Village E3: Survival of the Human Spirit Read Online Free PDF Page A

injured. Boxer
shorts and winter boots-now that's a fashion statement, he thought, as he
approached the water's edge.
    Because he had no idea what might be
in it, John was afraid of the ocean. He'd seen fish of all sizes, but he knew
there had to be other creatures he hadn't seen yet. He walked along the water's
edge until he came to the area that formed a shallow pool. This area wasn't
nearly as scary as the open water was. In some places, he could even see the
bottom.
    He walked along the outer edge, where
the rocks were sticking up out of the water. He took several steps into the
water and got into position, then reached into his sock and took out a handful
of the flowers. He held them in his left hand, and his spear under his arm. He
threw the flowers out onto the water and watched them float on the surface for
several seconds, then some small fish started to surface, and were eating them.
    Soon the activity of those fish
attracted more fish. When he threw out another handful, he noticed that some
bigger fish were starting to join in. He held his spear over his shoulder, and
waited for just the right moment. There were many more fish here than he
thought, and big one, which was about two feet long, cruised by in front of
him, less than ten feet away. When another one came even closer, with one quick
motion, he released his spear.
    He reached and grabbed the end of his
spear, which had hit the fish right in the middle of its body. The fish had
lots of life left in it, and wasn't making things easy. Its violent shaking was making it slip off of the spear.
John tried to ease the fish toward him, but finally,
it came off. I'm not going to let it get away, he thought. He took a
quick step toward the fish, to try to grab it. Out of nowhere, an open mouth
about three feet wide appeared, and in one gulp, the fish was gone.
    Shocked, John fell backwards and had
trouble getting back to his feet. He could feel the sudden surge of adrenalin
shoot through his body. His heart was pounding, and felt like it would explode
from his chest. As soon as he got back on his feet, he felt like he was walking
on water. He got out of the water fast. "Holy shit!" he said,
expressing his relief, excitement, and fear. "I hate this place. I really
hate this place." He didn't know what kind of fish it was, but he was sure
he didn't want to see another one.
    John still hadn't figured out how the
tide worked. Some days, the edge of the water was hundreds of yards from the
trees. On other days, it was as close as thirty yards. That almost worked, John thought, as he headed back home. His little hut in the jungle was his home now. He wasn't happy about it, but he worked
hard to make the best out of what he had to work with. He had been to the beach
enough times that he was starting to wear a path.
    As he went through an area that had
dense undergrowth, he noticed something move. It was one of those tiny deer
that he'd seen near the pool. His constant activity there finally made them
stop coming, so it had been a while since he had seen one. He thought back to
the day when he could have had one, but let it go. Without hesitation, he made
up his mind to try for this one.
    He started to stalk it, using his
standard technique. When the deer had its head down, he moved toward it. When
it raised its head, he stopped. Within a few minutes, he was very close. It was
standing broadside to him, and about fifteen feet away. John was a baseball
pitcher during the summers in his teen years, so he was confident he could hit
his mark. He would have to put a lot of force into this throw. This wasn't a
fish.
    John put everything he had into it,
letting out a loud grunt as he flung the spear at what he hoped would be his
next meal. As the point of the spear penetrated flesh, the small deer
instinctively tried to leap forward. John had missed his mark badly, and could
see that it wasn't a clean kill. The spear had severed the deer's spine.
    As it began to thrash about with