The 26 mile paddle puts the brain at ease and food is what I need. The lady at the dock is pulling fish from the cage, scaling and removing the fins, they are still flapping. Next minute the fireside is blazing with flame and there is a curried fish and rice; it fills a gap. Everyone is milling around the kitchen. Bernie pipes up, “ We used to have about a hundred duck, but now we down to fifty because the alligators and anacondas seem to steel one every night…if you hear the squawking at night, it’s most probably a goner.” Sun light is replaced by the flicker of a wick and a few spotting flash lights, I am curious about seeing an alligator. Huuter with his matter of fact attitude swings open the door and shines the flash light across the water. One scan reveals two red eyes beaming back at us. Huuter said, “That’s an alligator.”
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No TV and lights out, it’s story time. Huuter begins and tells of how he heard noises of a tiger at their camp. He takes it much further, with only my flash light shinning on his face, he said, “I’ve seen tigers that can change from man to animal and back into man, you have to watch out for spirits” He continues with an almost possessed look, his body swaying, “You got to watch out for them, they will abduct you, break all your bones and remove your belly, stuffing you with weeds, sending you back to the village to die in 24 hours.” He was dead serious, and it was getting spooky. I hate horror movies. I start wondering, I am 26 miles upriver and I don’t have a clue where I am and I’m depending these people who I just met. We put our hammocks up, it’s sleep time. Later Kenny tells me he didn’t sleep a wink, he heard ducks cackling and our door was open the whole night.
