Chapter 5

Jim woke up at the crack of dawn when all of the forest was beginning to come alive. He got out his Bible, read, and prayed to prepare himself for the day. He memorized James 1:12 to meditate on for the day.

He fed Perch and Pandy, then said his blessings and ate some stew and cornbread.

"Good morning, Jim," he said to Perch as he ate.

"Good morning, Jim," said Perch.

After he had eaten, he got a shovel and started to dig the sand away from underneath the beam next to the river. He managed to get the beam in the water by noon to help slide the raft into the river.

All morning a giant otter was hollering and complaining. The otter came up moderately close.

"Hi, boy, am I distressing you with all my commotion?" Jim asked of the otter.

"Hi, boy!" shouted Perch, who was seated at his new location on the edge of the tail section of the plane.

Not wanting to be left out, Pandy began his famous bellowing. Another little spider monkey could not resist and came down from his tree and started to chatter.

"Hi there, boy. How are you? Do you want to be my friend, too?" asked Jim of the little monkey.

Jim went into the airplane and got some peanuts from the burlap bag he had found. He was sure the monkey would like them. Pandy was crazy about them and had been helping himself.

In the background, thunder could be heard as Jim went back to work while enjoying his orchestra. He took out the crosscut saw and cut a tree about three inches thick. He would use it as a pry pole to work the other two beams out. He went to one end of the beam, used the shovel to dig under enough space to place the pry pole. Raising it up, he slid the raft as far as he could. Jim went to the other end and repeated the process.

Jim went into the plane to get the nylon rope that his grandpa had insisted they take. Jim started to break down while he was getting the rope. He realized how devastated his grandpa must be.

He got down on his knees and prayed that he would be able to see his grandparents again. While he was praying, a peace came over him, making him feel a comfort that only God could give him.

He looked around for a tie down he might use to help hold the raft. Jim saw tie downs that were bolted to the walls of the cargo bay he could use. They were the same kind of tie downs he had seen on his grandpa's boat. Jim found a wrench and took four of the tie downs off the wall.

Jim saw wood screws holding on the step of the ladder that he had used to go up on the roof. These would help hold the tie downs to the raft. He took all of these out to the raft, including the wrench. He used the wood screws to latch them to each corner of the raft to the beams.

Jim again got the nylon rope. He attached one end to the tie down that was already in the water. He then reeled out enough rope to reach the tree closest allowing ten extra feet. Jim got some matches. He then cut the nylon rope at the designated location. He struck a match and burned the ends of the rope to keep it from fraying. He repeated the same process on the other end.