Mr Toop

We (Pit, Josh and I) had been running for about 20 mins now. I looked back over my shoulder and couldn’t see the caretaker and even the barking of the black dog had died. We were out of breath and lost… we didn’t have an idea where we were and how to get back to the camp.

It was the 1st day of our 3 day educational camp. The class was to study the flora and fauna of this remote area, Katuna. It was believed to be the only place where there were some unique species of plants and animals which had survived the environmental changes of centuries.

“I am hungry and can’t walk any further,” announced Pit. He was the smallest and the noisiest of us all. Had it not been for his craving for the cherries we would had been noshing on some cakes with the afternoon tea. That evening we had strayed away from the camp on the pretext of a short survey of the neighbourhood.

Pit was resting against the crumbly rotting log, his sweaty and black long hair were clinging to his face and standing over him was the lover boy Josh, admiring his good looks in his pocket mirror and combing his wet hair slick a la reservoir dogs. He had more girlfriends than books he packed for school each day.

It was 6 pm, the sun had just slipped behind the Katuna mountains. “It would be dark soon… we need to find our way back. If we are not at the camp by 8 pm, Mr Toop would get panicky and the entire class would blame him for giving us a little too much leash”, Pit sounded concerned for the first time. Josh and I looked at him with incredulous expressions and we all busted into the laughter. The laughter came to an abrupt stop when we heard a shrill howl of a wolf. “Damn, it must be close. Lets find a place to hide… quick,” I shrieked. Josh pulled Pit off the log and we all rushed toward the open end of the jungle. It had a thick foliage and the tall trees… there was still some light for us to find a hiding place.

Back at the camp on learning that we are missing, Mr Toop almost dropped the book which he had brought to read on this yearly school educational camping trip. Mr Toop had been in trouble before because of us but this time if things were to go wrong Mr Toop might have to kiss his job goodbye – he remembered his last meeting with the principle.

A search party was formed. It consisted of the 5 big boys from the class, Mr Toop and the driver. The cook was made the incharge by Mr Toop and was left with a list of instructions. He unwillingly accepted the position feeling a bit proud and doled out extra custard to everybody that night.

While in the jungle we managed to find a small cave. It was almost dark by now and the howling of the wolf had stopped. “We would have to spend the night here and would have to be real quite… I have a sick feeling about this place… and these weird noises,” I said to my exhausted adventurers. Josh was ok with the decision but Pit wanted us to try to get back. We shot down his idea, it was too fraught with danger. Josh pulled out a cigarette and flicked the lighter; we all took deep drags and passed it around... I had a stub in my hand by the time it reached me on the third round - we all felt a bit better. No one spoke for the next hour. Josh removed his jacked and handed it to Pit so that he could use it for pillow. Pit was giving signs of fever and he soon dozed off.

Josh and I decided to take turn to watch out for any wild beast while others slept. I decided to guard first and asked Josh to sleep. I tried to be alert for a while but the days adventure was too much for me and didn’t knew when I slept off.

Mr Toop and the search party had a much better time… they had carried with them baskets of fruits and food for dinner and torches for better visibilities. They got to the cheery orchard and learnt from the caretaker that we had indeed been there and he chased us away before we could pluck some from his orchard. He pointed in the direction we had fled.

When I woke up, we three were in a small cage and were being carried off into the heart of the jungle by dangerously looking brown bodied scantily clad tough men with spears. They looked like the tribal’s of yore. I looked at Josh and then at Pit, they were pale with fear and Pit seemed to have cried his heart out. We were shocked and couldn’t believe how we have landed ourselves in this mess. They had tied us down to the cage and had smeared ash all over our faces. “ They are going to eat us”, Pit started sobbing.

We could hear the drums beat treacherously, the sound grew louder and louder. I had read many a stories where they carried the trespassers into the jungle, make the catch eat good food and later roast them and have a merry dinner of human brain and heart. On hearing this Josh and Pit nearly puked. I told them we need to maintain our wits and keep close and anytime there is an opportunity to escape we would flee.

The tribal’s were led by a leader. He was as broad as tall he was. His appearance was ghostly – the white painted face, a feather crown and tens of colourful beads around the neck and not to mention a menacing look. The tribal’s carried us towards the source of the noise. We could see the big fire from where we were – we started praying in unison, death was definite we thought.

There was a huge assemble of the tribal’s – men, women, children and animals. We were let loose near the big fire and were signalled to keep our head down and follow the leader. Everybody seemed to be shouting their lungs out… I could already visualize us on their plates, roasted and garnished. Suddenly the drums stopped and everybody was quite. We were confused… we looked around… the tribal’s were on their knees. From the canopy shaped shack emerged a beautiful girl followed by the tribal soldiers. We were motioned to bow our head by the leader who brought us here. The princess took up the high seat. We were pushed forward towards the princess… the leader announced something in the local lingo and pointed at us now and then. The princess looked at us intently and smiled… we looked at each other clueless if to smile back or not.

There on, it was a change of fortunes as I had read in the tribal stories. We were treated much better and fed lamb which had been skewered over the big fire with some pungent and sharp alcoholic drink. There was dance, music and noise; we eat and drank like hungry wolves enjoing our last meal.

When I woke up Mr Toop was standing over me. They had combed the entire forest all night to find us bissfully cuddled up in hay and looking rested. There was nothing around no princess, no leader, no tribal and no sign of anything. We narrated the entire episode to very annoyed Mr Toop on our way back to the camp but he found the story difficult to believe.

“We never came across the cherry farm on our way back Mr Toop,” I casually remarked.

Mr Toop stopped and looked ashen. It appeared as if someone had robbed him of his colour. He ordered everybody to pack up - we were leaving back for school.