The Rescue

 

In my mind it had giant, billowing sails and extensive rigging.  There was a crow’s nest high atop the center mast.  Constructed of the best wood, its shape and clean lines sliced through the water with ease.

The harsh reality was that it was a small, aluminum rental, with a single paddle.   The force of the river made my inexperience very clear to onlookers.  If I wasn’t headed into the branches along the bank, I was turning sideways and getting dirty looks from those trying to pass me.

I was in over my head in more ways than one.  All I wanted to do now was to get back, return this thing and sit quietly in front of my typewriter with a refreshing beverage, creating imaginary adventures.  That’s where I should have stayed this morning, not come out here.

Suddenly I felt a jolt and heard a loud clunk.  Another boat had hit mine from behind.  I turned around in my seat and saw it was another rental, but the person in the boat was slumped over.  Hopefully, not dead.  I reached out and grabbed the bow of their boat and tried pulling it in closer to me.

“Hello?”  No response.   “Hello?”  Nothing.  As I looked around for anyone else close by there was nobody.  Then I quickly questioned why I was holding onto this guy’s boat.  There was nothing I was going to be able to do to help him.  I certainly couldn’t attempt to maneuver both boats downstream, and if this person was truly dead, I was suddenly going to be the primary suspect.  Boy, what a fun day this is turning out to be.

If I was going to do any good at all, it would have to be on shore.  I kept holding onto the bow of his boat as I made feeble attempts to paddle towards the closest bank.  I’d figure things out once I got that far.

Once again, I had reached the low hanging branches.  I locked my feet under the seat and with my free hand I pulled on a limb, dragging both boats to the edge of the bank.  Based on that plan working, I was feeling pretty good about myself, now I just had to climb out of my boat and then lift him out of his, and hope both boats don’t float away with the current as I’m doing all that.

You’d think the boat rental would include a little rope, for such emergencies but I saw nothing else in either boat but a single paddle in each.   Not all that helpful, right now.  But then I thought of a plan.  I took the handle of one paddle and jammed it into the muck on the river bottom, and right up against the side of the boat.  Now, at least, the current is pushing the boat against the paddle and not just trying to float it down stream.  Boy, sometimes I really impress myself.

Once I had pulled his boat up onto the bank as much as I could, I stepped in and felt for a pulse.  He wasn’t dead, at least not yet.  I still had no clue what was wrong with him.  He didn’t seem to have a wallet or be wearing a watch.  Hoping there wasn’t any broken bones or anything like that, I got him sitting upright.  I heard a slight groan.  Yes!  A good sign indeed.  I gave him a couple gentle slaps on his face and tried again talking to him.  “Hello in there.  Are you with us?”

He began blinking.  

I thought, YES!  I’m no longer a suspect.

“Can you talk?”

“Where’s Nancy?”

“Who’s Nancy?”

“She was in the boat with me.”

“Nope.  No Nancy.  Just you.”

“Who are you?”

“I m the person you ran into on the river.  I pulled us over here to see if you were okay.”

“I’ve got to find her.  It’s important.”

“Let me ask you this, is Nancy a good swimmer?”

“I think so.  Aren’t all dogs good swimmers?”

“Nancy is your dog?”

“Of course, what did you think?”

“Sorry.  I’ve never heard a dog being named Nancy before.”

“Will you please help me find her?  It’s extremely important.”

“I guess I can help look for a short time, but first you have to tell me, why Nancy?”

“Nancy is really an acronym.  I don’t remember what it stands for.  She actually belongs to the Navy.  I sort of borrowed her.”

“You stole a dog from the Navy?”

“I didn’t know, at the time, that she wasn’t real.  Nancy is a robot.  A very sophisticated and quite expensive weapon.”

“What makes you think the Navy isn’t tracking her where-a-bouts all the time?  I bet they know exactly where she is.”

“If I can find her first, I can return her, and everything can go back to normal.  If they find her first, I’ll still be seen as a thief and most likely go to jail.”

“How did she get away from you?”

“She bit me.  Her bite is like getting zapped with a stun gun.”

“What’s your name?”

“Nathan.”

“Look, Nathan, I don’t think I want to get involved with stolen Navy property.  How are they to know that I wasn’t in on it from the beginning?”

“I really did think I was rescuing her.  I really did.”

"Let's think for a minute.  If the dog is actually a robot, is it recording whatever it sees?  Is there someone at a desk or console someplace listening to whatever it hears, and seeing what it sees?"

"I hadn't thought about that."

"How did you happen to get it?  What did you rescue it from?  Is someone else controlling it?"

"I don't know."

"What caused it to bite you?"

"I remember, I was trying to read the tag on its collar.  It apparently didn't like that."

"If no one saw you with the dog, and if they are tracking it, then just forget about it.  Let the Navy find it."

"I can't.  There's something else..."

"What aren't you telling me, Nathan?"

"I'm just thinking that, considering the technology that has gone into that dog, how could it not have my DNA?  I mean. the thing bit me.  It is probably already processed, with someone printing wanted posters as we speak."

"Tell me again, Nathan, why you thought the dog needed to be rescued."

"I didn't know at the time that it wasn't real.  All I saw was this guy carrying a dog by its neck.  He had it under his arm, like a briefcase, or something.  It didn't look right. I felt bad for the animal.  The guy had set it down by his car, so when he was fishing around for something in his trunk, I ran up and grabbed it.  I just kept running and running, even though the guy was yelling for me to stop."

"Did the guy have a Navy uniform on?  Was it a government car?"

"I don't remember seeing a uniform, and I'm not sure about the car."

"Let's do this...  Let's go back and return these boats.  We'll get our deposits back and if there isn't a group of military police standing there waiting for you, then just go home.  Act like nothing has happened, and don't under any circumstances, admit to anything.  Just go home and stay there for several days."

That was the last time I saw or heard from Nathan.  I don't know if they ever caught up with him, and just kept it all out of the press, because it was all classified.  Who knows?   I just know that is as close as I ever want to come to going up the river.

The end