It was a miserable summer. All of us who endured the winter during the summer of 1986 on P.E.I. wished for a few more days of sunshine, but there were plenty of opportuni- ties for excitement for those few moments of sun.

My summer home is on a penin- sula north of New London, about two hundred yards from the Caven- dish sandspit by canoe or ten miles by car. Transportation to the beach is quick and simple for me, sually fueled by alcohol and propelled by paddles.

Two weeks of rain followed by a day of sunshine was enough to create an urge to venture upon the waters where the French, South- west and Stanley Rivers meet. The pessimism of the weather forecast was welcomed as a nice contrast to optimism belied by rain. My await- ing canoe was surrounded by foot long saturated grass.

I was the bow engine, internal combustion provided by Melcher’s Very Wild Canadian Whisky. Stern power was from my good friend Moose accompanied by a case of Olands Ale.

We planned a leisurely crossing. The beauty of the land and sea- scape takes time to consider. The comorants, cranes, blue herons, gulls and terns were active around us, all occupied in their individual methods of fishing.

Shortly after launching we dis- covered a’stowaway. A moose had himself a nest during the deluges. As caretaker of the cottage resort where | live my job includes killing rodents, so I made him walk the paddle. He walked down the han- dle to where the blade of the paddle ends, and then I dumped him into New London Bay.

OPEN LETT

UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

As the opportunity may never again present itself, I shall seize the moment. I want to thank all of the members of the GEM who through- out this semester in my term as edi- tor have contributed to the GEM.

They have contributed their thoughts, feelings and ideas and have as a consequence made the GEM a better newspaper. I thank them, as you should, for making the publication of our student news- paper a worthwhile endeavor.

The members of the GEM staff

made the transition between edi- E

The “NEW and IMPROVED” GEM will make its debut this January. In order for YOUR advertisement to bein it, you must contact us now! Advertising space is limited and is alloted to contractual customers first. If you wish to discuss your advertising requirements for The Gem, please contact:

THE MOUSE, THE MOOSE, And ME

He promply set out ona course of no return towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Despite my duty as an employee of the Hebrides Resort I could not let him drown. After fish- ing him out we inducted him as an honorary crewmember without pay. This ceremony was done with great pomp and mellowness.

Our recruit disappeared into the foreward' handhold, hereafter known as the mouse quarters. Captain Moose and I shut all engines to get gassed while the current drifted us parallel to Caven- dish about one hundred yards off- shore.

Occasionally Mouse would come out of his quarters and venture onto the prow to see where we were going. Eventually he became bolder and explored the ship, ignoring my orders to get back to his post The mutinous rodent had theimpudence to climb up my leg. As first mate and shipowner I fired him from his position into the sea but I relented, rescued and rehired him.

Weshould have guessed something was wrong when a buoy went by us at about twenty miles an hour. It did distract me from soaking up sunshine and Melchers. Moose, Mouse and I took our bearings. The buoy was still charging away from us. The Hebrides were far away, but we were still the same distance from the Cavendish Sandspit. I tried’to figure out how a channel marker could be cut adrift and moving so fast, but I had to con- cludeit was impossible. I was right.

The solution was a breeze. In a span of sixty seconds the wind grew from nothing into a gale. Halfway through that minute I realized the buoy was stationary; we were borne by a ripetide that was precursor to a storm and we

ER TOTHE

tors as easy as could be, under the circumstances in which the change was made. I thank each of them for their understanding and coopera- tion and wish them all the best for the holiday season and the rest of the academic year.

It’s been a pleasure working with all of you, and I trust we can con- tinue working together in the New Year. Good luck with your exams, all of you!

Sincerely, Lori Anne Heckbert ditor

by: R. McNeill

were in big trouble.

Bottles were flung overboard in our hast to man the paddles. The wind created swells that we had to crest at right angles but the tide’s direction was perpendicular to the wind’s, trying to push us sideways into the waves. If that happened Moose and I knew we would die. Mouse at least suspected it.

We managed to get halfway toward the proper direction before the full force of the gale hit us. Both of us were straining-every muscle pad- dling at the port side, which was barely enough to save us. The tide tried hard to take degrees away from our course change but our incentive gave lots of power to the paddles, We could not get the bear- ing the rest of the way around but we had enough of an angle to keep us from being swamped immedi- ately. We managed to maintain it.

Up we went to the crest of each wave, then down the other side. Mouse stood on the prow, amazing me by not being swept overboard. Wind, tide and top speed paddling

combined to give us velocity that I suspect might bea world record for canoeing. :

I was too busy to be scared until we topped an especially large wave. I reached down paddling and strocked air instead of water. This trew me off balance and wobbled the canoe, but we recovered. Not a word was said and nothing extra was done; no more was possible.

The southerly wind tried to help us north towards Cavendish while the tide tried to push us east into the middle of the bay. We managed to compromise between the elements and go northeast which, while not the most direct rout, would eventu- ally angled in and reduced the hundred yards between us and safety. I have no idea how much time elapsed. Everything happened extremely fast, yet it seemed an interminable journey.

Finally a wave carried us far up the beach. We sat there and gasped air for awhile, then we crawled out of the canoe. Tomorrow my mus- cles would stiffen and I would be

WE

able to move only slowly and with great pain for the next three days, but for now I was alright. Moose had no ill effects other than his tan paling somewhat.

Moose got up to check on Mouse, who was in fine sape. We hated to set him free on the beach where a gull would soon make quick and easy meat of him, but we had no choice. We weren’t leaving for awhile. Moose picked up Mouse, who promply bit Moose. He let out a yell and flung the rodent away. Mouse rolled a few times and came up running as fast as he could away from us. I don’t know why; our ship was no longer sinking.

Moose and I sheltered from the wind on the north side of the dunes. We watched the fury of the St. Lawrence which would have killed us in less than three seconds. We had been in the shelter of New London Bay, thankfully. The gulf impressed us.

The weather forcast had been wrong again — it never rained.

KNOW aaa

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= November 28, 1986

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