We link our hands. I’m feeling kind of shy, and Imani is acting cautious, but Mia’s enthusiasm is contagious.

“This is a friendship circle. A sacred friendship circle that can never be broken. We have survived by relying on each other, by trusting each other, by saving each other. What we have shared makes us friends for life. Not for a summer, or for a school year. For life!”

She raises our hands in the air, and we join in her exclamation. “For life!”

I’m still soaking wet, so I’m pretty sure no one notices the tears in my eyes. I’ve never had friends like these two.

Not even close.

The amazing thing is, Mia managed to keep hold of the backpack. When they got ejected from the raft and landed on the shore, it was firmly strapped around her shoulders. A lot of the stuff inside got pretty damp, but we’d been expecting that. Damp is what we are, all the time. I’m almost afraid to take off my shoes and look at my feet, because it feels like mushrooms are growing between my toes. Or maybe webs, like a duck.

Anyhow, we make another fire to help dry our clothes and boil water for the freeze-dried. Mia says after our ordeal we need calories. Once I get a whiff of cooked rice, my belly starts begging to be fed. I’d almost forgotten how hungry I was before the raft dragged me underwater. That explains the weakness in my knees and the woozy feeling almost as much as nearly drowning.

We’re half-starved. To be truthful, the food in the pouch tastes gunky, but nobody cares. We wolf it down, breathing through our noses and grunting with satisfaction.

When I’ve had my fill, I lie back and groan. “That was the best meal I’ve ever had. Better than pancakes and sausage.”

“Eeew!” Imani makes a face. “Sausage is disgusting. Do you know what’s in sausage?”

“No, and please don’t tell me. Starving people eat all kinds of revolting things. Beetles, ants, worms. Anything to stay alive. The Donner party ate each other, that’s how hungry they were.”

“No way. You’re making that up.”

“True story. A wagon train of settlers heading west. They got stuck in the mountains, snowed in for the winter with not enough food. So they improvised.”

Both girls go, “Eeew!”

“Don’t worry, I could never be a cannibal. I’d rather die than eat liver of any kind.”

That gets them laughing.

What a day this has been! Almost dying but somehow surviving, and making friends for life. And making them laugh, that’s the icing on the cake.

What none of us know is that the fun is about to end, in the worst way possible.

28. One for All and All for One