Missinaibi River Day 5 - A story about Sean

• Posted on June 24, 2009 at 7:08 PM
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Sean is our 13 year old nephew, accompanying us down the Missinaibi. His parents - specifically his mother - have been harassing me via text messages on my sat phone, demanding that more information about him appear in the blog.

Very well. Here is a Sean story.

It was an exciting, vigorous beginning to the day. A gruelling 1500 meter portage around fearsome Greenhill Rapids followed by a series of long and technical class 2 runs down Calf and the souse-hole-filled St. Peter Rapids (we assume the latter is named after the person you meet if you go into the souse hole).

But after the rapids and a portage around the rumbling beauty of Split Rock Falls, the river grew quiet, and the last stretch of water to camp became an anti-climactic, 2 hour slog.

To pass the time, I quizzed Sean on his desert island picks. First, I told him he could bring 3 books to the island. To make him howl with greater anguish, I told him trilogies counted as 3 books (Eat it Lord of the Rings fans! My trip, my rules!). To increase his anguish, I told him every other book in the world he didn't choose would be burned (it's a freaky island). Sean twisted and squirmed in the canoe's middle seat and with time running out (it's a time-limit question - it's a cruel island), chose Grey Owl's Tales of an Empty Cabin ("because it's good and I haven't read it yet"), Fellowship of the Ring ("because I know the movie was good") and the Peterson Field Guide to Sand ("because you told me it's a sandy island").

It was 35 degrees today. The air seemed as thick as the water at times. Still, I ratcheted up the heat on my nephew. Now it was time to choose 3 movies. All movies not selected would be taped over with copies of Sean's most detested movie - High School Musical 3. By the way, Sean asks me to tell all readers that he has not, nor will he ever actually watch High School Musical 3. Sean chose "I am Legend", Get Smart" and "Iron Man". Sorry Dr. Zhivago.

Finally, the toughest question of all. I told Sean he could take 1 person to the island with him. I knew this would place him squarely between his parents, both of whom he adores, so I gave him only one minute to decide (it's a friggin' cruel island). Everyone not chosen to accompany Sean would be melted. "60 seconds," I said, clicking my Ironman stopwatch. "Go."

Sean hesitated, his plum red hair twitching one way and then the other. Janine was as silent as I was, curious to see who the lucky parent would be. I paddled with one eye on the river and one eye on my watch, counting off the 45, 30 and 15 second marks.

With 8 seconds remaining, Sean's body suddenly straightened with purpose. He had his answer and he was comfortable with it.

He would take his dog to the island.

Sean melted both his parents.

So there you have it Suzanne and Al. - a story about your son from the trip.

Be careful what you wish for.

---

We are camped tonight across a deep pool of water from Thunder Falls, one of the scenic highlights of the trip. But I will write more about this place tomorrow, as we have decided to take a rest day here. There's so much more to tell you about than just Sean stories, though those are generally entertaining. For example, I simply must write a diatribe about how no guidebooks mention that the Missinaibi is the most leech-infested river in Ontario. But it's late and that's a breakfast blog post if I ever heard of one.

Goodnight. I just asked Sean if he had anything he'd like me to pass on to his Mom and Dad before I send this post off..

He smiled and said cheerfully, "not really."