Another minute or so of heading down river allowed them to read the first of the two signs. The first one read: ATTENTION — ATTENTION. Class III and IV RAPIDS AHEAD. LAST CHANCE TO EXIT RIVER BEFORE RAPIDS.
The second sign was just as large, and that read: WARNING — WARNING. NO ROWBOATS OR SWIMMING. DIRECTLY AHEAD ARE DANGEROUS RIVER RAPIDS THAT MUST BE NAVIGATED SMARTLY OR INJURY OR DEATH MAY OCCUR.
Wu read the signs, and looked down into the raft. No, no… no rapids, Wu said quietly to himself. Nothing was said too loudly, as he was becoming frozen with fear. The dark and plummeting feeling Wu had earlier quickly returned.
The rafts entered a more narrow portion of the canyon, with the walls being closer together as the speed of the water picked up pace. More grey rocks and larger boulders were visible both beneath the water line, and a superfluity of rocks could be seen above. The water was increasing in pace every second, and the white water was much more visible now.
“Ford, I don’t like this. I don’t like this speed at all. The water…can we pull over to the shore?” said Wu more loudly, as the raft was nearly uncontrollable and sliding downward in and out of the water.
“WHAT?” Ford yelled back, barely hearing him over the roar of the splashing water on their raft now, in addition to the downward water flow due to the elevation change.
“I HAVE TO GET OUT. I DON’T LIKE THIS, FORD,” Wu yelled, clearly uncomfortable. Wu was terrified and was moving the oar in the water in trying to push the raft away from the rocks and towards the shore. It was not working. His efforts were fruitless, especially when the raft turned sideways. “I HAVE TO GET OUT.”
From the look of Ford’s face, he was enjoying the rapids. Moving the oar with the water and not fighting the rapids, it was a terrific ride. As Ford turned his head sideways to see what Wu was doing in the rear, he gasped.
“Wu. WU! Get your leg back in the raft! What the hell are you doing? Wu!”
“I have to get out. I don’t like the water!”
“No, you have to stay in the boat. Shut up. The whirlpool is just up ahead!”
“The water….the water. No, I can’t do it!” replied Wu.
“Stop it, Wu. Yes, you can. Cut it out. The whirlpool is just up there. Just up ahead.”
Just as Ford was telling Wu to stay in the raft, a blur of disastrous events began. Ford could not only see how terrified Wu was, but noticed something very troubling. Wu never fully snapped his life jacket buckles together, so it was only resting on and around his neck. The white buckled straps were dangling down on his sides. The longer strap should have been around his waist and snapped in, but it was now dragging in and out of the water.
Wu was having what seemed like a panic attack, and could not think clearly inside the raft. The raft movement of side to side was throwing him around, and by putting his leg over the side made his center of gravity even more unstable.
Ford hand gestured to Wu to buckle his vest, then yelled “BUCKLE! YOUR! VEST!” Wu did not hear him. Shit! It was no use to get him to do it, Ford thought. He quickly turned his head to see the distance from his raft to his Dad, or even Xi and the Germans, but the distance was way too far to yell over the roar of the rapids.
PLOPP! PLOPP!
Wu slid into the turbulent water! In Class IV rapids, the last place you wanted to be was in the water, especially without a life jacket, but that was where Wu was.
Ford turned around again to look at Wu, and the back of the raft was empty. He looked beyond the raft, and all he saw was an orange life jacket floating behind them, but no Wu. “WU! WU! WHERE ARE YOU?” he yelled. Holy friggin shit, he’s out of his life jacket!
The rapids were finishing just upstream, but another tremendous obstacle was sitting in their path. The whirlpool, a large and natural rotation of the river water that had tremendous currents and fast moving water in a circular motion, lay waiting. If one is in a raft, the whirlpool was perfectly navigable. To swim it without a life jacket meant almost death via drowning.
“WU! WU!”
Xi and the Stevens’ rafts were already ahead in the quieter portion of the river. The speed was faster and swirly, but much less noisy, and they could easily hear Ford’s commotion.
“Ford! FORD! Where is Wu?” yelled Mr. Stevens.
“DAD! HE FELL OUT! HE’S NOT WEARING HIS LIFE JACKET!”
Wu was underwater and twisting with the current. His body was being held under water with immense pressure, tumbling him, continuously rolling him around on the river bottom like a small pebble. He was able to pop up for air for a brief moment, only to have the cold, swift, water pull him down again with the violent undertow.
“Help,” was heard from behind Ford’s raft, along with coughing. ”HELP!”
“WU!” Ford yelled again, seeing his white t-shirt on top of the water, then descending as rapidly as he saw it. Ford looked ahead to see the length of the Whirlpool portion of the river. He determined that it was way too long to stay underwater, and instinctively knew that Wu would not make it unless he made a rapid decision. “DAD!” Ford yelled ahead, pointing down twice with his hand. It was at that moment that Ford jumped into the cold river water to search for his best friend.
Marion and Xi both gasped, and the Germans looked on with silence but intense concern, as was the German way. “Oh, Ford…” exclaimed Marion.
Ford was completely in the water, his hair wet and moving his arms and legs in an attempt to feel for Wu. This water is freaking cold, Ford thought. He could not help but think how Wu missed snapping his life jacket as the river’s momentum floated him backwards. Ford thought about the how, and then the answer hit him. The horseplay with the oars and checking out Gretchen, the pretty German blonde, was a distraction to both of them. Ford was able to snap his own jacket easily out of habit, and since Wu never wore one before, he didn’t complete the buckle snap.
Wu was still underwater, being thrashed around. His lungs were filling up with water and they burned without air. He saw flashes of light when he was facing upwards towards the surface of the water, then blackness. His knees, palms, and elbows scraped the riverbed.
Ford put his arms out in front of him to protect his face from the oncoming rocks, and felt a piece of material with his right hand. It was Wu’s pants. They must have ripped off him in the current and undertow. His freaking pants?
“FORD! HANG ON, SON! IT’S NOT TOO MUCH LONGER! CALM WATER AHEAD!” yelled Mr. Stevens.
It was too long, though. Ford was still floating along and now out of the rapids, but the rotation of the water was as strong as Ford ever felt. He was now caught in a gigantic, rotating, circular motion, and could not move up stream or downstream. Ford was stuck, rotating in an enormous circle.
Wu surfaced again, and just as Mother Nature was turning his body in the water, he slammed his forehead on a large boulder, just below where the helmet was providing protection. A thump was heard, like a watermelon being dropped on the ground during a warm summer day. The clear water rolled right off his forehead, so the new wound was visible and clean. He looked to be conscious, but there was no question, the blow to the head was serious.
“WU, WU, I see you! Hold on man!” Ford yelled, as he was close to Wu. He was floating on top of the water now and was face down. There was no movement. Ford rolled him over and could see a gash above his right eye, about three inches in length. It was now bleeding profusely. The life jacket Ford was wearing was able to hold both boys above the water safely. Floating out of the whirlpool now, Ford’s incredible strength was a true asset, and he was able to pull Wu to the eastern shore where there was a small beach clearing. One arm stroked, with the other pulling Wu. Ford was able to pull him out of the water and onto the pebbles and sand.