The Sandpit
The Wager
Errands
Ponchontas
The Bloodfish
The Garden Patch
The Monarch
Brebeuf
City The Insects Invade
Plaudits
Summer's Clock
Automobile Soft Legs
The Pelly, The Powder and the Snake
Jabiru
Adua
Rip

TO CROSS THE BAY

"I wouldn't try a crossing in weather like this," warned the old man.
"It's a bad time of year, what with the wind and all. Worse still, the
lake water is lethal by November. That means if you capsize it will be
the chill that does you in."

The old man stopped short, conscious of the look of defiance in the
youth's eyes. Young fool biting the nose to spite his face, he thought.

The marina was closed for the season, but the island's residents made
contact with the mainland one way or the other. Until mid-winter there
was a ferry service, but that assumed a fair bit of discipline from a
resident. He had to go and come when the province obliged. Young bloods
off to escape the monotony of Wolfe Island were only marginally willing
to conform their Saturday festivities with an arbitrary ruling. No, it
was too easy to keep a boat in tow at a friend's landing. Keep a bottle
to ward off the night's chill. A bottle for tonic against the elements
and a buttress against authority. The old man knew if he did not avail
this one a boat--a safe one at that--he would put his hands on a craft
of some sort. Accountability, he thought. They mustn't care about their
own lives. Still, there was a living to be made and it was a marina,
albeit a closed one. He would still get a boat one way or the other, he
mused again as he watched the light fade in the evening sky. He pulled
his collar sharply. Yellow leaves were beginning to form a mat on the
wooden stairs leading to the shed. He could just make out land's end
against a funnel gray sky. Better to advise the young man of the
dangers, suggest a daytime crossing. Perhaps even try a little reverse
psychology.

The boy, if he could be called that, was growing impatient.

"I'll be all right with a life-jacket. The boat won't be overloaded.
Just the three of us. My cousin and her kid are going with me."

The old man's eyes stirred from the damp reverie of the previous moment.

"I can't let you take a child out into that. The water's choppy at
best. You know next to nothing about handling a craft if she takes on
water or if it becomes turbulent. Why are you in such an all-fired
hurry to get across anyhow?"

"Let