Saturday, January 30, 2010

Plot excercise, attempt two

We were cooking lunch over the fire, a couple of packets of Tasty Bites in boiling water, our usual backpacking fare. The sun shone brightly overhead, shaded a bit by the towering trees. Sonya sighed, "I wish we had brought coffee." John rolled his eyes and dished up her food. I glanced at Bobby, who was absently scratching his leg as he tended the fire. In the distance, the figure of a man suddenly appeared. As he came closer we could see that he was tall and fit, sporting a walking stick and a large black backpack, an iconic mountaineer. Spotting us, he ambled over. We greeted him and offered him food.  Thanking us, he sat down and then yelped as he noticed Bobby. "Is that a bug bite? You need to get medical attention!" Bobby answered, "I think it was just a mosquito. I'm fine." I peered more closely at Bobby's leg and spotted pus oozing out. "It looks a little infected," I ventured. Sonya frowned and walked over to Bobby to investigate. She jumped back: "I think there are baby bugs and blood in there!" Bobby shook his head: "I'm FINE!" Bobby started dabbing at the bite with his bandanna, scrunching his face in disgust and starting to look a bit concerned. John was fiddling with his cell phone and suddenly yelled: "WebMD says it's a sign of a poisonous bite!" "Call 911!" Sonya and I shouted in unison. Bobby was flailing around, panicked, as John yelled into the phone that they should send a helicopter. "Cut off my leg!" Bobby screamed at me. I could hear the helicopter overhead as the stranger slinked away.

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