Excerpt From Novel In Progress

It's 4:30 a.m. Joel shivers in bed from the blast of cold North wind whipping through the cabin. Then Joel wakes to find the door swung wide open and the old man is gone and the dog is gone too. Joel reacts quickly and bolts from bed. How long has the old man been gone? Joel's heart raced and panic set in. He has to find him now. He throws on his worn heavy coat and runs out the door and into the yard. There is not a sign or clue as to what direction he had taken through the forest. Joel calls out for Jack and then listens but there is only the howl of the cold north wind. He calls out again and again. The mountains mocked his cries with echo. He must find him. More than likely he has wandered off in the woods but in what direction? How long ago did he leave? How far could he have gone? Joel began to feel terrified and cursed the situation under his breath. He began a frantic systematic check on all surrounding areas, the outhouse, up the trail to the van, and back down to the cabin where he circled calling out for him but his heart sank deeper when there was no reply. There were no signs or indications of Jack. He takes the trail down to the river praying he would find him with rod and reel in hand and the dog by his side and everything would be fine, the crisis over. But there was no Jack, no dog or anything. Joel cups his hands to his mouth and calls for Jack. And then he heard a faint barking of the dog calling for help not far away but down the stream and out of sight. Joel runs along the rivers edge the whole time calling out for Jack then he hears dog barking something between a howl and a yelp as when he has a animal treed, cornered. The direction is downstream. Joel runs the bank downsteam following the constant wail from the dog. It must be about five or six hundred feet ahead and through the thick sitka pines Joel steady calls knowing Jack would be there and perhaps safe with the dog. The earth began to slope downward sharply and he could hear the quiet river was now raging in it's new turmoil. Joel could see Jack now. He was on the middle of the cold whitewater clinging to a boulder. The quick water beat his back as he clung, wrapped around the stone like a wet rag. The dog kept on barking. He could see Jack's face staring at him in terror and shivering, shaking. Joel must get to him before he lets go. Joel wades the water. Without his wade boots on the water is instantly cold and seeps in to his leather shoes and saturates his socks. The ice water whipped at his ankles like stinging cat of nine tale. Knee-deep Joel could not get a good footing on the uneven floor of the river giving way to pot holes and even the larger round worn stones all so slick, disturbed from their resting place were scooped up by the strong current to tumble even further dounstream. Joel fumbled in his footing and the current, like a blunt force delivered behind the knees sends him submerged and tumbling. He gasped hard as reflex to shock from the ice water and chokes. He has now become part of the raging river carrying him away totally at the mercy of the swift water. It is an intense struggle to stay on top, to float, to get precious air. Joel is tossed and rolled and he fights for orientation. His heart pounds loudly even above the sounds of the turbulent water crashing on the boulders. He stands, his arms blindly and desperately searching for a rockhold for balance but the river pushes him harder while he digs in with his heels but trips into a pothole and tumbles in the current and loses footing and is taken under again. The turmoil and frenzy of air bubbles fill his hearing and penetrated his brain. He rolls banging and crashing against the stones Joel can only cover his head for protection from the collisions and tries to go feet-first. Joel grabs the first thing he comes to. He tries catching his breath but heaves up river water. He let go swept down but closer to Jack and then again he was now with Jack. The force of the current was too great and kept them pinned against the rocks. He would half to get away from the stones upsteam where the vortex is not so great. Joel thinks of that useless rope back at the campsite so neatly wound and hanging by a nail on the wall. There would be no going back to get it. Joel didn't want to take the chance of losing Jack down the river. There was no time. He tugs at the belt he is wearing trying to pull it through the loops with his frozen numb fingers, his sense of touch about gone pulls his belt off and ties it around the Jacks wrist, looping it around his own he pulls on Jack and having a hard time of it because Jack won't let go. The rocks are round and smooth and riverworn the water is high enough that you are too buoyant to get a good footing. of the stream. Joels first attempt failed and so did the third as the quick current repeatedly slammed him to the rocks where he started. Joel was out of breath and held his position for a time to regain breath, energy and courage. Joel thought of Mindy and wondered what she was doing at this moment. Is she safe and serene and maybe sitting in her lawn chair reading as the sun goes down. Is she thinking of me? He looked douwnstream at the tumbling mass of water roaring so loud, constant, pounding hard in his eardrums like the river pounding hard on the rocks. If they let go, the water will pull them over the small fall but there the river widens and runs slower. There they could possibly wade to shore plus there are far more rock footholds to get to. But the fall to the rocks below would probably kill Jack, if not both of them. There was safety in this but going over the fall was last option Still the river held them pinned. Joel tried several more times to make that short distance but exhausted quickly gasping, choking from sucking in the white foamy water. Joel knew he couldn't reach that rock . It was inevitable that will go over the fall. This will kill Jack. Joel will have to try again. Once again he pushes away from the rock . Joel will secure himself against a rock a few feet away closer to shore he then would pull Jack to him. He let go the rock and within a second, was pulled under and through. The leather belt went taught but held. For a brief moment Jack was suspended underwater Joel pulled on the belt with all weight and leverage without gaining a inch. Joel felt his arm muscles were snapping or was it the belt slicing the water? He could only hold on for so long and his strength was rapidly draining . Joel put half of everything he had in holding himself tight to the rock and the other half tugging that thin strip of leather lifeline . He was holding his own but could not pull Jack toward him and against the current. He looped the belt once around his hand and felt headway when he looped it twice but it had tightened so that it began to cut into his wrist and cut off circulation to his already numb hands. How long could this belt last before snapping under the strain? How long would he last? His hand turned purple and started to swell. The muscles in his arm began to quiver uncontrollably from the stress and at that moment the river yanked Jack from the grasp of Joel and succumbs to the suction. Both are flushed, tumbling dounstream, bobbing in the water like two corks on a fishing line. Joels thrashes his arms about trying to gain an upright position. Constantly he is hits again and again on the boulder underneath the foam. Joel had swallowed a good bit of water and much of it came through his nose.

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