Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
For a moment Zahra rubbed her face on her arm, but then she squared her shoulders and continued rowing. “I didn’t give him details, but I said I refused. They all thought I’d come around if it meant I’d never see my family again. I never relented and I told him I never saw my parents again. They refused to even FaceTime with me when that became available. I did send them money and they accepted it, but they never spoke to me. I told him it would be terrible if he never spoke to his brother, that my parents were dead and we were never able to heal that wound. I pointed out anything could happen, car accidents, anything at all. Did pride matter so much? Dictating what his brother did? Was it so terrible to support his brother’s dream whether he succeeded or failed? Wasn’t he proud of him for just trying?”
Vienna definitely heard a quiet little sob in Zahra’s voice and a lump formed in her throat. “Honey, I’m sorry this brought up sad memories when it was supposed to be fun for you. Not everyone understands that family is more important than anything. I almost lost sight of that when I got into that terrible fight with Mitzi. I don’t even understand why I was so angry with her. Jealousy, I guess, that she found Ellen and I was alone.”
“You don’t? It wasn’t jealousy, Vienna. You wanted her to be happy. You never once expressed jealousy that Mitzi found Ellen. Not one single time. In fact, you often said you regretted not knowing Ellen. You were hurt that Mitzi said she wasted her life raising you when you weren’t even hers. That was the real reason.”
Vienna contemplated the truth of that while they docked their kayak alongside Stella and Harlow’s kayak. The shore was sandy, and Clay announced there were pit toilet bathrooms nearby. Immediately there was a rush in the direction he had indicated. Liza glared at Zahra, seeming reluctant, but in the end, nature won out, and she hurried off with another warning glare.
“You’re such a man-stealer,” Raine accused, nudging Zahra with her shoulder.
They pulled out their packs and settled together to eat. Vienna found she was very hungry after using so much energy to paddle all morning. Paddling a kayak used nearly all the muscles in the body, including back, shoulders, arms, abs and core muscles if one paddled correctly. Elsa and Verma joined them, and they simply widened their circle. Benny and Clay and the mothers with the teens joined, bringing their lunches. Surrounding them came the others.
“What are all those walkways built into the rocks we hear about above Emerald Cave?” Burt asked.
“The catwalks,” Benny said. “River workers had to measure the depth of the water in two locations daily. They’d walk along the catwalk to get to a steel wire system that held a pulley cart. The steel wire was suspended across the river.”
The entire group surrounding Benny looked out over the wide expanse of the river. Right now, the banks were full and the current was strong.
“There were two gauging stations where the water was measured, and one still can be seen. You can access it from the water by climbing up to it. It’s really cool. The second gauging station was also perched along the cliffs downstream, but it no longer exists.”
“Why would they need to measure the water?” one of the teenage girls asked.
“That’s a good question,” Benny said, shooting her a quick smile. “When Hoover Dam was being built, two engineers were given the huge responsibility of collecting data on things such as silt content, flow, depth and even temperature of the water. That information was critical in order for the dam to be able to carry out its main purpose of flood control.”
“That catwalk is pretty cool,” Blane said. “Burt and I want to take a walk on it. I’m not afraid of heights, which is a good thing.”
“Yeah, but take a good look as you paddle under it. You can see the wood is rotted in places. The catwalk is pretty unstable, and the rangers discourage visitors from using it,” Benny said. “And it’s a big no to try to use technical gear to cross on the steel wire to the catwalk. The wire is extremely unstable now.”
“I’ll bet you’ve done it,” Blane said.
Benny looked up from his sandwich, a small grin on his face. “When I was young and stupid. I have younger brothers, and we used to come here nearly every day with my dad. He’d tell us all the rules and then he’d go to work and we’d proceed to break every single rule he’d given us. We didn’t understand the danger, we were just kids and we thought we were invincible. We ran along that catwalk back in the day and challenged each other to do the stupidest things, but we had so much fun.”