9 Survival Plans

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Stephen Whiteside
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9 Survival Plans

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Sun Dec 25, 2011 7:21 am

9 Survival Plans

© Stephen Whiteside 25.12.2011

What are we going to do?



One of the tour group interrupted Pocus’ thoughts. It appeared he’d been elected spokesman. Pocus obviously looked to the others to be behaving a little strangely, and they had become a bit wary of him.

Pocus looked up at this puffy, white office worker, who placed so much faith in him. He was like an innocent puppy. Clearly, they all had no idea of the extent of their danger, or they would not be behaving nearly so calmly as they were. Good. That was one thing in their favour. Panic wastes energy like nothing else.

It was his job, then, to make sure they continued to feel that way. Trouble was, he was on the verge of panic himself. If one thing was likely to bring them down, it was him. He had to find a way to hide his feelings. He had to find the strength to provide leadership - leadership and hope - when he felt in his own heart that their challenge was hopeless.

Well, began Pocus, trying to cut short the catch in his voice, I’ve sent a message back to base. They’ll bring the people mover out to Copperbung for us. That will shave two days off our return journey. But until then, we’re on our own. We have a two day walk ahead of us, and that means a night out. It’ll be cold, but I’m sure we’ll manage.

Concerned looks exchanged between frightened tourists.

What happened to our kayaks, and all our stuff?

No idea. Freak wind, perhaps, Willy willy. Crows. They can get pretty vicious around here.

But it’s all in tiny pieces. The wind wouldn’t do that. And crows certainly wouldn’t do it either.

Well, I don’t know. It’s been done, and that’s just the way it is. Isn’t that the point of these adventures? They’re a calculated risk, aren’t they? You can plan for certain eventualities, but you can’t plan for everything. It’s a hostile environment. It’s a challenge. It’s not like those big climate controlled villages in the city. This is life in the raw. You have to take it as you find it.

Pocus could not believe what he was saying. Having kayaks torn to tiny fragments by schools of killer salmon is not a normal part of life in a national park. Not this one, anyway. Yet they seemed to be buying it. How stupid were these people? Even when the salmon attacked the bear, Pocus seemed to be more shaken than any of them. Bear eats salmon? Salmon eats bear? What’s the big deal? It’s life and death either way. It’s sudden and brutal. It’s elemental. That’s what they’d signed up for, a glimpse of life as it used to be. They weren’t too concerned about the niceties. The subtle details. Living in the city! Huh! That’s what it did for you. One thing he did know, though. He wasn’t going to tell them it was the salmon that destroyed their gear. That was the one thing that would be sure to tip them all over the edge. No. That secret was staying with him.

Pocus heard his own voice again. It appeared to be coming from a distance.

OK, folks, listen up. We’ve got a long march ahead of us. As you can see, things haven’t quite panned out the way I expected. But that’s the way it goes out here. You win some. You lose some. Your travel insurance will cover all your stuff, I can assure you of that.

We have a two day march to reach Copperbung, where the people mover will be waiting for us. We’ll be following the river most of the way, so water won’t be a problem. Humans can last four to six weeks without food, so we won’t starve to death. Yes, we will get hungry. I understand that. But we will not die of starvation. I reckon I can find us a few berries to eat along the way, too.

No, the main challenge will be the cold. It gets very cold at night out here. Looks like it’s going to be a clear night, too, and that won’t help. But don’t worry. I know a sheltered place where we can hole up and get a few hours’ sleep before moving on. Don’t worry. We’ll be OK. Just do as I say and, if we all stick together, we should be OK.

This last bit, about the sheltered spot, and all being OK, was a lie, but he seemed to have pulled it off. The main thing was to avoid panic. He could worry about the finer details later. He didn’t want to get to bogged down in answering awkward questions, either. Once they got going, these would fall away anyway. People would be too tired to think much. They’d just be concentrating on keeping up, and not letting each other down.

OK folks, let’s go.
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au

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