An Island Between Two Shores Read Online Free PDF Page B

several S-bends, Liana was breathing hard and growing insurmountably weary. Her chest throbbed wildly and her ears rang from the monotonous groan of the rapids. Terror filled her as she charged, uncontrolled, through the din. The canoe bobbed in the rapids like an eggshell. With each wave, the hull swallowed more and more water and was beginning to labor under the extra weight. Water sloshed around Liana’s soaked feet and calves and exaggerated the turbulence of the river by pitching and rolling in the waves.
    Liana’s attention was suddenly rapt by what appeared to be a piece of wood painted red high up on the cliff face. It was almost fifty feet higher than the river, embedded in a line that indicated an old flood during which the river had run that high.
    She pounded another breaking wave and slid down its backside. She refocused her attention on the river and with each stroke came closer to surviving the canyon. The waves cresting into steep, haystack-sized white shapes. It was a jumble of waves building and crashing flat in a disorganized mess of foam.
    Liana paddled in desperation in quick stabs and braces. She knew that flipping a canoe in this canyon meant almost certain death. If she didn’t drown outright, she would freeze in minutes. She dug her paddle into the river and did her best to keep the canoe pointing downstream. When the waves were really big, she slowed the canoe to limit the amount of water that splashed over the gunwales, but every seep of water saw her chances of survival dwindle. “When will the canyon end?” she pleaded to the waves. The roar of the rapids filled her heart, while her leaden arms frantically flailed her paddle through the turbulence.
    After many bends and countless chaotic waves Liana saw what appeared to be the end of the canyon. The right canyon wall ended as abruptly as it had begun, the shear face dropping to the river and allowing the forest to creep to the river’s edge. Liana’s heart opened; she had made it; she had survived the canyon. She felt joyous as she crashed and bobbed in the last of the rapids. All she needed to do was survive the next quarter-mile of river and she would be free. Liana crested wave after wave with a refreshed sense of optimism.
    On the last bend she noticed that the soft moan of the river had changed. Liana heard a roar louder than anything she had experienced so far, but she couldn’t see where it came from until she peered downstream from the crest of a large, rolling wave. To her horror, an enormous hole lay directly ahead. Most of the river spilled into it and she was headed straight for its maw. Liana changed the direction of the canoe, pointing it to the right-hand shore. As she did this, she climbed a long, smooth wave. When she reached its apex, the canoe stalled for an instant and the shuddering craft unintentionally turned broadside on the crest. Liana tried to correct this mistake with a powerful stroke, but it was too late. Liana and the canoe slid down the wave’s backside into a dark standing wave with a huge white crest. Liana dropped her paddle and gripped the canoe’s gunwales in desperation. The wave spilled its enormity into the canoe and in an instant the craft was swamped with icy water.
    With a gasp at its coldness, Liana felt the water flood to her waist and then the canoe sank a few feet into the current. Unable to help herself, Liana washed out of the canoe and it slowly turned on its side. The arctic river stole Liana’s breath and she struggled for air. She watched her canvas duffel pack float away and disappear. As Liana gasped and spluttered for breath, she bobbed helplessly over the waves. Suddenly, the gunwale of the canoe rose near her right hand. She grabbed it and tried to climb on top of the overturned hull, but the canoe sank beneath her and Liana let go.
    Liana knew her chances of surviving the rapid were practically nil. She cursed having failed so close to the end of the ordeal. The cold was already