Strange Yarns

The Baby Blue Canoe

A voice inside her said jump in and swim out. Make new friends. But each canoe was filled. No room for Margot. And then there was the big black lake between them. Hope faded.

Then...

A fourth canoe veered around the outcrop following the others. This canoe was baby blue and carried only one teen. A shirtless boy, sitting at the stern, paddling to keep up. As if Margot's prayer had been answered, the boy in the baby blue canoe turned his head and caught Margot's eye. Even from this distance she could see his eyes were the same baby blue as his boat. He rested his paddle across his lap and gave a wave. Margot could feel a smile creep up along her lips. She waved back.

Margot saw the boy making a decision. He looked back to his friends in the red canoes pressing forward, their bawdy laughter fading in the distance. He looked back at Margot and shouted, "Hey!"

Margot looked behind her, is he talking to me?

"Hey!" The boy in the baby blue canoe waved again.

Margot shyly returned his "hey", then realized it was far too quiet and shouted "Hey!" maybe too loud. She cringed in embarrassment.

The blue eyed boy in the baby blue canoe took one last look at his group, then put his paddle back in the lake and turned the bow towards Margot's dock. The blue eyed boy was topless and his shirt was wrapped around his head like a turban. It was damp and beads of water dripped down his lean pale body. He must use a lot of sunscreen Margot thought. Even with the sun in her eyes she could tell that he was definitely cute. He was about her age, maybe a bit younger, because he had no hair on his chest or armpits, but his sculpted muscles were more defined than a boy of thirteen or fourteen.

He turned the boat in, making a wake a glistening sun specks, and came to gentle stop just before the canoe's gunwale pushed up against the side of the dock.

The afternoon sun blinded Margot from the sky and glinted off the water from the bottom. She held her hand to her forehead, saluting a commander, but even through the glare she could see his eager smile. She couldn't help but think of Jonny.

"Hey, you! Whatchya doing?" the blue eyed boy smiled.

All Margot could come up with was "Me?"

"No, the dock spiders." He smiled again, his big blue eyes impervious to the blinding July sun.

She laughed at his joke, not because it was funny, but because it seemed like he thought it was funny and she didn't want to be rude.

"I'm just relaxing. Where are you guys going?" Margot tilted her head towards the red canoes now far in the distance.

The boy didn't seem worried about being left behind, "We're going for a camp out. Me and the other teens love to go for camp outs."

This struck Margot as off. She had never heard any teen refer to themselves and their friends as teens. She thought he must be a townie. She'd been to town a few times and thought all the kids in Hilltop to be a little odd. This boy was no exception, but his smile was friendly and it reminded her of her friends back at home. Her friends were a little odd too.

Margot found herself wondering what colour this boy's hair was underneath that damp t-shirt turban. His eyebrows were so fair that they were almost not there at all. He must be a blondie.

"What are you going to be doing on your camp out?" She asked.

"Play and eat, of course. Oh, you'd love it. It's always so much fun." He laughed to himself, "Do you wanna come?"

Margot's heart leaped. She could feel her legs preparing to hop right into the blue eyed boy's baby blue canoe.

And then another thought, she had no idea who this boy was.