Almost

Almost

By Jordan J Rasmussen

“Chuck Norris Doesn”t get wet, the water gets Chuck Norrised”

The red rock walls of the canyon were closing in on me. The Paved trail followed the white-water river, there was no sign of any kayakers except a cracked bright yellow paddle and a gray piece of rubber, my Dad was in an orange piece of nylon, coated with urethane, a NRS Bandit Kayak.

“Where is he?” My Mom muttered under her breath, my brother and sister were jumping over the sandstone rocks and darting to be ahead of each other. The sun fell beneath the canyon walls of Zions Park, and it became dark,

“Mom, how much longer?” I said to her,

“Just a little bit longer, until” she looked at her watch, “seven-thirty.” I stared at the dark, cracked, and broken path. We followed the trail until we found my brother and siter, they were sitting on a small rock, with red faces their breath heavy.

“Okay lets go now,” my Mom said, Madi and Logan both jumped up and dashed back down the path.

“I hope he is okay.” I heard my Mom say. When we go to the parking lot the only car that was their was the bus, there were people in a line swerving around the long and shiny bus, we got in line behind another family and were waiting our turn. The line moved like a slug. My brother and sister were, like always, yelling at each other and fighting. When we got in they raced to the seats and both yelled,

“I win!” I sat down in the first open seat with them, my Mom sat in the seat beside us. The bus lurched forward and started off. The East side of the canyon was like fire, screaming at us. The river below it was dark and roaring, even inside the bus we could hear the river and its rapids. The rest of the canyon was about the same, but still just as beautiful, when the canyon passed the last bend and became straight and wide.

The sun was nowhere to be seen when we reached our shiny blue highlander,

“Wait here,” my Mom said to us. She unlocked the car and walked to the offices. My brother and sister were still fighting over who got which seat and which soda and all sorts of things. I got in the passenger seat. the tan interior almost matched the canyon walls and dirt. We waited for what seemed like an hour then my Mom came out of the buildings. Her eyes were red and she had a hand on her face. She got in the car, and started it slowly, tears were streaming down her face and her whole face looked sunburned. She got in the car, with tears running down her face like rain. She did not say a word until we got back to the hotel.

The bang as my Mom slammed the car door sent shivers down every one’s spine. She was still crying and did not look like there was any chance of stopping her, even Madison and Logan had sobered up. I opened the door for everyone and we all walked inside. It was a one floor hotel and our room was not far from the entrance. As we walked down the open and empty hallways we only saw one other human being. A maid or some sort of employee there, she walked past us with her empty smile and walked down the hallway the way we came. There were many pictures on the wall, most of where I thought my Dad was, on the Virgin River Narrows, on of the most dangerous sections of all rivers in the state. I saw my Mother take a deep breath and calm down. She still hadn’t spoke to us, but even Madi probably know what had happened. My brother and sister, who looked almost nothing alike, one with dark brown hair and one with red both were walking right next to each other. My mother was in the rear so when we got to our room we were already to far,

” come on kids.” We turned around and looked in, we could see almost nothing in the cold bleak darkness. I stepped in first, cold air blew in my face and my eyes watered up. What happened in here would be the foyer to my biggest memory.

Later that night before my mom left she told us what had happened in the Park Office,

“Madi, Logan, Jordan, Dad is on the river, as you all know, and he has not turned up yet.”

We all faced her, our eyes down or up, “He might even be dead, but I will not give up. I love your father and I am going to find him.” She gave all of us a kiss on the cheek and crept out of the door. We all were quiet for a little bit, but then I told everyone, “Dad is going to be OK, he has done this type of stuff, and as long as we pray with pure intent , he will make it out alive.” We all prayed alone and then we all decided to just calm down and just have some fun. We turned on the TV and our eyes started to close.

The tumblers sounded deep in the cold, dark shadow. The light peered its little head into the room, it was quickly replaced by a shadow. A foot slowly crept in, and then another, but only two feet entered that night. My mothers. She quickly got into the spare bed and fell asleep.

I was the first one awake that next morning, like always in my family. My Mom was next. She got dressed before my siblings awoke and told me she was going back. There was a sliver of light and then she left. My brother and sister both woke up when I turned on the TV, got up and began to brush their teeth and get ready for the day. They looked surprisingly confident today, and had a glow about them. They never seemed to get discouraged that morning. At about eight AM my mother came back in.

“Mom!” We all screamed, she looked joyful and said to us in a happy tone,

“They found Dad.”