Giant's Head

Last Thursday at ten in the morning I dropped my wolf off at a Ferry line up. I never realized that being a mother also meant procuring a ride for my fifteen year old son. But there I was, "excuse me sir, but I am trying to find a ride for my son, Wolfgang, over to Buckley Bay?" The man, about my age, or a bit younger seemed nice enough. He had a big truck with a covered cab, and another young man, a Kiwi, was also getting a ride with him. The driver, Dave, and Wolf shook hands, and it was arranged. (I should have taken down his plate number, looking back on it now, but my gut told me it was an okay thing to do... perhaps I'm a bit cavalier)

Around seven that evening the phone rang. It was Wolf. He had arrived to my sister's house in Robert's Creek, exactly as scheduled. All was good with the world.

After a one day visit, they were off to Summerland--Giant's Head. As I may have mentioned before, the names of the races/events, crack me up. Perhaps that's just the name of the mountain, in this case.

The weather in the Northern Gulf Islands was not quite blistering, but sunny and hot. Perfect for swimming and beach play. Late in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was my sister. God, I thought, what's happened. Then she said, 'Wolf's made it through three heats, but we have to go now if I'm going to make the last ferry up to the coast. If he makes it though the next round, he'll go onto the semi-finals.'

"That's fantastic," I said, "Leave him there and go catch your ferry-- if he can arrange for another ride."

"He's already got one." she said. Of course he has, I thought. The child is almost as organized as I am and he is only fifteen.

I spoke to him after that. He sounded on top of the world. Perfect, I thought. So, It again was settled. He was getting a ride with another young man, whom I vaguely know of, but this time, I had the good sense to get his last name and telephone number.

Eleven thirty five that night, I could wait no longer. I phoned my house. It rang once before he answered the phone. He must have jut got in, I'd called ten minutes earlier. He'd made it through the fourth heat and into the semi-finals.

In the end, he didn't win as only the top two positions were officially acknowledged, but he had a fantastic race all in all. A day of free riding and a day of riding and racing. At this point that is all he wants. Good for him. After that, he'd had his event and I knew my son was safe at home. A restful night for us both.