Into the Amazon by John Harrison

Author:John Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summerdale
Published: 2011-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

‘In the old days you used to call me a reckless loony,’ I reminded her, ‘disappearing into the jungle without a thought for my safety. Now you say I’m a pernickety, super-cautious old woman,’ I sneered. ‘Well I can’t be both. The reason I’ve always come back from my trips is because I’m careful and don’t have your sloppy, lazy nature.’

‘I’m not lazy!’ she objected.

‘All right,’ I conceded, ‘but you’re often sloppy and inattentive. You’d probably die if I wasn’t here to look after you.’

‘Pah!’ she scoffed. ‘I’ll probably die of boredom more like, waiting for you to decide on the safest option! Anyway, we’ve still got plenty of opportunity to kill ourselves.’

Couldn’t she appreciate that I was being extra cautious for her benefit? I’d made plenty of journeys with men before without feeling any obligation to be protective and get them home safely. Our destinies had been linked; we’d looked after each other, depended on each other’s strengths, muddled through together. Heather and I did much the same of course, but expedition life for me was now complicated with emotional ties and a burden of responsibility. Prior to our departure, Heather’s three sisters and countless of her friends had asked me to look after her and make sure that I brought her back safely. Being cautious and avoiding unnecessary risk was my way of doing my job. Small thanks I got for it.

‘This is your third trip out here,’ I argued, eager for a row, ‘and you still just drift along leaving it all to me. You haven’t learnt how to tie a knot, read a compass or do anything useful. It’s all left to old muggins here to make the difficult decisions an–’

‘That’s a bit rich when you don’t let anyone else have a say!’

‘Oh come on. You make me out to be some sort of dictator! Am I really that scary?’

She laughed mirthlessly. ‘You – scary! That’s a good one. You’re just a bossy bastard who loves getting his own way, especially out here in the Amazon – the great John Harrison’s area of expertise! I gave up trying to have an input ages ago.’

‘I don’t know why you bother coming if it’s all so awful.’

‘Because in moments of stupidity and weakness I think it might be fun to spend a few months in an interesting place with my husband.’

‘Fun? Interesting?’ I snorted. ‘How likely is that?’

‘As you love telling me: I learn absolutely nothing.’

I caught her eye and looked quickly away. We’d come within a whisker of smiling at each other.

‘Right. But you could take some of the burden off me by trying to do things properly.’ I looked around and seized on her hammock to criticise. I walked over and examined the way she’d tied it to the tree trunk. ‘Just look at these knots! The granny knot’s a pretty shitty knot to start with, liable to slip, and what have you used here? Three granny knots piled one on top of the other! By morning we’ll have to break our nails and teeth undoing it.

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