J is for Jungle

Detective James Ellison felt a little uncomfortable. He hated talking about himself, about his life, but he had promised the anthropologist an interview and he always kept his promises. He thought back on the events that led him to this particular time and space and looked at the hopeful face of the doctoral candidate who wanted to know all the facts that led up to that moment.

“I think we all knew the moment the whole mission had gone wrong. We were flying over the jungle in Peru when it happened. One moment we were in the air and the next …”

He stopped talking for a few moments trying to get his thoughts in order. He wanted to forget; he thought he had. Well, for the most part, anyway. It was the dreams that kept remembering.

“I was out cold. I don’t know for how long, but when I came to…everyone else was dead. For a while, I thought that maybe I was, too. Suddenly, I was surrounded by local tribesmen carrying spears. I wasn’t sure what to make of them or what their plans were for me. I was in no shape to fight them. The leader finally indicated he wanted me to follow him. I guess if they wanted to kill me they could have done it already. My leg was injured so they helped me up and carried me back to their village. We must have walked miles through the dense jungle. I remember that it was so green.”

He stared off into space, wanting to get the details right. If this was going to be printed and read by others, it should be correct. The anthropologist remained quiet but the look of rapt attention remained on his face.

“There were shades of green I’m not sure I had ever seen before. And the smell was overpowering, like fresh cut grass after a spring rain, but doubled or tripled in intensity. And every once in a while I’d see flowers unlike any that grew around here, or anywhere else I had ever been. We finally reached the village. It was little more than a group of huts made of dried sticks and other jungle flora.”

He took a swallow of the beer that was sitting on the table beside the sofa where he was sitting. The anthropologist did the same, knowing Jim would be quiet for a while.

“They put me in one of the huts and took care of my leg. The sun was setting by then, so I knew it had been more than twelve hours since the plane went down. I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in that time and, as if reading my mind, two of their women brought me food and drink. Soon after I had eaten what they gave me, I started to feel very tired. I didn’t know if it was due to the long, eventful day or possibly being drugged, but I fell into a fitful sleep. My dreams were…strange. Animals roaming all over the jungle. A black panther stalked up to me but I wasn’t afraid. I felt somehow connected to it. Soon a gray wolf joined us. It’s as if they were protecting me. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.”

He stood and paced the room for a few minutes.

“I spent eighteen months in that jungle. I became one of the tribesmen. They taught me how to survive. They seemed to think I had special powers, but I didn’t see it at first. I thought it was just what they were teaching me, you know? How to track, seeing things that others couldn’t, listening for sounds that no one else should be able to hear, how to tell different plants just by the feel of their leaves, whether they were smooth, rough or prickly. These things just seemed to fill me. It was a little scary and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with all this knowledge. I wasn’t even sure it would last once I was found and brought back to the outside world. How would this knowledge benefit me, or anyone, in Cascade?”

He gave a little laugh. The anthropologist was also smiling.

Detective James Ellison was now Sentinel to the Great City. He had his own “Tribe” to protect.

And he was sure it was just a jungle of a different kind.

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