<div class="floatright">(https://imgur.com/3bzOqYW.jpg)<br/><div align="center"><strong>Sean Platt</strong></div></div><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Courier;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 16pt;"><strong>S T O R Y T E L L E R</strong></span></span><hr/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;">Next Post: 4.28.22 | June 10th, 1:15pm | Down River | <strong>Angel</strong>, <strong>Billie</strong>, <strong>Devina</strong>, <strong>Elle</strong>, <strong>John-James</strong>, <strong>Robin</strong></span><hr/><em>Elle, Robin &amp; Thorne, Angel &amp; Billie, Devina</em><br/><br/>Despite his antics, Thorne has obeyed the rules as they were presented. He didn’t paddlewhack Elle, so no whistle gets blown, and his canoe is allowed to proceed across the lake. Sean stays back though, ready to assist Elle if it should become needed. Sean is, however, surprised to see so many of the other campers come together to help her out. So rather than getting into the mess, he allows them to go about trying to rescue the poor girl. Teamwork is a camp essential! Though flipping a kayak, in kayaks and canoes yourself, without flipping yourself, and getting someone back into it is not in any way a particularly easy thing to accomplish. By the time Elle is assisted and back into her kayak, and everyone is detangled and ready to go, Thorne and Robin have an insurmountable lead.<br/><br/>There’s no prize for second place. So Sean paddles up beside Elle, gives her a little side glance, “<strong>You good?</strong>” Just to ensure she’s going to be fine.<br/><br/>Eventually, when everyone else catches up and they’re at the river’s mouth, Sean raises a hand to the two boys, “<strong>Cheesecake with me tonight boys. Good job.</strong>” He paddles around and lets the current start to drag him down the river backwards, “<strong>Now play nice everyone. Let’s get down the river without any more incidents huh?</strong>” He looks right at Thorne, “<strong>You won, so take the lead.</strong>” He looks at the girls”, “<strong>Nice hustle back there, I want you two in the back center. And Elle?</strong>” He scans over for her Kayak, “<strong>Take the middle huh? Join her there, Devina.</strong>” He instructs the two of them.<br/><br/>Sean takes a position at the far back, behind the canoe of the girls. In total - including your four vessels, and Sean’s kayak - there are eleven vessels on the river. In a sort of pod the group hits the river’s current and starts down it. Sean spouts some largely unimportant facts about Stillwater lake and the river, but that stops after the first five minutes or so. The - mostly - quiet of the journey is disrupted by one of the<em>other</em>canoe’s occupants hooking up their phone to a particularly powerful bluetooth speaker. Soon the group is gliding easily down the river to the likes of Captain Jack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bb_w7nOBwg) and assorted other music that is at its best in a Dance Dance Revolution machine.<br/><br/>About thirty minutes into the journey, they are down several bends and no longer in view of the lake proper. Surrounded on both sides by rocky hills that lead into the depths of the forest. From the vantage of the rear canoe it is possible to see something<em>big</em>, like a tremendous shadow beneath the surface of the water, rush beneath all the boats. It’s surprisingly gentle and doesn’t seem to disturb, except for a single bulge of water that grows and moves between the kayaks of Elle and Devina - who both experience a sort of push to the side, rocking their boats to opposite sides. The swell of water is gone before either of them can take note of what pushed them.<br/><br/>Furthest away from the group the boys of the forward canoe are away from the music and,<strong>if</strong>they are particularly observant or paying attention, notice a growing stillness and silence in the forest around them.