It's Okay To Say No
The water boils below. Rocks, drop-offs, boulders, and screaming fast, extremely cold water roars by. Everyone is watching us. Expectations are high. From the highway, the slope is treacherous. Granite boulders line the way down, and poison oak is often the handrail. Thinking the dog’s four-wheel-drive works better if he isn’t restrained, I send him on his way down the boulder field. I am wrong. He slips, he slides, he tumbles a bit. Teammates along the way try to stop him and finally succeed. Water searching is his favorite. Whether it is the mystery of it all or something else, I don’t know. He believes all water has something in it for him to find. I again think I can allow him to free search the area to give us a clue if what we are looking for is indeed here. I am wrong. My heart jumps into my throat as he crests the top of a gigantic boulder and begins the descent to make it to the water. I scream they scream, we all scream and he stops. Back on lead he goes.