When we reached the boat the drinks, food, and water containers were no longer on board. No one appeared to miss those things and all of us wanted to board and get back home.
‘All well and good,’ someone said. ‘Why did we leave cooked food unprotected at a strange location?’
‘Suppose the boat had disappeared along?’ Toy asked. ‘Time to head home folks,’ he suggested.
‘No. We must find the food,’ Commander said with no sign he would change his mind.
‘How, where, when?’ Sandra spoke for the first time without any pretense as to her state of mind.
‘If it means we have to get back into the forest, we have to.’
‘No,’ several people shouted but Commander stood his ground.
‘The essence of our being here has established itself’ he said. ‘When you lose something precious you search for it. If the university gave us the assignment to look for a lost item in this forest would we chicken out because of fear?’
Also Read:
- Chelsea propose swap deal with Napoli for Osimhen
- Coastal highway: Presidency faults Atiku on Seyi Tinubu’s business relationship with Chagoury
- West Ham confirm David Moyes’ exit at end of season
- Alleged $9.6b P&ID scam: Court adjourns suit against fleeing Briton, companies for judgment
- Erotic Monday Night: Freaky night at a freak party, by Tiwa Says
‘Why would university property come this far?’ Sandra asked.
‘Via a thief,’ Commander replied.
‘Cockamamie. The university has the resources to hire policemen or rangers.’
‘We should justify ourselves. And -’ he paused, stood before each person, and looked into the eyes, and said, ‘The Commander has commanded.’ When he stood before me, my mind told me Commander wanted to reclaim his authority after all no one would eat the food if found.
‘Okay folks we get back to the forest while daylight continues to be a friend. My wrist watch reads thirty minutes past the hour of four.’ I announced. Team members hissed and grumbled but were unable to get the Commander to change his mind.
‘We have spent more than two hours. We agreed on arrival to spend two hours in total,’ Toy said. ‘If we must go back shall we leave this boat without company? Suppose we go in search of food no one will eat and return to meet the boat gone?’
‘We stretch our luck once,’ Commander insisted.
It would have been possible to convince Commander to change his mind but someone drew attention to boot marks on the sand to and from the boat. They were of classic black leather Doc Martens brand. The students wore either steel-toed safety or Oxcart flight suit boots to which they tucked in their blue jean trousers. Commander ordered us to follow the boot marks and no one appeared to be ready to stand at the beach without company.
The boot marks led to a well-used path under the canopy of pristine trees. Several animal sounds gave us uncomfortable company till we emerged onto another clearing. Commander stopped and appeared to be ready to discontinue. He must have recalled the perils we faced at the last grassy space. While we discussed our next move the hunter’s back appeared from a distance and he howled.
‘Youth, foolhardy all the time. They experiment and stretch everything from fellow humans to the elements. You were told every person in this wild world has three attempts. You experienced three attempts and you survived. Because you want another one, take this.’ He pulled down his shorts to reveal a pair of shiny buttocks, knelt, and bent forward. A swarm of bees buzzed out of the man’s anus and enveloped him after which they rose into the air and made their way towards us.
‘Away,’ the Commander shouted. The race which followed led us to the water front with each person ready to immerse self in the shallow water if the bees sustained the attack. We were all winded and grateful the bees went back when we emerged at the beach.
Everyone rushed into the boat including Commander and BB unmindful of the need to push the boat into the water. The two young men jumped down and pushed the boat but I told them to stop. Team members screamed and shouted ‘Enough.’ Someone screamed ‘Emergency Commander let us go’ but Commander insisted everyone must listen.
‘Head count,’ I announced. Commander called out each name off-hand and we found of all persons, Sandra absent. Commander said, ‘No person left behind.’ I and BB joined him and we went into the forest. Few yards in we heard a whimper and we tiptoed towards the direction of the sound. Sandra lay curled on the ground and a short distance away we noticed the back of the hunter who said, ‘Protected. Now away.’ But before he melted into the trees he said, ‘Thanks for the food and drinks. Will provide a fare for three days for a hungry man” to which BB said, ‘At least we have been with a human.’
I looked around and found two long sticks as well as smaller ones all of them fresh. They appeared to have been left for the situation at hand. I harvested some ropes close by and gave to Commander. BB and Commander read my mind and prepared an emergency stretcher, placed Sandra on it, jacked it up, and moved while I kept the rear. When we emerged onto the sand the team cheered and sang a club song.
Despite the hunger the boys with oars rowed with such strength someone wondered whether we were in a competition. Some of us used our hands to push water back to make the return trip greater fun than when we departed.
Back at school we did a post mortem of the expedition after Sandra recovered from the trauma she faced. How much did we learn? How much strength did we gather? Did we make mistakes which would have proved fatal? How would we sum up the entire exercise?
There were several issues raised but most team members focused on the preparations. First, we agreed a journey by sea without life jackets despite the mild nature of the stretch amounted to a blunder more so none of us claimed to be good at swimming. Second, ideas about the place we were set to explore were scanty. Third, provisioning required greater details but we paid little attention to it.
On leadership, a boy said experience and courage carried the day rather than gender. In the opinion of Commander an individual’s stock of experiences go as far as the individual’s quantum of exposures. One cannot be locked up in a room yet claim first hand experiences acquired by someone who went out of the house. He quoted John C. Maxwell who said, ‘A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.’ A member followed with a quote from Alexander the Great who said, ‘I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep. I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.’ As Sandra hugged me I made sure I avoided Commander’s eyes.”
Part of the collection Brief Encounters. © Bassey Ubong 2024.