3256. A romantic weekend © Bruce Goodman 4 July 2025

Sidney and Abby had arranged to spend the weekend at a riverside cabin. They would rent it for two nights and spend the days strolling hand in hand down the many paths through woods and ferns and heather fields in flower. Of course the river was there and the cabin came with a little canoe. They had barely arrived when Abby said, “Oh, I’ve forgot to bring the spaghetti.” It developed into an argument – goodness knows what about – and Sidney ended up getting in the canoe and rowing to the other side of the river. A fine start to a romantic weekend. Then it began to get dark. It wasn’t evening dark but thick rain clouds blocking the sun. It began to rain. Abbey kept looking across the river to see if the canoe would make an appearance but it didn’t. She could tell that the river was rising, and quite fast. Then the little canoe made a sudden appearance with Sidney paddling like billy-o against the rising waters. Things were looking quite dangerous. And then the canoe turned over. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story