Mary Lou’s Revenge

Jantzen Hatakenaka (10)

I was traveling with my family in the Grand Canyon. We were going river rafting down the Colorado for three days on a guided tour. The first day went off without a hitch, but things took an unexpected and deadly turn the next night. The boats were labeled in code names: Alpha Boat, Bravo Boat, and Charlie Boat. We were each assigned groups and I was in Charlie Boat. We were assigned life vests, labeled with the name of a famous person who had explored the canyon in the 1900’s, so we could identify it later. I had on Charlie Thompson. On the first night, they told us about a lady named Mary Lou who had explored the canyon in 1904 but had disappeared. Only her empty boat was found next to some rapids. Those rapids were renamed Mary Lou’s Revenge. I couldn’t help but notice that the lady next to me had a life jacket that said “Mary Lou.” We set out the next day to conquer those rapids. Around noon, we hit the turn. The boat tipped, and “Mary Lou” fell out. We waited for her to pop up, but only her life vest did. She was never seen again, thanks to Mary Lou’s revenge.