeling better, Danny?” Jack asked.
“No.”
Jack looked down at Rachel. “I don’t think we’re finishing this trip tonight.”
She sighed. “I know. But we can’t go to my house.”
A motel was risky and cost money. Jack looked around. There was a little patch of woods next to the dock before the shore turned back into cliffs. “Can we just do a little fire in there? Get dry and warm. Eat. Then we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
“I think so. This whole area is closed for the season. That’s why I picked this dock. No one else would be here.”
“Perfect. You get him to a dry spot. I’ll get the fire started and hide the boat.”
He was pleasantly surprised by his own preparedness. The hatchet was sharp, and he had plenty of fire-starting supplies. Since he’d only been camping a couple times, he relied on the boys adventure handbook he’d found at a thrift shop and what he could remember from movies. His fire was poorly constructed but gave off enough heat. The hardest job that night was the boat.
He rowed it past their campsite a ways until he found some tall grass. By the time he got the boat ashore, his pants were soaked through again. In the grass it would be hard to see from the water but easily spotted by anyone taking a walk a little further up the hill.
He flipped the boat upside down and searched until he found a patch of gummy earth where rainwater drained off the hill. He spread a few handfuls over the hull, pulled out some of the tall grass, and stuck it on. It would be easy enough to find for anyone looking for it, but might not jump out to a casual passerby.
He came back to the fire and found Danny fully dressed and a warm can of beans waiting for him. Rachel was poking some coals with a stick. She looked concerned.
“There’s a biscuit in the bag to go with your beans,” she said.
He ate about half the beans and broke the biscuit into pieces and shoved it all in the can to soak up the juices. He hadn’t realized just how spent he was until then.
“I put the clothes on the rocks,” Danny said. He was looking at Jack like he was expecting something.
Jack looked around the fire and saw what he meant. They’d found some flat shale rocks and set them near the fire and laid the wet clothes on them to dry.
“That’s good, Danny. I’m sorry I pushed you into the water.”
Danny looked sour still and pulled his blanket up under his chin.
Rachel reached over and spread it over his legs. “He was wrong to push you. But he jumped and got you out, didn’t he? And then he got you out of those wet clothes and into this warm blanket. That was nice.”
“I guess so.”
That was enough resolution for Jack. He finished his food and set up Danny’s sleeping spot. Danny was curled up and snoring within a few minutes.
Rachel spread a blanket over the open sleeping bag and settled in and patted the empty spot for Jack to come lie down. “Would’ve been a nice night to get to Canada.” She spoke softly. He scooted closer.
“I know.”
“What will we do if they find us tomorrow?”
“They won’t.”
“Jack. Someone will come check the area. Just because it’s closed doesn’t mean they don’t look after it.”
“No one knows we’re here. We’ll get up early and move around tomorrow. Maybe I could even sneak into town and grab a couple things.”
“Like what?”
“Swimming trunks.”
She smiled. “Not funny.”
“I thought it was. We’ll just make sure no one sees you. When will your parents know you’re gone?”
“Not until the afternoon. They’ll just think I went to a friend’s house or something.”
“Perfect. See? It’ll be fine. Just a delay.”
He kissed her as warm as he could and pulled her to his chest and shut his eyes. He dreamed he was on a fishing boat and had something on his line but no matter how hard he pulled he couldn’t get it to come up.
Getting up early was a good idea and probably would’ve worked. Unfortunately, he hadn’t considered how much rest his body wanted to recover from a midnight swim in Lake Superior.
He awoke to the sound of rustling and assumed it was Danny digging around for food. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Let me help you.”
“That’s a generous offer.” The man’s voice was clear and calm and definitely not Danny.
Jack blinked the sleep out of his eyes. The man had a black hat, gray shirt with a police department patch on the shoulder, and a neatly trimmed beard. He was bent over one of their backpacks, sorting through the items. He pulled out a rectangular piece of paper and stood up and unfolded it.
Jack’s heart sank. It was his map of the shore line.
The man studied it then turned to Jack. “Looks like you’re planning an adventure.”
To be continued…