Chapter - Saturday morning surprise

	Chapter - Saturday morning surprise
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"Canoe, paddles, lunch for a small army of gourmets, with disposable plates and cutlery and glasses for 8, a floating cooler with freeze packs, 2 fishing poles, tackle box, 4 life jackets, extra rolls of film, sunscreen, hats, bug repellant." Rodney took inventory under his mother's watchful eye.

"Great! And we're right on time. It's 8:43. See? Waterproof watch." Rodney waved his left hand in the air and grinned at his mother. "Really! We're all ready to go."

"Well," said his Mom, "It's a lot of stuff, but I don't want you to run out."

"See, Mom?" Rodney pulled out his wallet and grinned again. "Emergency money, in a wallet that's been made waterproof by two layers of zipper locked baggies."

"Now, that wasn't my idea!" His Mom started to laugh.

"It's OK, Mom," Rodney hugged his Mom.

"You've packed us a great lunch and we'll probably be famished and eat it all up."

"And you want to go get in your canoe and surprise your friends. I know. We'll go now. You guys have fun."

She waved at John.

John smiled back. "We'll be fine. Thanks for everything, Mrs. Ellsley."

"Bye, Mom. Thanks for all the lunch and stuff. I'm sure there'll be enough potato salad for everyone."

Fred's mom frowned at Miriam. "Now you try to keep my boy out of trouble, OK?"

"No problem, Mrs. Rideway." Miriam smiled.

"No problem, you say? Then you're doing better than I ever did."

Fred frowned slightly, then smiled brightly. "Bye, Mom."

"There they are just arriving. Let's get a couple pictures while his parents are still here." John was eager to get going.

"Let's drop anchor and get the fishing poles ready." Rodney urged.

Rodney stopped, then stared at John, and they said in unison, "We forgot the anchor!"

"OK. The parents are gone. Let's throw him in."

"God, he's heavy."

"And cold."

"There's someone on the bank just upstream of the landing. Did the other 4 get there early?" Rodney wondered.

"I'm paddling against the current. I can't tell. Use the telephoto." Rodney grumbled.

"It's someone else, a couple of men. What are they throwing in the river?"

Click. Whirr. Click. Whirr.

"Maybe it'll show up in the pictures."

"Are they kissing instead of launching the boat?" Rodney panted.

"Let's see. No, they're just hugging."

Click. Whirr. Click. Whirr. "Yes, they're kissing now."

Click. Whirr. Click. Whirr. Rumble, rumble. Click. Whirr.

"Is that a motor boat?" Rodney panted. Rumble rumble.

"Huh? Yeah, it's a speed boat. Nice bow wave!"

Click. Whirr. Rumble. Roar. Click. Whirr. ROAR

"Bow wave??" Rodney sounded startled. He looked over his shoulder and saw the speeding boat blasting over the water, passing only 150 feet from them.

"Bow wave! Hang on!"

Whoosh! The bow wave neatly flipped the little canoe and dumped them both out.

"Mmmm, Fred." Miriam stopped kissing.

"Yes, dear Miriam?"

"Fred! What's that in the water?"

Fred turned, keeping one arm around Miriam, of course. "It looks like a, like a..."

Miriam blurted it out. "Oh my gosh it's a body! And the current's taking it right into the dock! What do we do?"

"We call the cops."

"You do it. Here's my cell phone." Miriam clung to Fred with one hand and fished her cell phone out with the other.

"OK, we're almost there. Got your camera ready, Sarah?" Stan and Sarah were riding in back with Fred C. and Angie.

"Hey!" said Fred. "There's a car leaving. Is that his parents?"

"No. Fred R said they have a wagon."

"NZWG ... Got it." Sarah scribbled in her notebook.

Stan smiled at Sarah. "Didn't you get enough license numbers on the bus?"

"No." Sarah said brightly, closing her notebook with a snap. "I collect interesting ones. Like the car we met just before we dropped in on Stan and Miriam by surprise. And lots of cars our bus met on my first trip with you." And she gave Stan a quick kiss.

Flash! "Got it! And I thought all the action was going to be between Fred R and Miriam!" Angie's eyes danced with mischief.

She turned back to the front and put her hand on Fred's leg. "Too bad you're driving."

"There's the dock!" Fred was the only one looking ahead. "And there's Fred and Miriam. And they're not kissing. What are they staring at?"

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