November 13, 2016
Deep Dark Africa
Unexpectedly Caleb showed up two days early. “Hey Poppy, what are you waiting for? We need to get ready for our adventure.” “Ahhh Caleb, you surprised me,” said Poppy. “You are not supposed to arrive for a few more days. How did you get here?”
“What do you mean Poppy?” asked Caleb. “I have been waiting all year for this trip and took the train this morning..”
“We’ll, then we’ll have more time to pack. This is a very big trip, something I have wanted to do since I was a boy. I’m so glad we can do this but with all the treasures we have collected and good investments we basically can do trips like this whenever you are out of school. We have our tickets and guide all set. We’ll be leaving for deep dark Africa on Friday for three weeks.”
“First we will be climbing Mt Kilimanjaro that should take a few weeks the off to Tanzania to see giraffes, lions, monkeys, wilder beasts, and a cheetah chasing an antelope.”
Caleb and Poppy went to the outfitters store and bought great safari hats, awesome sunglasses. Poppy got some stinky cigars, matches, dynamite and some ammunition. “I am bringing my shotgun and rifle for the big stuff. We need hats to protect our heads from the hot sun and bug-off for all the biting bugs.” Caleb looked on the high shelf and said, “Poppy, we need a boomerang, and some walking staffs. And what about smoke bombs and goggles?” asked Caleb.
They boarded the plane and 32 hours later landed in Africa. The guide was older than expected but seemed rugged and ready. “Okay boys,” said the guide Morenzo. “Let’s get going. We need to make five miles to get to our first camp. Look over there I see a cave. Let’s explore it perhaps we can find some more treasure.”
The cave was dark but seemed to glow in the dark. ”You go first,” said Poppy. “No way,” said Caleb. “Could be monsters in there.”
“Caleb you are a kooky-head. The best we will find in a lion or panther,” laughed Poppy.
Caleb got up his courage and went in first. Poppy backed him up with the rifle, a 380 magnum that could stop a cape buffalo at 10 yards if you do it right. “What do you see Caleb?”
“Nothing,” said Caleb, but as he turned around, a large black shadow ran towards him. Bam! went the rifle a perfect shot to the head as it barley missed killing Caleb. “We are done here,” said Morenzo. “Let’s move on; we have a long way to go!”
“Hold!” said Caleb as he saw something shining in the dirt. “What is this?” And he picked up a shield that seemed to be made of a bright yellow metal. Next to it was a short sword. “This is going to be important. I need to explore more,” said Caleb as he walked deeper into the cave past the flashlight Poppy held and came out wearing a helmet that fit him perfectly. “Okay boy, let’s move on,” was all Poppy could say.
They come to a river and Morenzo said, “Caleb, be careful in that water. There could be piranha and they can eat a cow in three minutes. You would not last 30 seconds, as thin as you are. You need to eat more.” They made a raft to cross just to be safe. When they all got to the other side, Caleb needed to take a break. “Never pee in the wind, Caleb; it will be all over your shoe. Remember this lesson.”
They followed the river deeper into the jungle till they reached a mountain with a river coming directly out of the side of its side. “It’s going to be a hard climb up this cliff.” Again Caleb saw a cave. “It must be a magic entrance in to a lake in a cave.”
“Caleb, how in the world would you know that You have a huge imagination.” “Well,” said Caleb, “Just look at the writing on the cave wall. I can’t read that hieroglyphs.” “Yes, but I can because of that summer course I took,” said Caleb “It says there will be many trials but we will find something important.”
Down they went below the earth and at the first turn they came to a place where molten rock or lava bubbled up every few seconds. As they walked across the rock path between the lave they started to see bats in every part of the cave. “This stinks,” said Poppy, “bat poop stinks.”
Further on they came to the end of the trail. Just water and it looked like a dead end--just a hole in the wall with a flow of water gushing out.
“Poppy, we can’t give up! We need to keep going. Morenzo says we need to swim through. We call it Danger River.”
“Oh crap,” yelled Poppy “How far? Just hold your breath for as long as you can I will pull you through,” said Poppy. Anyway they make it through and find the opening to the Valley of Death.
“Let’s camp here before we go on. It looks to be this trip is going to be longer that I thought,
• Lessons – making bow – spear – karate -
• Sharks and piranha in the water so we have to swim very fast
• 2 knives one was a handed down give from Pepe’ Lightfoot
• Use the shark teeth for arrow heads
• Ursa-vainer (panther) Alex Jordan (bad guy) has (cross bow shoot flaming arrows -jeweled dagger- magic crystal sword that is stronger that metal but only works in the dark 2 ninjas
• Find a ring protects you from lightning
• Make Bow and Arrow
• Make Spears