The raft was suddenly dancing in the air. Being on top of the boat, I could’ve almost reached out and grabbed it to force it to stop dancing, but a sudden boom and lurch of the boat instantly brought my mind to what was happening.
Andrea, who had been asleep, suddenly appeared behind me. “Did you feel that?” I asked her, as her siblings appeared behind us.
“Yes, that’s why I woke up. I felt that.”
Another boom and lurch of the houseboat sent us running downstairs, wanting to laugh or make this thing more exciting, but unable to do so.
The wind picked up extremely fast and I could see things from on the top of the houseboat being blown into the lake. I suddenly heard Mike’s commanding voice.
“Is everyone on the boat?!”
Al and Megan boosted themselves out of the water as Mike’s voice came again. “Get out there and help re-anchor!”
Andrea, Megan, Kendra, Al, and I scuffled quickly off the boat and each went to one of the ropes. Chris, Tyler, and Sarah were already outside, each doing their own thing to help.
Suddenly, the boat began to tip to the side and I could see Markey on the top floor of the boat almost thrown to the other side. The rope we were holding onto went taut as the boat slammed into it. Everyone let go, but for some reason, I didn’t.
“Let go!” Everyone screamed, “Let go!”
I instantly let go and made my way quickly up the hill towards my friend, Kendra, who was only in her swimming suit. I, being only in shorts and a T-shirt, but at least having a little more cover on me, threw my arms around her scrawny shoulders and tried to block her from the sewing-pin like dirt that stung our legs and arms and any bare part of our body.
The sewing pins kept stabbing at our bodies as we were commanded to get hold of the rope that the boat was now pulling towards the lake. With our legs set firm in the sand and our arms locked, we kept the boat from tipping again. Until… the wind picked up even harder. The sharp pieces of sand went into our bodies again as we were dragged towards the lake.
I prayed for strength and… the wind suddenly settled for a moment and we were able to anchor the boat firmly. On that side, at least.
We noticed the top on the smaller boat being blown almost completely off. Megan, Andrea, Kendra, and I advanced towards the boat as the wind began to pick up again. Kendra and Andrea hopped into the boat and began to take the top down. However, Megan and I, feeling the pain from the sand, hid behind a rock. I felt foolish.
Finally and suddenly, the storm stopped. We anchored the boats better than we had before and then all settled down to thankfully rest.
For the rest of the vacation with my friends, I would always keep a sharp look out for dark clouds. And whenever a gust of wind came by, my breathing stopped.
We were in a canyon in Lake Powell. We did not even want to think of what happened on the lake.
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