Saw Bones: An Anecdotal Autobiography

Saw Bones: An Anecdotal Autobiography

When I was younger; I had gone out on a canoe trip with my father, friends, and Scouts group. We were a good two days into a five day canoe trip, far from any source of phone or emergency facilities, in the northern lakes of Ontario. We had accidently strayed from our planned route that day and found ourselves in a small cove off the lake. With the day coming to an end and no one knowing where we had made a wrong turn, we decided to set up camp for the night in the cove, waiting till morning to retrace our route. The cove we had stumbled into was calm of wind and quiet, completely closed in by large spruce trees, with a small waterfall opposite the canal that lead back to the open lake. We couldn't have planned a more picturesque place to spend the night. The ten or so canoes were brought ashore near the base of the falls; unloaded, and tied to trees, preventing them from drifting back out to the open water by the current of the falls.

We then hiked up a small deer trail, leading us near the top of the falls, to a joining lake where we found a clearing to set our camp. After establishing a small community of tents, we all then decided to have a dip in the lake to cool ourselves from the long day and hot sun. Before jumping in for myself, I noticed a few of the others leaving the water with large blackish-brown leaches attached to their legs. The sight of such a large and disgusting creature would be enough to discourage almost anyone from entering the water, but the thought of cooling the bright red burns that covered our bodies, was too much to ignore. I remembered reading once in a fishing magazine, how leaches were attracted to warm shallow water. Being that the area where all the others had decided to cool off was exactly that, I looked for somewhere better to cool myself. The same magazine had also taught me that leaches were less likely to gather, where sharp drops from land to water are present, as they become easy prey for large fish that swim in these deeper waters. With this all in mind, I desperately searched the nearby shore line for such an area. Finally! I found it, the perfect Place! It was an area of deep water, with an opposing shore consisting of a large granite boulder. A piece of the Canadian Shield protruding from the earth like a small mountain, stood covered in wet moss and lichen, roughly 50 feet from the shore I was standing. Without hesitation, the burning of the sun taking over my every thought, I jumped in. Instantly the feeling of the cool water on my body soothed me.

Finally now thinking clearly, not being very far from the others, I decided to make my way over to them. They had made their way out to deeper water, away from the shore, where it was clear of leaches. I had already started to swim over to the others, when I suddenly had a strange feeling. I wasn't getting any closer. I've always been a strong