Heart of Africa by Loren Lockner

Author:Loren Lockner [Lockner, Loren]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Loren Lockner Books
Published: 2014-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

I don’t know exactly what forced me to start moving again. Maybe it was the severity of the scorched earth around me, accompanied by my burning thirst that compelled me toward the river. I’d drained my water bottle, but my throat still stung. Before heading anywhere, I needed a refill. It took a good while to escape the smoke and small areas of burning brush, and it was only after twenty minutes that I encountered dry scrub again. The faint gush of the Limpopo sounded in the distance and like a man stranded in the desert, I forgot reason and sprinted for the river. My staff held loosely in my hand, I plunged recklessly down the embankment to finally kneel by the water and gulp wildly. When sanity finally returned, I filled my bottle and rinsed my hands and face. As I leaned over the water, my reflection revealed a frightening, smoke-encrusted hag and I closed my eyes against the sight of the bedraggled monster peering back at me.

It was with renewed determination that I returned to my old plan of following the river in hopes of eventually running into Crooks’ Corner. Nothing seemed as straightforward as before. I felt weak and nauseous—possibly from the effects of contaminated water—and my feet dragged. Another irritant set in as hunger gnawed at me, and I felt strangely achy and dizzy. To keep myself going I made up another of my stupid, mindless tunes. Find the road and it’ll take you home, find the road and it’ll take you home. The chant seemed to work as I staggered up the bank to follow the gentle bend of the river.

I would have been surprised to learn that I actually sang the words and perhaps it was that inane song that kept the predators and snakes away. Or maybe, far wiser than I, all sane creatures had vacated the area because of the fire. I tried alternating walking fifteen minutes and resting five. All the peanuts, biltong, and energy bars were soon gone and my stomach echoed like a hollow drum. A headache brought on by hunger coupled with the persistent glare of the sun nagged at me, and I found I needed rest stops more frequently.

I didn’t run into much wildlife. A petite yellow mongoose scampered across my trail, and gigantic black ants scrambled over a boulder. A group of five or six buzzards soared dizzily overhead and I heard a strange clacking sound in the distance, but other than that it seemed like I traipsed alone in the bush. Mentally I kept making calculations. Certainly I must come upon the road sometime soon, since it ran parallel to the river. But where was it? I teetered and stumbled more and more as the minutes stretched into hours. Gradually panic set in. I knew I’d been disoriented by the fire and the snake, but I couldn’t have totally lost track of my whereabouts, could I? Could I?

Damn my miserable sense of direction, anyhow!

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