Chapter Nine, Part Three
Five min after passing the billboard we were driving down a small dirt road and could hear the sound of the river through the open windows. Sam was straining against the vest trying to get a good look out of the front window of the car. I pulled over and stopped momentarily turning around and reaching into the back seat to position a blanket over Sam, it looked a bit odd but covered most of the vest up.
A few min later we arrived at a gated entrance and were told to head down to the parking lot and sign in at the building by the beach. After passing through the gate it was a short drive down a fairly steep hill to the river the woods opened up on both sides to the campgrounds and resort facilities, it was mid-week the campground was pretty empty. I parked the car a ways away from everyone else and moved around to the back to let Sam out.
“Finally” Sam rattled her wrist in its cuff.
“Please, you did worse to me and you know it”
Sam simply scowled in response
I leaned in and unclipped the vest from the car seat again, helping her to get out of the back seat to stand on the gravel of the parking area. Sam cringed as she straightened up and remained half bent at the waist. The Jeep was between us and most of the occupied areas, and those where sparsely occupied anyway.
“Turn around” I instructed her.
Sam rolled her eye but complied; I bent to unclip the crotch straps but couldn’t resist one last opportunity for revenge and grabbed the shoulder straps instead giving her one good hoist almost lifting her feet of the ground. Sam’s eyes became the size of dinner plates and she bit her lip screaming into it and thrashing her arms against the straps. I laughed and dropped her down again; Sam was now bent over almost 90deg at the waist trying to grab at the crotch straps but was prevented by the wrist cuffs. I Leaned down again and unclipped the crotch straps I had to pull them to get them to fall down as they had given her enough of a wedge to get stuck. Sam fell back on her but and stared at me, her eyes full of fire. I actually felt a bit bad now I had hoisted her a lot more than I meant too. I grinned stupidly.
“Sorry didn’t mean to lift you that hard”
“I’m sure” Sam mumbled still staring unblinking. I was pretty sure this little stunt was going to come back to haunt me, now I really regretted it.
I squatted next to her and unclipped her wrists and upper arm restraints, I was half expecting to get slapped but Sam was more concerned with massaging her damaged area, like a guy who’d been sacked. I helped her get to her feet, feeling worse as she walked with a slight limp now. I stashed the vest in the back of the jeep, locked it, and we headed over to the small brown building by the river to sign in.
I had paid for everything in advance so the sing in was pretty fast, the woman at the desk basically took our names and gave us each a wrist band. They also gave us a small combination locker to keep our car keys in so we didn't lose them on the river. We went and retrieved the tent and camping gear from the car and set up camp at an empty site near the river (a bit secluded) The first rafting trip would take place tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM sharp. With camp set up we went to go get some food and then some, to be much needed, sleep.
We woke up at around 7am, dressed, and went to the large pavilion where a breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes and just about anything else you wanted was being served buffet style. We were told by a passing guide to eat a lot but not stuff ourselves and risk cramping. After breakfast we joined a large number of other rafters and were assigned our guide. Our river guide was named Clara she looked to be in her late 20s and had her brown hair tied back, we followed her away from the main group for our safety briefing.
Clara had in her position a paddle helmet and standard issue lifejacket with which to demonstrate. She started by holding out the lifejacket. It had three straps across the front and a fourth lower down that went tight across the waist. There were three adjustable straps on either side to tighten it up, the shoulder straps were also adjustable, and of course it had a pair of crotch straps that hung down from the back.
Clara slipped the lifejacket onto herself and explained the various features that were already quite apparent as she buckled up the front, following that she demonstrated ride up by lifting the jacket over her head. Dropping it back down she proceeded to explain how to tighten up the jacket by cinching up the straps on each side, she accomplished this with ease but recommended getting a buddy to help out as it can be tricky. Finally she explained that it was best not to be stingy in the cinching department as – she passed the first of the crotch straps between her legs “these will take your weight if the waist strap doesn’t” she buckled the second one and snugged them down. She also stressed the importance of a fourth strap that sat just below the foam of the jacket in preventing ride up.
Clara then went on to demonstrate fitting the helmet and went into detail about how to use the paddle and what to do when (not if) you fall out of the raft. We were riding in a 6 person raft as opposed to a 12 person so apparently falling out was guaranteed.
With our safety lecture complete we followed Clara to the equipment shed to pick out our gear.
The shed was an old wooden building open to the air on one side and along the tops of the walls. There were several bins filled with helmets and racks of paddles of various sizes and Life jackets, more lifejackets than I could count.
Sam took a life jacket off a hook and held it in both hands at arm’s length. She looked at it like a child with a new toy.
“Help me put it on!”
I smiled and moved forward, happy to oblige. I took the jacket from Sam and held it open while Sam turned around and slipped her arms through. She then stood with her arms held straight out and legs together as though she was at attention in the military. I maneuvered around to the front of her laughing. Sam was grinning widely; I clipped the three buckles together at the front working my way up from the bottom one. Whoever had worn this jacket previously must have been twice the size of her; the jacket hung so loose she looked like a 6 year old wearing her parents clothes, for a moment I doubted the “one size fits all” but then I pulled the straps on either side of her, shortening them up, again starting the bottom of the three. Amazingly the jacket quickly shrank to fit Sam’s tiny figure quite well, next I shortened up the shoulder straps so the jacket sat around her properly.
“Spread em” I stated crouching, Sam compiled more than was really necessary shuffling her feet away from each other so she stood with her feet nearly 3 feet apart, I reached between them and grabbed the two longer straps hanging loosely from just above her but and pulled them back through, snapping each into its respective buckle on the front of the jacket. Sam grunted slightly as I snugged them down, there was a considerable amount of slack on these as well; now hanging in front of Sam in the form of loose ends as the straps between her legs were very tight against her.
Sam straightened up again to her “At attention position”
“Don't forget the waist one”
Following this reminder I connected the final buckle at the very base of the jacket and pulled it as snug as I could. Sam dropped her arms believing we were finished; it was at this point that Amanda came up on us.
“How are you two making out?”
Amanda set to inspecting Sam’s jacket pulling up on the shoulders and the front of the jacket.
“We can snug this up a bit more”
Amanda pulled on each of the 3 adjustment straps on each side of the jacket so it tightened up around Sam considerably more. She must have noticed the smile/blush on Sam’s face as she did this. She smiled knowingly at Sam
“you like it tight?” Sam not really knowing how to respond nodded her head and blushed a bit more. Amanda smiled in return.
“So do I, this can be tighter still, lot of water on the river this year after all”
Amada proceed take hold of the center straps on each side of Sam’s jacket and placed her knee against the front of Sam’s life vest pulling the straps at least another 4 inches tight. With the center two tighter the top and bottom ones went tight easily; finally Amanda snugged up the shoulder straps in a similar fashion and gave the two crotch straps an extra pull for good measure. Sam half stumbled and half stepped back when she had finished, hugging the jacket with her arms.
Amanda picked a helmet out of a nearby bin and placed it over the smaller girls head , she had to crouch a bit to see under Sam's chin to buckle and tighten the strap.
Amanda turned to me pulling another vest from the wall.
“Here you go arms right through here” Amanda’s tone was a mixture of a circus performer and a baby sitter; both theatrical and calming. I turned almost without meaning to and felt behind me for the arm holes -- I felt the jacket pass over my arms as Amanda slid the jacket over them and placed it over my shoulders. A moment later she was in front of me connecting buckles with expert speed. My jacket was a considerably better fit than Sam’s had been to start with, it was actually a bit snug, the person to last wear it may have been closer to Sam’s size than mine. Regardless the second Amada clipped the last of the four buckles into place she took hold of the adjustment straps and placed her knee against the front of my jacket as she had with Sam a moment earlier. I felt her knee press forward even through the thick foam of the jacket as she pulled back on the straps, surely pulling as hard as she was able. The jacket seemed to physically shrink around me pulling inward relentlessly. I could barely breath it was so tight, Amada reached around my side to grab the two hanging straps and passed them between my legs to her other hand I moved to spear my legs apart a bit but by now she was already buckling them into place at the front,
The straps were already short enough that I could feel them a bit but she tugged down on both straps snugging them up considerably, (tho not as uncomfortably tight as Sam would have made them). Amanda then fitted me with a helmet as she had sam, I left my arms hanging at my sides awkwardly as she clipped and tightened the strap. Finally she gave me a last check over tugging on the shoulder straps and pulling at the front parts of the jacket, hard enough to make me stumble a bit, satisfied she smiled.
“Ok I’ll see you two at the bus in 10!”
I turned to Sam who had watched the exchange but seemed more preoccupied with her jacket.
“What’d you think?”
She turned to me, took two steps forward and planted a kiss on my mouth.
Leaning back she stated simply.
“Best gift ever… But I still owe you one form before”
“Whaa?------“
“I cringed and sam yanked down on my crotch straps HARD with her left hand while I had been off guard”
I cringed and gasped
“Now we’re even” She smiled sweetly and danced away in the general direction of the bus, hugging her life jacket tightly as she went”
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