Summer Novel Part One An RV pulling a rickety trailer stacked precariously with odd looking boats rumbled into the gas station, shuttered, moaned and stopped. Perrin sat inside the RV. Her dyed red hair was dirty and she had been wearing the same green tank top and blue shorts for the past two weeks. She listened out of the window to the two women standing in the gas station next to a mini van with their backs to the RV. "So how is Timmy's soccer going?" "Oh, you know, there is never enough funding, never enough fields, every Saturday we spend driving to some corner of the state. I tell you it's a mad sport." Perrin wanted a reality check for the two women, they were about to get one. They turned around and saw the van. It was obvious from their faces that they had never seen anything like it in their lives. Their eyes passed from the egg shaped tires to the torn up roof back to the trailer. Perrin could see that neither knew anything about boats or trailers but they did know that the particular trailer they had was not made for the twenty boats that were strapped onto it. Just then Chris got out of the RV, talking on his cell phone. Chris was their coach. He was twenty-nine but had the attitude of a big brother; most of the time. He took off his black faded Power Bar cap and scratched his dirty scalp. "No, no, everything is fine." He said looking at one of the egg shaped wheels and kicking it. "Yes, like I said. The tires melted when we drove through Death Valley and we got a flat. It's ok though it's all fixed. We are at a gas station now; yes we are back in Colorado. We'll be home in an hour or so." Chris looked into the RV. "Hey. Clean out the fridge while we are here. I don't want that stuff in my garage." Perrin and her four companions grimaced they knew what that meant. It meant tackling the fridge and that was not going to be a pretty task. Nic, a kayaker with a lean build and a fair complexion, opened the refrigerator. "Ahhhhgg! What is that?" Tom cried. Tom was a canoeist. His hair was longer than Perrin's, but it was straight as a board. It came down to his shoulders. "I don't know." Lisa, a six foot-tall, blond, sixteen-year-old, gasped, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve. "Wait a minute, those are strawberries." Kal observed. Kal was calm about the whole situation. He stood in the space next to the shower in the bathroom wearing a red shirt covered in dirt. "Strawberries aren't that color or that texture." Nic breathed. "They stink! Get them out quick!" Perrin's hand shot out the window, the strawberries dangling from her fingers. "Chris, take them, take them!" Chris turned, caught the remains of the once healthy strawberries and tossed them into the trash can. "Oh, is that what was stinking up the place?" "No. This was." Next Perrin passed a gallon of curdled milk out of the window. Moldy cheese, rotten meat and many other indistinguishable items that were once edible followed the curdled milk. Chris continued to talk while taking the spoiled food, as if he did this everyday. The women stood in disbelief. Their van had long ago filled up but they continued to watch. "We had to take the boats off of the roof so now some are inside." Perrin looked back into the 'bedroom' of the RV, three boats lay on the bed. She smiled. "Any way we'll see you soon." He hung up. "Excuse me," One of the women started to approach Chris but quickly faded back as soon as she caught a whiff of him. "Um, is this your RV?" "No, we rented it; well actually we are partially sponsored by Cruise America." Chris responded. "Really, you are sponsored why?" "We are the Junior National Downriver Team and the Front Range Paddling Association. We just got back from two weeks in California at the Senior Wild Water World Cup races. In two days head off to Austria for the Junior Downriver World Championships." "Um, what is Downriver?" The woman questioned. Perrin looked at her van, SOCCER, THE NEVER ENDING SEASON, was plastered on its side. If only she knew what a never ending season really was. The year came flooding back to her. Weight training started right after cross country season. Perrin recalled the dark, December nights out on the frozen reservoir when all they could do was break the ice with their paddle and blow warm mouth heated air into their rapidly freezing hands. She remembered the races in early March when all it did was snow and the competitors huddled in the bathroom to stay warm. She recalled her own comment when they got to California and she had felt the water for the first time. 'I didn't know that we ever paddled in warm water' she had said. Now it was June and their season was in full swing. She looked back at the women and Chris. Chris was already explaining what they had been doing and what downriver was. If she had a nickel for every time someone asked them this question, oh, she would be rolling in money. "Downriver, is like a cross country running race in a boat. The point of downriver is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Downriver boats are very round and tipsy; they don't turn well and are very hard to control." Chris started. He pointed to one of the longer boats on the trailer telling her that that was a downriver boat. Half an hour later the woman stood side by side in disbelief as the RV and trailer pulled out of the gas station, Perrin watched them and heard their final comments on her newfound lifestyle. "What a mad sport." "Yes." Inside the RV the stench was a little better. The coolers were still filled with things no one had wanted to touch, if only the ice in them had not melted. The ice had melted when the coolers had fallen out of the shower. The coolers had been in the shower because there was no other place to put them. The team had placed all of the meat into the coolers which went into the showers after the generator had given out. "Yeah, if the generator hadn't given out then let's see. Well, the AC would work, the microwave would work, the refrigerator would work meaning our food wouldn't be rotten and we wouldn't have a fly and ant infestation." Tom said as he lounged on a dirty chair, blowing his long hair out of his eyes. Perrin looked around, yeah it was dirty but California was had been great. She had raced in the Senior World Cups; an honor not bestowed on many people, especially those her age, seventeen, or those who had been only paddling for four months. She had been, for one race, the top USA finisher and ninth Internationally. She had gotten through the toughest part of the rapids the fastest of all of the US women. She could have sworn the score board was wrong, it wasn't though. Her confidence had soared through those two weeks in California. Not only were her boating skills improving, but she was placing among the international athletes, something that she only had dreamed of doing. Now she was actually doing it. back to Summer Novel 2003