Chapter One
JASON AND HIS FRIEND
Once upon a time there was a Little Yellow Rowboat. Many years ago it had seen better times. Then it had carried a little boy named Reggie Kitchen (who could swim faster than a motor boat) and a little girl named Maureen Kitchen (who could bake Blueberry Muffins) around the
waters that touched an island called “Idletime.” But those children had grown up and no longer wished to use the Little Yellow Rowboat. Now it lay on its nose, pushed deep under the porch of the Kitchens’ old white summer cottage. There it collected dust and served as a home for spiders, mice, and an occasional chipmunk. It was a sad little boat, for it wished once again to float happily on the blue water and to travel among the islands.
The island home of the Little Yellow Rowboat was located in the great Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, about 150 miles north of Toronto. There are 30,000 or more in the Bay, but the Little Yellow Rowboat carried his passengers only between a few of them. He had two bright red oars which the boy or girl used to use to make him splash happily through the waves. These were his memories as he lay face down on the soft earth under the cabin. Each summer he heard voices and hoped they would need him once more, but they were the voices of older boys and girls and men and women who wanted only the big boats with loud motors on them. The Little Yellow Rowboat just waited and hoped, and waited and hoped some more. Occasionally a hard rain would fall, and the water would sweep under the cabin, trickling down the nose of the Little Yellow Rowboat like tears. But, he was brave, and he knew his day would come again - and it did!
One very sunny day the Little Yellow Rowboat heard voices. He heard an older man and woman walking up the path to visit the owners of the cottage that sheltered Little Rowboat. They sat on the front porch above the spot where Little Yellow Rowboat lay, and they talked and talked. Occasionally the Little Yellow Rowboat heard a young boy’s voice. All of a sudden the Little
Yellow Rowboat’s heart almost stopped
beating, for he heard the woman say to the owner: “Do you suppose we could borrow the Little Yellow Rowboat for the summer so that Jason could learn to row and so he could have fun around the islands?” The Little Yellow Rowboat hardly breathed for a few moments. Then he heard the Kitchens say: “Of course. We’d be happy to have Jason use it.” “Oh happy, day,” the Little Yellow Rowboat thought. “How wonderful to be needed again!” In a few moments strong hands were pulling and tugging at the Little Yellow Rowboat, and soon the boat was out from under the cabin and sitting on top of the big boat to be taken to Coney Island where Jason lived. The little Yellow rowboat smiled all the way across the water to Jason’s island, but that was only the beginning of his adventures.
Chapter Two • A NEW COAT
At Jason’s island the Little Yellow Rowboat heard Jason’s grandpa say: “I guess we really ought to give the little boat a new coat of paint before we put him into the water, don’t you think so?” Jason said “yes”, and ran to the boathouse where he knew there was some grey paint for the bottom, some yellow paint for the sides and the inside of the boat. This time the Little Yellow Rowboat didn’t mind when he was turned over on his nose again while Jason and his grandpa painted his underside a beautiful pearl grey colour. Then came the yellow, bright like the sun – even brighter – inside and outside. They put new grey paint on the seats, and then sanded and painted those beautiful red oars. A new rope was put into his nose to tie him to the dock, and an anchor was tied to the boat so it could be dropped out to hold the boat safe in the winds. Jason was so happy, and so was the Little Yellow Rowboat. The paint dried quickly in the winds and under the sun, so the next day everything was ready to put the little boat into the water. Jason helped his grandpa turn the boat over, and then slide it back off the dock into the blue water.
Proud and smiling the Little Yellow Rowboat floated on the waves and smiled up at Jason. It was a tiny little boat with three seats – one in the back, one in the very front, and one in the middle where Jason would sit to row. On each side it had an oarlock into which the oars fitted. Everything was in readiness now for Jason’s first rowing lesson.
Chapter Three • JASON ROWS
Jason got into the Little Yellow Rowboat, and sat in the middle seat. Grandpa got in, sat in the back seat, and pushed the boat away from the dock. “Oh,” sighed the little boat, “How good it feels to be needed again. How wonderful it feels to have the water slide by me again. How happy I am! I am sure Jason will take good care of me.”
Jason grasped the oars. “Put them carefully into the water,” his grandpa said. “Now pull them both to your chest at one time.”
Jason did so, and the Little Yellow Rowboat leaped forward, laughing. Jason rowed again. The boat jumped forward once more. “Hurrah,” shouted the Little Yellow Rowboat. “What fun!”
“Now,” said Jason’s grandpa, “Do it differently. This time push the oars away from you.” Jason did so, and the Little Yellow Rowboat backed up. “Pull one, push the other”, said Grandpa. Jason did so, and the Little Yellow Rowboat turned completely around in a little circle. It was almost as if the little boat were dancing, he was so happy to be of help to Jason. “Well, I guess you can row all by yourself now,” said Grandpa getting out of the boat at the dock. “Just remember, Jason – every time you go in the boat you must tell me or your grandma, and you must always wear a life vest and take along a pillow that floats in case you fall overboard. Jason knew how important these things were because he remembered the day he and his grandpa had fallen out of the canoe when a strong wind came up. They had life vests and pillows with them, and they were important. The Little Yellow Rowboat said to himself: “I’ll never let Jason fall out, you can be sure of that.” “Can I go anywhere?” asked Jason of his grandpa. “Yes, you can go all around our island, and you can row to other islands if you tell us first where you are
going.”
“I will, “ said Jason, happy that he could be the captain of his own ship.
Chapter Four • JASON’S TRAVELS
From that day on, the Little Yellow Rowboat was never happier. He had Jason, and Jason had the little boat. They could go where they wished, and when they wished, always remembering to tell Grandma or Grandpa. One day Jason rowed the Little Yellow Rowboat out to meet larger boats as they traveled through the channel. Then together they could bounce and ride on the big waves that the boats made. They rowed out to meet the “Parry Sound Island Queen”, a big boat – a cruise boat – which took hundreds of people for a ride, and which was so big that it made the Little Yellow Rowboat and Jason look like two little bugs next to it.
Jason’s friend, Kyle, lived on the next island. Kyle also had a little rowboat. It was painted black and yellow. The two boys, Jason, 6 years old, and Kyle, 11 years old, sometimes rowed their boats together, but at other times they left the little rowboats at the dock and drove around in Kyle’s small motorboat named “Kyjak”. When the waves were big, it was better and more fun to jump over them in a motorboat, and then Little Yellow Rowboat stayed home, happy, knowing that he would be needed later.
Another day, Jason took his grandma for a ride in the Little Yellow Rowboat. From one island to another they went, giving Grandma an opportunity to see the scenery well, because they moved slowly through the water.
Still another time, Jason and the Little Yellow Rowboat, pushed by the two bright red oars, went for a long trip around another island. It was called Picture Island that used to belong to Jason’s Mother. For a while Jason couldn’t see his own island, and while he was out of sight he slowed to visit with two friends who were fishing in the deep waters off Picture Island. Pretty soon he moved his boat around the Island and the nose of the Little Yellow Rowboat could be seen by Grandma and Grandpa who were watching for it. But Jason did not come home! Instead, he made the oars take the Little Yellow Rowboat to another island nearby where he pulled it up on the beach and went off to explore for wild animals. But, instead of bears, or mink which he had seen once before, or deer, or foxes, he discovered some beautiful quartz rocks. These sparkled in the sun, and Jason stuffed some of them into his pocket to save and show his grandparents. Another day Jason took a message to Kyle’s aunt inviting them to visit his grandparents’ island. On each occasion the Little Yellow Rowboat danced happily across the water in response to the good rowing which Jason had learned.
Chapter Five • A BIG RAIN
Every night when Jason finished playing, he and his grandpa pulled the boat out of the water high on to the rocks where it would be safe for the night. One night the rains came! The thunder crashed and the lightning lit up the sky and sent flashes of brilliance into Jason’s bedroom. The winds blew and rain drops as big as baseballs came tumbling down out of the clouds. It was a terrible storm. The lightning hit Kyle’s flagpole and split it into a thousand pieces and threw them into the Bay where they tossed all night.
Jason lay in his bed with one eye open and one eye closed, not daring to move an inch. CRASH went the thunder. BOOM shouted the thunder again. CRASH, BANG, BOOM, CRASH, BANG, BOOM! Time after time the thunder roared and Jason wondered about the Little Yellow Rowboat up on the rocks, but the little Yellow Rowboat had been through storms before. Once the wind had even broken his rope, and he had drifted off into the night only to be found the next day by a little girl and brought back home -- so, the little boat wasn’t afraid. Anyhow, boats love water, and more and more of it was collecting inside of him. Pretty soon the Little Yellow Rowboat was full of water, so full in fact that it was running down his back and tickling him. But, he loved the storm, and as morning came the storm passed on and it was quiet again.
Jason rushed to the dock the next morning – still in his pajamas – to find his boat full of rain water. But, with a pump and a pail, he soon had the water out of the boat and it was back in shape, ready to bounce over the waves once more.
Chapter Six • IN STORAGE AGAIN
But the day finally arrived when Jason would go home, his vacation over. The next day Jason would go with his grandma and grandpa to Toronto, get on a big Canadian Pacific Airline plane, and fly all alone to Vancouver to meet his mom and dad and brother, Jon. Grandpa called two young men, Scott and Colin, and they came to tow the Little Yellow Rowboat back to its own island home. They carefully picked the little boat out of the water, carried it up to the old cottage on Idletime Island, and placed it again, nose down, under the porch. The red oars were put away. The Little Yellow Rowboat was no longer sad, however. He had had a wonderful summer with Jason. He had played and been helpful. More important, he knew that he was needed again. He also heard Jason and his grandpa talking, and he heard something about it being there the next time Jason came to the islands. The Little Yellow Rowboat would be content to rest until Jason or another boy or girl came along who needed a playmate. There would be other times. “Bye, Jason,” sighed Little Yellow Rowboat. “I hope we’ll meet again one day.”
Chapter Seven • LATER
The little Yellow Rowboat slept quietly under the old cottage until he heard the splashing and laughter of the children from Royal Canadian Island who needed him, and he was once again floating happily on the blue waters of the Georgian Bay. Sometimes, he carried his little passengers over to visit the lady who served lemonade and fresh muffins on the balcony of the new house built on Idletime Island. One day she showed them the beach on the Pines where Little Yellow Rowboat used to take the little boy and girl from Idletime Island on picnics. For many years he carried the children around until they could master the bigger, noisy boats and he was once again brought home, scrubbed and repainted and slipped back under the old porch where he slept quietly waiting for the next little boy or girl who would like a good friend.
Some years later, the Little Yellow Rowboat found himself being transported to Ansley Island where he was transformed into his original shiny self. He was delighted to see the beautiful little girl and boy who would become his new friends. Today, the happy Little Yellow Rowboat can be spotted on the shore of Ansley Island from the deck of the Island Queen as it winds it’s way among the Islands, or floating on the blue waters as he carries Sydney or Spencer to visit friends nearby. He is very proud of the work he is still doing, 50 years after he was first built, and dreams of future children he will carry laughing in the warm sunshine. THE END
