Friday on the Lake

There was an empty kayak on the beach.

It had washed up not too long ago, likely during the night. I had found it this morning when I walked down to the lake for my morning coffee. The sand shifted between my toes as I walked down the beach to examine it.

It was a red kayak, lengthy and not long abandoned. In fact it seemed it wasn’t even supposed to be abandoned. Washed up next to the boat was an empty beer can and a single flip-flop. I turned it over to see the other said, and--

And it was bashed in.

The paint was ruined, white streaks running up and down the length of the side, and half of it was inverted. Clearly it had slammed into something.

Or something had slammed into it.

Turning the kayak over on the other side, I saw something that made my heart drop.

Trapped inside the rower’s seat was a yellow life jacket, floating in the thin layer of water still left.

So—so the person in this thing was either still out there swimming or…dead. And if they had been swimming they would have grabbed the kayak again. That person was probably dead, leaving me with the question: how did the kayak get dented, and why?

I resolved to at least try to figure it out. I got my own kayak, bright yellow and shorter than the average. Sit-on-top and thus harder to sink. And I wisely decided to wear my life jacket instead of keeping it in the kayak with me. I grabbed my paddle and pushed off.

I brought lunch with me, and my coffee, so I could stay out for a while. I traveled against the current as that would be from where the kayak drifted. I found nothing, no matter how far I went.

As the sun was setting I began to make my way back home. The dark was coming quickly and while I had a flashlight, I didn’t want to use it if I could afford not to.

As the current aided me in returning home, I heard a motorboat approaching. I turned around to check its trajectory. It looked like it would pass close, and I would need to weather the waves, but not too close and I’d be fine. Still, the crescendo of the motorboat bugged me. They really should be taking a farther route.

The boat grew louder and louder. I turned around to check where it was.

It had changed trajectory. I was underwater in a second.

I surfaced quickly due to the life jacket, coughing and sputtering. That was what happened to the other kayak! I began to swim frantically towards the nearest land, but the motorboat cut me off. I desperately switched direction but it didn’t matter, the boat was faster than me, and as it slowly approached, I could see the spinning blades of the motor behind the boat.

I gave up and awaited my fate.