Future Writer Chapter 6 (9 pages)

Chapter 6

Of all the dumb luck! I was finally in a situation where Miss Perfect came along and she was not Miss Perfect at all, but MRS. Perfect. I couldn't believe that!

"I'll fix that," I said to myself, and boy did I.

This made me so frustrated that I didn't even want to talk to her. I knew it wasn't her fault, but I just worked up such frenzy that I knew she would be 'THE ONE'.

The next day we're out of food. Bob Conners found a nearby stream that provided us with water. We found a few scattered banana trees, but they were so scanty that they didn't provide much of a meal. So far, we'd been there for three days and two nights. The sounds of the jungle didn't bother us like it used to.

Other than the food, life became routine. We'd take turns as fire watch, gathering water, and looking for food. Beyond that we'd just sit around and gossip. That day I realized that, if I had Clancy put us there, I could have Clancy write us as being found. So I began.

Clancy Wrote:

Against the advice of the rest of the group, Daniel went to explore the valley and the adjacent hillsides alone. He is certain that something could be seen from on top of the hills along the valley. Alexia, seeing that he is determined to go, volunteers to accompany him. The last thing Daniel wants right now is to have Alexia tagging along. He knows that this frustration he feels is only in his head, and that Alexia did nothing to provoke it, but he can't stop thinking that... hoping that... she might feel the same way for him. Logically speaking, he doubted it. The group set a rule that, for safety sake, nobody should go away from the plane alone.  Daniel could not object. So Daniel and Alexia set out to explore the valley.

"Why are walking so fast?" she asks.

Daniel was hoping that she would not be able to keep up causing her to quit and go back. He did not want to face the fact that he was such a fool to be drawn into this feeling for her. Daniel just wanted to be alone with his thoughts so he may sort things out.

"Do you even know where you're going?" she asks.

"Up, I'm going up. I want to go to the highest mountain and see what there is to see, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see civilization. Why did you come along?" he asks her.

"Yesterday, you know, in the plane, we were.. kind of.. you know, talking, and after I mentioned my husband, you were, kind of... you know, lack of same enthusiasm."

"So. What's your point?" Daniel asks.

"The point is, I, well, thought that you... I didn't want to be the one to crush any hopes which you may have had."

"It's too late for that, but don't let that bother you. It wasn't your fault. I had too high of hopes before I knew the whole situation," Daniel explains.

"I'm not in too much agreement with marriage, because, well, my husband is, how you say? possessive. He wants always to control, and... I don't know. I can't do that, it's just... It's not me."

"Thank you, however, that still doesn't do much for my situation," Daniel tells her.

"What do you mean?"

"I still think that you came from one of my dreams, yet, you’re still married.

That doesn't do me much good."

"I am seek divorce. Did I say that right?" she asks.

"You are?!!" Daniel spirts.

"Yea.. He is... not too good. He is with bad people. I think he wants to kill me."

"Why would anybody want to kill you?" Daniel asks.

"He is with bad people who are always killing each other and.. drugs.. and guns, you know.. weapons and things."

She stumbles over a low lying branch.

She continues, "He wants control.. me, and so I leave him. I see this... it's not an exchange program, it was, mmm... kind of, contest. It's a program of the United States Information Agency. Ah... whole.. kind of giving education to the former Soviet people, and like, contribution of developing the economy or something. They are paying for study, for your stay, then you are going back to home and kind of, you know?"

Daniel thinks to himself, "How can she keep up with this pace and talk as much as she is doing?"

She continues, "He doesn't know where I am... that I'm here. ... and also... I was working at office. People were... You know, we were... after work, we were hanging out. Some people were drinking beer, you know? So it was.. everything was in this office... and somehow I realized that it was getting, not very good for me, I mean I was too much focused, too much locked within this office. And ... and... then actua... I still hav...I had this problem..... private problems... relationship problems and.. so I see this ad in the newspaper so I submitted my documents .. test.  I was so sure that I would do this. I mean, it's tough. I know that people were trying to get this program three or four years, you know? Sometimes it's like... I mean I didn't do anything. I mean, I wasn't studying, I wasn't preparing for the test or anything. I was just so tired of my life so I was sure that that would be my chance, You know? just to change something. I wasn't happy, what I've got here, but it's something different, something new. I'm afraid that whenever.. IF.. I.. ever get home, back home, I'll get back to my old office, same people and everything will return, you know?. By that time I hope my husband will be.. not too much, you know? looking for me."

Daniel stopped to rest and look around.

"But why does he want to kill you?" Daniel asks.

"He thinks that I'll talk to people."

"Would you talk to people?"

"No, I may not love him or approve of what he does. I don't know, I just want it behind me," she tells Daniel.

"Why did you marry him?"

"It was before I knew he was bad, my family wanted it."

"How bad is he?"

"It would be not too much guess to say he arranged plane to crash."

Finally they reach the top of the mountain. Daniel cannot believe his eyes.

There is a clearing at the base of the next mountain. Next to the clearing is a garden like crop.

"YES! I knew it. Look somebody lives down there. There is their garden." .....

Narrator:

Against the wishes of the rest of the group, I went to explore the valley and the adjacent hillsides alone. I was certain that something could be seen from on top of the hills along the valley because, that is what Clancy wrote.

Alexia, seeing that I was determined to go, volunteered to accompany me. The last thing I wants was to have Alexia tagging along. I knew that this frustration that I felt was only in my head, and that Alexia did nothing to provoke it, but I couldn't stop thinking that... or hoping that... she might have felt the same way for me. Logically speaking, I doubted it.

The group set a rule that, for safety sake, nobody should go away from the plane alone. I could not object. So Alexia and I set out to explore the valley. So far Clancy wrote this exactly.

"Why are walking so fast?" she asked me.

I was hoping that she would not be able to keep up causing her to quit and go back. Just like Daniel, I did not want to face the fact that I was such a fool to be drawn into that feeling for her. I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts so I may sort things out.

"Do you even know where you're going?" she asked me.

"Up, I'm going up. I want to go to the highest mountain and see what there is to see, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see civilization. Why did you come along?" I asked her.

"Yesterday, you know, in the plane, we were.. kind of.. you know, talking, and after I mentioned my husband, you were, kind of... you know, lack of same enthusiasm."

"So, what's your point?" I asked her.

"The point is, I, well, thought that you... I didn't want to be the one to crush any hopes which you may have had."

"It's a too late for that, but don't let that bother you. It wasn't your fault. I had too high of hopes before I knew the whole situation," I explained.

"I'm not in too much agreement with marriage," She told me, "because, well, my husband is, how you say, possessive? He wants always to control, and... I don't know. I can't do that, it's just... It's not me."

"Thank you, however, that still doesn't do much for my situation," I told her while thinking, "WAY TO GO CLANCY!"

"What do you mean?"

"I still think that you came from one of my dreams, yet, you’re still married. That doesn't do me any good."

"I am seek divorce. Did I say that right?" she asked me.

"You are?!!" I spirted without thinking.

"Yea.. He is... Not too good. He is with bad people. I think he wants to kill me."

"Why would anybody want to kill you?" I asked.

"He is with bad people who are always killing each other and.. Drugs.. and guns, you know.. weapons and things."

She stumbles over a low lying branch.

Then she continued, "He wants control.. me, and so I leave him. I see this... it's not an exchange program, it was, mmm... kind of, contest. It's a program of the United States Information Agency. Ah... whole.. kind of giving education to the former Soviet people, and like, contribution of developing the economy or something. They are paying for study, for your stay, then you are going back to home and kind of, you know?"

I mumbled along with her words as she told me of her situation.

She continued just as Clancy had written it.

"... By that time I hope my husband will be.. not too much, you know? looking for me."

I stopped to rest and look around.

"But why does he want to kill you?" I asked her.

"He thinks that I'll talk to people."

"Would you talk to people?" I asked while thinking, "No, I may not love him ..."

"No, I may not love him or approve of what he does. I don't know, I just want it behind me," she told me.

"Why did you marry him?"

"It was before I knew he was bad, my family wanted it."

"How bad is he?"

"It would be not too much guessed to say he arranged plane to crash."

Finally we reached the top of the mountain. I could not believe my eyes.

There was a clearing at the base of the next mountain. Next to the clearing was a garden like crop.

"YES! I knew it. Look somebody lives down there. There is their garden." .....

Rather than walk four to five more hours into the direction clearing, we decided to go back to the plane and tell the others.

As we started walking, one jungle path began looking like another.

Pretty soon I started to feel lost. I didn't let Alexia know, because I didn’t want to show myself a fool. I knew that if I went straight down into the valley then went north, that we should be there. Fortunately, Alexia sense of directions was much better than mine. Through the canopy she looked and saw our position relative to the mountain which we were on.

"I think we're going off course," she told me.

"Where to you think we should be?" I asked her.

"I don't know exactly, but this valley is heading in different place than we came."

It seems that the valley which we were in had forked off into two directions.

When we walked towards the mountain, we just kept going up until we were at the top. The way back was a different story. There were canyons, ravines, and valleys which lead in many different directions. It was at this time when her navigation training paid off. She looked at her watch then looked to the position of the sun. She remembered the sun blasting her in the face as she stepped out of the aircraft. The sun was directly over the mountain at 10:21 am.

The time was 11:00 and she determined that the sun should be just to the right of the mountain. To us the sun was far to the right. From her estimate, we needed to head east. So that's what we did and soon we came across the parts of the wreckage. The detached wings of the aircraft tore up about an acre of vegetation. From there we followed the path to the plane.

When we got there, Marco was poking a stick in the fire.

"Where have you been?" he asked, "We've been concerned."

"We found something," I told him, "It's some sort of a garden near a clearing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. From the way it was cultivated, I would say somebody recently cleared it."

"Bob and Ralph took off in that direction about an hour ago," Marco said while pointing into the jungle.

"Perhaps we can hold out 'til morning?" suggested Alexia.

"Maybe your right," I told her, "it would be midnight before we get there."

The next morning, we headed off into the direction of the mountain. As a group, it took us much longer to get there. William Johnson, Millie Smith, and Frank Carlisle seemed to have a tough time of it. Perhaps it was due to their age.

Once to the top of the mountain, the group agreed that it was a recent garden. As we ventured over mountain, the jungle took on new sounds. We never saw the origin of these sounds until we got closer to the garden, but until then we all, including myself, became very spooked. The sounds were manufactured sounds of animals, or at least, they didn't sound real. They were all around us. To explain it would be to explain the sounds of a yipping dogs. These intimidating sounds were almost a warning to stay back. Looking back on it, perhaps we should take its warning.

As we approached the garden, the jungle was not only yipping at us, but now we could see the bushes and trees moving as well. I was in the front of the group.

I looked back to see how the rest was keeping up, and in my glance I could swear that I saw a bush with eyes. I gasped at the sight. The others in the group, who were looking forward, also gasped at something that was now behind me. I turned to see what they saw. Six native warriors were blocking our path while pointing spears and arrows at us.

I had Clancy write us as being found, and were found all right.