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Survivor - Trading Places

The New Series!

by Stephanie Peters a.k.a. Verrath

And this week, an all new Survivor series opens - Trading Places. Join us now as City dweller John and Bushman Tau trade places to live for one week in the other's environment. Who will cope better? Coming up now are the exciting real-time diaries of their first day, so see for yourself...

 

Here's John:

Well, so far it's been a piece of cake, although the old plane has dropped me off here in the middle of nowhere, dumped my pack in the dust and took off in a hurry. I suppose I was lucky that old bucket of rust made so much noise, scattered a pack of lions that was having a siesta close by.

Not a damn soul here.

I shoulder my pack - I guess perhaps I should have packed a second soda after all, it's rather warm here. No matter, as soon as I get settled, I'll see about grabbing a drink. There looks so be a large body of water on the horizon, I can see a herd of antelopes mirrored in its surface. I'll just head for that.

Suddenly, I hear a soft hiss at my feet. Before I can react, something pricks my toe. It burns. I look down in time to see a small, colorful snake slither away. Must have sat right in my path, stupid bugger. My toe, peeking out from my sandal has two neat puncture marks that look an ugly red.

Something Steve Irwin once said suddenly enters my mind. Was it red - yellow - black or red - black - yellow? I feel dizzy, I guess I should sit. The sun must be getting to me. Yellow - red - black - deadly? Or was it the other way round? Was there even any red on that snake? I do know there are all sorts of colors dancing before my eyes NOW. My legs are really tired, and I'm having trouble breathing. Yellow - black -

red... black.

 

And this is Tau:

I have heard of these "cities", and the horrible dangers those living here face day after day - and now that I see one first hand, I am awed. How can anyone survive in this vast place where nearly nothing grows? Everywhere I look, rock walls so straight they boggle the mind loom tall, sometimes even blotting out the sun. And the people! I haven't seen this many in my entire life, let alone in one place! Some look at me strangely, but none so far have returned my greeting. Perhaps they do not see well. I certainly feel like I will be going blind and deaf, with all the blinking lights and the noises coming from everywhere at once. This morning, I went to relieve myself in one of the few places where there was soil to cover it with, and a man chased me off waving a stick at me, before I could put my loincloth back in place. I don't know how I will last in this frightening place. I wonder how the other person is faring in my world - it must seem like heaven to him.

All right, but now I think it is time to discover what those red, yellow and green lights signify - perhaps I should walk a little closer... red - yellow - green...

The noise grows louder as I approach, and something squeals, then there is a honk not unlike an enraged elephant. Red...

red... black.

 

... And this concludes today's episode of Survivor - Trading Places. Tune in when next week, an Innuit seal hunter discovers the world of the Australian bush, as his Aboriginal Tradee explores the wonders of frosty Greenland!


Comments? I'm at verrath@gmx.de

 

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