Post by ashley on Jan 24, 2012 16:48:17 GMT -5
Labor Day weekend I was kidnapped by my father and brother and taken to The Land that time Forgot In Paw Paw,West Virginia.They Didn't have to bind me with ropes,since a fifty-pound,slobbering rust colored dog sat on my lap as we traveled back in time from my home in Springfield, Virginia to Paw Paw.
Paw Paw in in the Great Divide of the Appalachian Mountains,so no signal for television or internet penetrates there. For my listening pleasure I had the choice of ether chirping crickets, preachers shouting on the radio or scratchy vinyl records played on a antique turntable. My cell phone roamed constantly looking for a signal, like a lost nomad in a desert looking for water.I could not even call my friends to devise an escape plan or just to talk about stuff. My jail was "the Cabin." A cabin is what neanderthals built when all the nice caves were occupied. Basically, A cabin is a cave with wood paneling. there is no television or internet in The land That Time Forgot, so I had to complete this assignment with stone age tools surrounded by cave men.
The first day, as I worked on this paper, I was pulled from my corner by my brother.He is the minion of mischief, the trickster. If he is not fed Brother trickster will lead the tribe into chaos.I refused his demand to be fed,Because I needed to work on my assignment. Sure enough,Within hours the small band of Neanderthals and there captive beauty,me, were fighting for our lives in the rushing rapids of the upper Potomac river.
the ordeal began when Brother trickster convinced Tribal Chief Dad that he saw signs in the sky that it would be a good idea and to put and canoes into the Potomac and try to catch the legendary giant bass, Old Ariam.I watched as the cave men held poles over the water muttering works i can not repeat here and drinking cans of fermented brew. I can only think that the fish held some sacred,religious importance to them,since they spent hours engrossed in this strange ritual. Finally,the cave men gave up their quest to catch the crafty fish. I wondered if there really was a magical fish called Ariam,But didn't say a word in fear they would grab there poles again to prove me wrong.I was glad we were going back to the wood cave so i could finish my Homework.
I was wrong. Brother trickster convinced Tribal Chief Dad that we had to paddle far down river. I couldn't hear all that my brother had said,But I imagined he was telling dad we could find the origin of the river and some great treasure, or that we had to make this trip to atone for offending old Ariam.Whatever he said it was enough to convince Tribal Chief Dad to continue down river.
The men started paddling with me captive in the middle seat.The water was smooth and quiet for about a hour.Tribal Cheif dad began to express worry that the water level was very low because of the lack of rain. Brother Trickster made fun of this caution,Just as he planed Tribal chief dad continued the trip to save his honor.A half hour later we heard the first faint rumble of white water.The water suddenly picked up pushing us towards black jagged rocks rocks where the water poured over,turned white and became a cascading waterfall. Tribal Chief dad shouted loudly that we would fall off the edge of the earth. Brother Trickster just laughed and pointed to a spot where he said we could pass safely.Tribal Chief Dad looked at him and glared,not sure if he should believe the trickster who had just led us to an evil place.After a moments thought he decided to follow the path suggested by the trickster.If we survived I wondered if tribal chief Dad would finally realize the truth I have known for years: Brother Trickster is evil.
As I suspected the safe path was nothing but a trick ment to lodge the canoe helplessly amongst the rocks.It was then that I learned the next part of the tricksters plan: force me to get into the water and get my only set of dry clothes wet.I found myself in the water dragging the boat off the rocks.As we con continued onward the sun was setting behind the mountains turning the sky a Purple pink color.Darkness came quickly and it became imposable to see the rocks ahead.Oh,why did Tribal Chief Dad believe the Trickster!
It began to sprinkle lightly,not enough of a downpour to be considered rain, Just enough to increase the misery. in the fading light on the side of the river i saw a large flat boulder that looked like a table.I wondered if the neanderthals had been taking me up river to sacrifice me on this stone altar and now found themselves caught and about to be sacrificed? I taunted the Neanderthals with my understanding of there plot. Brother trickster and Tribal Chief Dad tried to look puzzled and pretended to know nothing about my sacrifice.I scoffed at this feeble attempt at deception.
the full moon rose,And a bridge where we could land and escape the wrath of the river became visible. The moonlight shone on the water forming a silver path threw the rocks toward our destination. Brother Trickster boasted loudly that he had known a full moon would rise and light our way. I laughed at the tricksters clam and poked fun at his supposed power over the moon and ability to see into the feature. I stopped when I heard Tribal chief dad singing the praises of brother trickster.
When the canoes were on shore Tribal Chief dad told me that the evening canoe trip had actually been an initiation ceremony to make me part of the Paw Paw tribe. Cold wet and muddy I didn't say what i was actually thinking and instead asked Tribal Chief Dad if i could be the first one to shower.Not that my initiation had been completed he granted me my wish.Later I realized why the chief had been so quick to give me the privilege of showering first:The first concern of a caveman is to consume and gorge on meat not bathing.
Next morning I was again hard at work on my writing project.I didn't know what to do when I had to look something up:There is No Internet in The Land that time Forgot.Tribal Chief Dad told my not to worry.He knocked a bleached deer skull from atop a stack of pre-Twentieth Century Reference books piled high on a shelf.Apparently these books were the stone tools and bear claws used by Primitive people to look up information BI(before Internet). Aside from having to thumb threw dusty ancient texts. I had the difficulty of being distracted by Brother trickster and tribal Chief dad who had gone outside and were not shooting firearms, Although im sure they called them thunder-sticks.
I did finally find the information in the World Scope Family Library Dictionary Encyclopedia that I needed for My paper.It was Interesting to read about experiments being done that might one day enable man to fly like birds in lighter than air machines. Finally,the blasts from the thundersticks stopped,and I though I would have peace and quiet to finish my assignment.Unfortunately, Brother Trickster,Deprived of Electronic stimulation, became fascinated with a obviously fake plastic bass on the wall. He discovered that he could make the fish move its head and sing Take me to the water if he pushed on its belly. This he did over, and over,and over and over......
things got better when Tribal Chief Dad called the Trickster outside to help him for a few minutes. Immediately, I leaped up up and gutted the plastic fish. Brother Trickster and Tribal Chief dad became angry when they saw this sacrilege, but i reminded the that they had kidnapped me against my will ans taken me to The Land That Time Forgot to work in Noisy, Primitive conditions with only the aid of Stone age tool references.I guess they detected a slight tension in my voice and body language, Because both ran outside in terror. OK, Ill admit it I was thinking about gutting them also.
I needed to focus on my assignment. After a few tries I was able to place the needle on the vinyl record and fill the room with the scratching sounds of Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews singing the songs of My Fair Lady.
As the trip neared its conclusion this paper did also. I placed the ancient texts back up on the sagging shelves,Atop the books i replaced the Bleached deer skull. After three days trying to write a paper for class in stone age Paw Paw while living amongst neanderthals it was natural that i had become a little superstitious, I mean whats the harm? It's probably just a icky old skull someone found in the woods, but why take the chance? I repacked my bag and placed it in the car. I few hours later I was back in civilization and the twenty-first century. I will never forget writing a English Paper in The Land That Time Forgot.
Paw Paw in in the Great Divide of the Appalachian Mountains,so no signal for television or internet penetrates there. For my listening pleasure I had the choice of ether chirping crickets, preachers shouting on the radio or scratchy vinyl records played on a antique turntable. My cell phone roamed constantly looking for a signal, like a lost nomad in a desert looking for water.I could not even call my friends to devise an escape plan or just to talk about stuff. My jail was "the Cabin." A cabin is what neanderthals built when all the nice caves were occupied. Basically, A cabin is a cave with wood paneling. there is no television or internet in The land That Time Forgot, so I had to complete this assignment with stone age tools surrounded by cave men.
The first day, as I worked on this paper, I was pulled from my corner by my brother.He is the minion of mischief, the trickster. If he is not fed Brother trickster will lead the tribe into chaos.I refused his demand to be fed,Because I needed to work on my assignment. Sure enough,Within hours the small band of Neanderthals and there captive beauty,me, were fighting for our lives in the rushing rapids of the upper Potomac river.
the ordeal began when Brother trickster convinced Tribal Chief Dad that he saw signs in the sky that it would be a good idea and to put and canoes into the Potomac and try to catch the legendary giant bass, Old Ariam.I watched as the cave men held poles over the water muttering works i can not repeat here and drinking cans of fermented brew. I can only think that the fish held some sacred,religious importance to them,since they spent hours engrossed in this strange ritual. Finally,the cave men gave up their quest to catch the crafty fish. I wondered if there really was a magical fish called Ariam,But didn't say a word in fear they would grab there poles again to prove me wrong.I was glad we were going back to the wood cave so i could finish my Homework.
I was wrong. Brother trickster convinced Tribal Chief Dad that we had to paddle far down river. I couldn't hear all that my brother had said,But I imagined he was telling dad we could find the origin of the river and some great treasure, or that we had to make this trip to atone for offending old Ariam.Whatever he said it was enough to convince Tribal Chief Dad to continue down river.
The men started paddling with me captive in the middle seat.The water was smooth and quiet for about a hour.Tribal Cheif dad began to express worry that the water level was very low because of the lack of rain. Brother Trickster made fun of this caution,Just as he planed Tribal chief dad continued the trip to save his honor.A half hour later we heard the first faint rumble of white water.The water suddenly picked up pushing us towards black jagged rocks rocks where the water poured over,turned white and became a cascading waterfall. Tribal Chief dad shouted loudly that we would fall off the edge of the earth. Brother Trickster just laughed and pointed to a spot where he said we could pass safely.Tribal Chief Dad looked at him and glared,not sure if he should believe the trickster who had just led us to an evil place.After a moments thought he decided to follow the path suggested by the trickster.If we survived I wondered if tribal chief Dad would finally realize the truth I have known for years: Brother Trickster is evil.
As I suspected the safe path was nothing but a trick ment to lodge the canoe helplessly amongst the rocks.It was then that I learned the next part of the tricksters plan: force me to get into the water and get my only set of dry clothes wet.I found myself in the water dragging the boat off the rocks.As we con continued onward the sun was setting behind the mountains turning the sky a Purple pink color.Darkness came quickly and it became imposable to see the rocks ahead.Oh,why did Tribal Chief Dad believe the Trickster!
It began to sprinkle lightly,not enough of a downpour to be considered rain, Just enough to increase the misery. in the fading light on the side of the river i saw a large flat boulder that looked like a table.I wondered if the neanderthals had been taking me up river to sacrifice me on this stone altar and now found themselves caught and about to be sacrificed? I taunted the Neanderthals with my understanding of there plot. Brother trickster and Tribal Chief Dad tried to look puzzled and pretended to know nothing about my sacrifice.I scoffed at this feeble attempt at deception.
the full moon rose,And a bridge where we could land and escape the wrath of the river became visible. The moonlight shone on the water forming a silver path threw the rocks toward our destination. Brother Trickster boasted loudly that he had known a full moon would rise and light our way. I laughed at the tricksters clam and poked fun at his supposed power over the moon and ability to see into the feature. I stopped when I heard Tribal chief dad singing the praises of brother trickster.
When the canoes were on shore Tribal Chief dad told me that the evening canoe trip had actually been an initiation ceremony to make me part of the Paw Paw tribe. Cold wet and muddy I didn't say what i was actually thinking and instead asked Tribal Chief Dad if i could be the first one to shower.Not that my initiation had been completed he granted me my wish.Later I realized why the chief had been so quick to give me the privilege of showering first:The first concern of a caveman is to consume and gorge on meat not bathing.
Next morning I was again hard at work on my writing project.I didn't know what to do when I had to look something up:There is No Internet in The Land that time Forgot.Tribal Chief Dad told my not to worry.He knocked a bleached deer skull from atop a stack of pre-Twentieth Century Reference books piled high on a shelf.Apparently these books were the stone tools and bear claws used by Primitive people to look up information BI(before Internet). Aside from having to thumb threw dusty ancient texts. I had the difficulty of being distracted by Brother trickster and tribal Chief dad who had gone outside and were not shooting firearms, Although im sure they called them thunder-sticks.
I did finally find the information in the World Scope Family Library Dictionary Encyclopedia that I needed for My paper.It was Interesting to read about experiments being done that might one day enable man to fly like birds in lighter than air machines. Finally,the blasts from the thundersticks stopped,and I though I would have peace and quiet to finish my assignment.Unfortunately, Brother Trickster,Deprived of Electronic stimulation, became fascinated with a obviously fake plastic bass on the wall. He discovered that he could make the fish move its head and sing Take me to the water if he pushed on its belly. This he did over, and over,and over and over......
things got better when Tribal Chief Dad called the Trickster outside to help him for a few minutes. Immediately, I leaped up up and gutted the plastic fish. Brother Trickster and Tribal Chief dad became angry when they saw this sacrilege, but i reminded the that they had kidnapped me against my will ans taken me to The Land That Time Forgot to work in Noisy, Primitive conditions with only the aid of Stone age tool references.I guess they detected a slight tension in my voice and body language, Because both ran outside in terror. OK, Ill admit it I was thinking about gutting them also.
I needed to focus on my assignment. After a few tries I was able to place the needle on the vinyl record and fill the room with the scratching sounds of Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews singing the songs of My Fair Lady.
As the trip neared its conclusion this paper did also. I placed the ancient texts back up on the sagging shelves,Atop the books i replaced the Bleached deer skull. After three days trying to write a paper for class in stone age Paw Paw while living amongst neanderthals it was natural that i had become a little superstitious, I mean whats the harm? It's probably just a icky old skull someone found in the woods, but why take the chance? I repacked my bag and placed it in the car. I few hours later I was back in civilization and the twenty-first century. I will never forget writing a English Paper in The Land That Time Forgot.