By Ainsley Althouse

A note from Tony: I realized after I reread this story that other than close family no one had seen it. Ainsley Althouse is the young daughter of family friends. We see them each summer at Deep Bay on BC’s Vancouver Island. Three summers ago I asked Ainsley if she would like to learn how to write a short story and not really knowing what that would entail she said ‘Yes’, with enthusiasm. Over the next six weeks in the summer of 2021 Ainsley wrote this story. I taught her how to construct with setting and characters, plot, climax and resolution but the story is all hers. I told Ainsley the best place to start is with a place you know and people you know. She took to writing stories like a kitten to milk. She lapped it up. For me this was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had as a writer. Ainsley was ten when she wrote “Grampa’s Blue Boat”. She is bright and inquisitive, she has an appetite for learning and a mischievous sense of humour. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

“Want to go out in the boat boys?”

We all loved going out in Grampa’s boat. It was a blue boat that matched the colour of the sea.  Our Grama, we called her Nona, loved it when they made the boat go around and around in tight circles which created big waves and sometimes we’d get splashed really hard. And it was so much fun. My brothers Zack and Linden and I had been coming to Deep Bay all our lives, which isn’t all that long, when you think of it.  I’m ten, Zack is seven and Linden is five. Zack is really athletic and a daredevil.  Linden is well,  let’s not be rude but he is scared of a lot of things but he can be brave.  And he likes machines and will look at them for hours because he wants to know how they work.

“We would love to Grampa!” said Zack.

Linden jumped in, “Does that mean that the motor is fixed?”

“Sure does you guys, let’s go.”

And they both yelled, “Yes!”.

They were really excited but they needed to eat.  But boys being boys they were not happy about having to wait to go out with Grampa on the blue boat.

“You ready boys?”

“Coming Grampa.” Zack and Linden jumped up from the table, shoving food into their mouths.”

“Beeeemoum”, Zack shouted to his mother on the way out the door.

What Zack was trying to say was ‘Bye mom“ but he had his mouth stuffed with food.

And off they went.

Grampa had been coming to Deep Bay since he was Linden’s age and he knew the waters really well. But he would always tell us when we went with him in the boat,

“Never assume anything out here, kids. It’s never the same. How about Hornby Island, want to go there?”.

They were in the boat for an hour when the engine started to sound funny.

“Uh oh!” Linden shouted with that really worried Linden voice, “The motor is breaking down people.”  Linden spoke first because he sat right next to the engine.  Of course he did,  he always wanted to see how the engine worked.

Zack looked over Linden’s shoulder and yelled, “GRAMPA!”

“Don’t worry it’ll  be okay. Now you take over the wheel boys and I’ll try to fix this.”

By now it was getting dark and the boys were pretty worried.

Grampa said, “It looks like we may have to stay here until the morning. It’s okay because I have supplies, food and blankets and some water. We’ll be okay. In the morning maybe somebody will help us.”

Grampa knew the kids were scared so he made sure they ate as much as they wanted and he told them stories from when he was little and living in Deep Bay.  He made the boys laugh when he told them a story about when he was bitten by a big fat fish. How it had just jumped out of the water and bit him on the nose. And then when he bent to get some bait that big fat fish bit him on the butt.

“Ouch!” the boys both said but they were laughing so hard they almost fell overboard and pretty soon they were asleep.

They were quite a bunch in Grampa’s blue boat.

Linden hummed in his sleep.

Zack made sounds like Chewbacca.

And Grampa snored.

But the truth is Grampa was worried, not about the engine but the boat was drifting in the water and he didn’t know where they were going.

Sometimes the boat went forward and then backward and he could feel the wind picking up and the waves were getting bigger.

And then it happened.

Out of nowhere, in the pitch black night, a wave crashed over Grampa’s blue boat and that woke up the boys.

“Make sure your lifejackets are tight.” he said, trying to hide the fact that he was quite scared as well.

Linden said, “But I am as soaked as a fish in the water!” which made Zack laugh, “Me too”.

Grampa drew the boys close to him and hugged them like he was trying to protect them. In a few more minutes the waves grew bigger and one of them almost tipped it over and then another huge wave followed shortly after and flipped Grampa’s blue boat.

Zack and Linden were in the water but still in Grampa’s arms.

“Swim to the boat boys, we need to hold onto it.”

And then another big wave went right over them all and they were tossed around and upside down under the water. It was really scary.

The next thing they know they were all washed up on a beach and they were all covered with bruises and scrapes but they were all alive.

They were frightened but so tired from it all that they managed to fall asleep right on the beach.

Zack was the first to wake up in the morning, “That was awesome. That wave was so big. I felt like a surfer.”

Linden didn’t like that at all, “That was that worst thing ever Zack!”

Grampa turned to them both, “Okay boys we have a bit of a problem and you’re going to have to help me out. I’ve injured my leg.”

“Okay Grampa,” said Zack, “and by the way, where are we?”.

“I’m not sure” he replied, “but we’ll be okay.”

The boys were scared for sure but if Grampa was scared neither of them could tell and that made them feel safer.

They could see the blue boat. It was hung up on some rocks and it looked like it was damaged quite a bit.

“Help me up boys. I have to try and fix it.”

Zack got under one arm and Linden got on the other side so that Grampa could lean on them as he walked.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll try to fix the boat. Zack, we need you to go into the forest and collect some berries. Linden, remember how I taught you how to fish?”.

“Yes.” said Linden, not really sure what Grampa was talking about.

“Well we need you to try and catch a fish so we can have it for dinner, although we have nothing to light a fire with.”

“That’s okay,” said Zack, “Papa taught us how to light a fire with a magnifying glass and Linden always carries one with him in the summertime.”.

“Okay, good.” said Grampa, sounding a bit more positive, “I think we’ll be okay.”

Zack, who was always running and chasing things, took off right away in search of berries and stuff and it wasn’t long before he got to a clearing in the forest with huge berry bushes, loaded with delicious looking berries.

He had brought a pail with him and was busy filling it when he realized there was something else in the bush. And it was alive. And all of sudden a bear cub popped up and looked right at Zack as if to say, “Hey this is my berry patch! Scram!”.

Zack didn’t need to be told twice. He turned to run and the strangest noise came out of his mouth,

 “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”.

It wasn’t easy to run and scream at the same time but he did.

And it got worse. Zack ran so hard that he tripped and fell and when he looked up the mother bear was looking at him. Another strange sound came from Zack’s mouth and this time it went even longer.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”

Zack got up and ran as fast as he could because he remembered how Nona told him that he should never get between a mama bear and her cubs and he had done that. And again he tripped and fell but this time he landed on his face right on a fresh pile of bear poo.  Zack looked up and said “awesome”. But he hadn’t dropped the pail of berries and he was almost back at the beach.

He was out of breath and it took him a while before he could tell the story but when he did Grampa smiled and Linden couldn’t stop laughing and just when he did Zack told him about landing face first in fresh bear poo and Linden started laughing again. And everybody felt better.

Linden had also been helping out. He’d jumped up into the boat and told Grampa what he could see. He was really good with motors and always tried to figure out how they worked. He thought this was the same thing, just that this time he had to try and figure out why this motor didn’t work.

And Linden had an idea how to help Grampa with his bad leg so he went down the beach and collected long pieces of wood and then he and Grampa tied them to his leg, which meant he could walk.

And Linden had not caught one fish. He had caught two. And then the boys  ran into the shallow water and pulled out two big Dungeness crabs which Granpa knew how to prepare. With the berries and the fish and the crab they were going to have a feast. The sun was still out so the boys collected wood and started a fire using the magnifying glass and they cooked it all.  It was delicious.

After dinner they sat around the campfire and Grampa told the boys stories about Deep Bay back when he was their age. They loved listening to him but they were still scared but Grampa’s voice was so calm and soothing that they both figured well, if Grampa’s not scared, then I guess we shouldn’t be.

Just before they nodded off to sleep, all huddled around the fire, Grampa said,

“We’ll be okay boys. Get a good sleep and we’ll figure this out tomorrow.”

When Grampa and Linden woke up the next morning, they couldn’t find Zack.

“Zack?! Zack?!” they both shouted. They had no idea where he was or if he was in trouble. “Where is he Grampa?” Linden asked but Grampa had no idea. And he couldn’t go looking for him because he couldn’t walk and he couldn’t send Linden into the woods. Grampa didn’t want to think the worst.

And then Zack appeared way down the shore and he was pulling something. When he was closer he shouted out, “Hey, look what I found.”

It was an old canoe, a big one, and it looked like it would float okay.

Grampa hopped over with Linden’s help and gave it a good inspection.

“Where did you find this Zack? I think it can carry us.”

“I dreamt about it last night but when I woke up I remembered it was real, I had seen it yesterday when I was looking for berries. But I thought our boat was okay so I didn’t say anything.”

“We’ll need some paddles.” Grampa said.

And Linden jumped up, “I know, I know what we can use.” And he ran over to the boat and jumped into it and a couple of minutes later his head popped up and he had that funny Linden smile on his face,

“How about these.” he said as he held three pieces of wooden plank from Grampa’s blue boat.

And he was right. They carved the planks to make handles, with a knife they’d found in the boat, and by noon they were ready.

They all jumped into the canoe, Grampa at the stern, Zack up front and Linden in the middle. The boys didn’t know how to paddle a canoe so Grampa taught them and when he thought they were ready he said,

“Okay boys. Now this will be hard work. I figure maybe two hours of paddling. We have some berries and some fish and water from the creek and we’ll stop every once in a while and if we’re lucky we’ll make it home for dinner.”

Zack and Linden had never been so excited. They would see their mom and dad and Nona and Finn and all their friends, they’d be allowed to eat whatever they wanted and they’d have a super great story to tell.

“Sometimes it’s good to miss everyone.” said Linden.

“It’s going to be awesome to see them.” replied Zack and that made Linden and Grampa laugh.

Grampa was right. It was hard work. The tide was coming in so they had to paddle against it and at times it seemed like they were getting nowhere. And then the neatest thing happened. Out of nowhere a pod of dolphins surrounded them. All around the canoe. Linden and Zack were scared to begin with but Grampa had a big smile on his face.

“I remember my father told me about this happening when fishermen are in trouble. Look boys, they’ve come to help us out. They’re cutting through the water to make it easier and they’re nudging our canoe from behind.”

It was amazing and even Linden blurted out, “Awesome!” which made Zack laugh. And they paddled like that for a long time with the dolphins all around them, sometimes squealing as though they were telling the boys, “It’ll be okay, we’ll take care of you.”

And just like Grampa had said, they finally made it home and they shouted and screamed as soon as they saw their place in Deep Bay. They watched as mom and dad and Nona and everybody they knew came out and jumped up and down and laughed and cried until the boys ran into their arms.

Zack had never seen his dad cry but he was pretty sure those were the good kind of tears. Linden had never been hugged so hard by his mom and Nona just kept on going from Grampa, to Zack and then to Linden and squeezing their faces and kissing them and crying and laughing. It was what Nona did.

It was good to be home and they would have a great story to tell all their friends at school.

When they finally went to bed that night they were exhausted. Turns out it’s tiring to be that happy. Grampa came into the bedroom,

“I just wanted to tell you boys how proud I am of you. You were both very brave and I know you were scared but you both helped out so much and we worked together as a team. And you learned how to survive in the woods. And you learned that we must respect Nature and do what we can to keep it safe.”

“What about your boat, Grampa?” Linden asked.

“Oh, it’s all wrecked I’m afraid.  But we’ll get another one.”

“What colour?” asked Zack.

“Oh, I think you know.”