Terror In The Storm (standard:adventure, 2722 words)
Author: Paul	Added: Apr 16 2001	Views/Reads: 3757/2587	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
He didn't realize how bad it was until it was too late.

Terror in the Storm 

Larry and Jan were slowly proceeding across Lake Hummingbird in their
small homemade wooden boat. The Lake was a very large reservoir used 
for water supply. It was very old lake which had an abutment the water 
flowed over rather than a spillway as did the flood control or 
hydroelectric dams. A small five-horse power motor powered their boat, 
so progress was slow. It was a beautiful warm June day, however, and 
the trip was pleasant. The golden rays of sunlight glimmered on the 
peaceful lake surface and the gentle breeze ruffled Jan's long blonde 
hair. 

Jan turned to Larry and smiled, then said, "Shouldn't we worry about
those awful summer thunderstorms since we are going so far from camp." 

"I don't think so," Larry answered. "It is a long way to the back of
Devil's Cove, but it doesn't look like rain. Anyway, we will start back 
at the first sign of trouble." 

Devil's Cove was about forty-five minutes away from camp, but the bream
fishing was excellent along the cut away banks under the hanging swamp 
willows. As they glided into the first hole Jan rigged her popping bug 
on her ten foot fly rod and dropped it perfectly about two feet away 
from the bank. She heard the sucking sound as a large shell cracker 
ambushed the bug. 

"One cast and one fish," Jan said. "This is going to be a good day." 

"Maybe we can catch our limit without moving," Larry replied. Indeed
they did have an outstanding catch that afternoon. 

Jan and Larry had been fishing for about an hour when Larry snagged an
overhanging limb. As he pulled closer to shore Jan heard an ominous 
rumble to the west. "Is that thunder?" she said. Larry continued to 
retrieve his bug when Jan heard the noise again, but much louder this 
time. 

"That sounds like a big storm!" Jan said. 

"Let's get our stuff together and get out of here," Larry replied. 

As usual the motor was hard to start. Larry pulled and pulled but to no
avail. He adjusted the fuel mixture, and after several more tries old 
Betsy finally cranked. Many precious minutes had been lost during the 
ordeal and by now the sky was darkening. The gentle breeze had become 
twenty five-mile an hour winds. "Can we make it back? "Jan asked in an 
alarmed tone. 

"Let's go to the mouth of the cove and see how bad it is," answered
Larry. He was very concerned, but he didn't want to scare Jan. The 
little boat was sea worthy but had no build in flotation, and if it 
filled with water it would certainly sink. "Maybe we should put on our 
life jackets," Larry said. "That way we will not have to lose more time 
when we get to the cove mouth." 

As they reached the cove mouth both of them looked in horror to the
west. White caps had formed on the waves, and lightning was striking 
everywhere. Larry tried to count the seconds between the thunder and 
the lightning flashes. 

"The storms is still about five miles away, but I don't have time to
figure out how fast it is moving," Larry said. 

"We don't have any shelter to use to hole up do we?" questioned Jan. 

"I'm afraid not," replied Larry. "I really didn't think we would have
bad weather today. I think we should make a run for it. We should be 
able to make it." 

They started across the expansive lake. Larry tried to steer directly
toward their campsite, but the wind pushed them off course, and they 
were headed a little toward the dam. Larry began to fear that he had 
made a horrible mistake. They should have sought cover on land rather 
than try to cross, but it was too late now. 



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