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Hammond's Dream Ch. 2
By Amber
Oracou
It was now eight in the morning. The Fields had used Lupe’s radio to get a hold of Oracou, the small village where they began there trek.
“Hello, hello, is anyone there?” Jack sputtered.
“Si, this is Oracou, Lupe, donde esta Lupe? Came from the other end of the radio.
“No this is Jack Fields. Something has happened to Lupe, he’s gone, we can’t find him.” Jack was out of breath, frantic, his voice was full of confusion.
The Oracou village had been sending out tours of Ismolaya since 1987. Oracou, located about twenty miles south of San Jose, was practically hidden from the outside world. Until a few years ago, Oracou was untouched by the technologies of man. But now, guides from the village were hired to take tourists on hikes about seven miles into the thick jungle. The forest was untamed, dark, and especially dense after three miles.
Two guides were sent from the village in a vehicle to pick the couple up and bring them back. There was a path wide enough for a small jeep to travel through that ran along the river, leading from Oracou to the next village.
Jack felt helpless, he was usually a calm rational man. What he saw, he just couldn’t explain. Was this why Lupe was so uncomfortable? Uncomfortable about spending the night so far south of the village. Did he know something, did he know something might happen? What happened? Where were the men from the village?
Ten minutes.
Why isn’t anyone here yet? They should have been here by now. Jack looked over to his wife. She was sitting on a bed sheet just inside there tent. She looked so calm and relaxed. Jack wondered if his wife really knew the extent of there danger. Or maybe she was terrified and just acting brave for Jack’s sake. She glanced over to her husband and gave a half hearted smile, then put her head down into her hands.
Twenty minutes, it had been twenty minutes and still no sign of the men in the jeep. Where were those men, Jack thought. Maybe the same thing that happened to Lupe had happened to the village members. Wait, was that a car engine? No, it was thunder, just the rolling thunder.
Where were they, it’s been twenty-five minutes, Jack thought. Jack knew it might be wiser to use the radio to find the men. Are they coming to help us?
finally, a green jeep arrived with two dark men from the village, each about in their thirties. The jeep pulled into the small clearing and parked near the Field’s tent. The men stepped out and looked up into the trees, they looked down at the ground. It seemed like they were looking for something. Clues maybe. One of the men walked toward Jack.
“My name is Carlos and this is Miguel,” he motioned over to the man standing by the jeep.
“Let me take a look at Lupe’s tent,” Carlos said.
Jack walked Carlos over to the tent which still reeked of decay. When Carlos walked into the stench he shuddered. Behind Carlos walked Miguel who looked over to Carlos when he caught the odor. The two men proceeded to inspect the tent for about five minutes, then walked over to the jeep to discuss something. They each returned with a rifle in hand.
“We will be right back, we want to take a quick look around, don’t go anywhere until we return.” Carlos warned Jack.
The two men entered the jungle, rifles in hand. How long would they be gone this time, Jack wondered. Jack looked at the rusty jeep. There was a tarp in the back covering something. Carlos had pulled the two guns from under the tarp, as well as a canteen similar to the one Lupe was carrying.
Five minutes had passed before either man returned from the bushes. Miguel was holding something in his hand, Jack couldn’t tell what it was until he threw it on the ground near the tent. It was Lupe’s shoe covered in red and brown splotches. The men looked pale. Carlos spoke to Miguel in Spanish and Miguel walked over to the jeep and grabbed something from under the tarp. He pulled out a red, plastic tank. He then walked over to Lupe’s tent and looked inside once more. Miguel began to pour the contents of the tank onto the tent. It gave off a familiar odor. It took Jack a minute to realize it was gasoline. Carlos then reached into his pocket and pulled out a match book. He then struck a match, and threw it on the tent. The tent began to glow with orange flames and billowing gray smoke.
“Hey, what do you think your doing?” Jack yelled.
Carlos watched the flames for a few seconds then stepped back to answer Jack.
“I need you to pack up your things and come with us to Oracou, I’ll give you about ten minutes. If you need any help packing I‘ll be in the jeep.”
“Well, we want to be out of here as soon as possible. So please, will you help me with my tent.”
Carlos and Miguel helped Rebecca and Jack pack their tent and things, and load them into the jeep. Jack had a million questions running through his head; what happened to Lupe? Why were they burning the tent? Why were they so cautious, and why did they bring rifles into the forest? The fire from the tent slowly died down and was now just a pile of ash giving off white smoke.
The trip back to the village was quiet for a long while until Carlos finally spoke.
“When we get to the village you’re going to have to fill out some papers and write a statement about what you saw.”
“We already filled out papers before we left, why do we need to fill out more forms?” Rebecca asked.
Miguel glanced back at her. “It’s mandatory.”
When they reached Oracou Carlos and Miguel led them into a room in one of the newer concrete buildings on the west side of the village. Wooden huts were scattered around the village, small children scampered into them. The couple entered the room and sat down in some chairs. The room was practically empty. There were a few other chairs in the room, a table, and a couple of windows.
Oracou was a fishing village located on the river. On the south side was where they grew there soy bean and agama crops. Jack noticed the villagers were uneasy when they arrived, most likely they heard about Lupe and new he was missing.
Rebecca heard an engine droning in the background that seemed to get louder. Outside, she could see a helicopter landing in a clearing through the window. It was blue and white with something in Spanish written on the side. A dark ,black haired, American man stepped out and walked down a path to the village as the helicopter rose back into the air. Carlos led the man into the room. He sat down next to the table and placed his briefcase beside her on the floor.
“Hello, my name is Scott Philips, I work with the Costa Rican Department of biology. I heard there was a problem with your tour. Tell me, what happened this morning.” he said as he placed his briefcase on the table, opened it up, and took out some papers.
The Fields explained to Philips everything they remembered. All they knew was that Lupe was missing in the morning and his tent was a mess. Philips wrote this down and began to question them further. Questions about times and places. What they ate, and where they placed there trash. The papers he handed them had the same questions. As well as others about animal shots and allergies. Both the Fields wrote statements.
“ I need to ask you a few more questions,” Philips said. “Now, I need you to remember, this is very important, did you see any animal tracks in the area this morning?”
“Well, yes actually I saw one.” Jack said.
“Do you remember what it looked like?”
“ It was about seven inches long and it had two toes. I thought it looked strange, it sort of looked like an ostrich track.”
Jack remembered the time he went to the zoo and saw an ostrich, he remembered it only had two toes.
Philips nodded his head in response and reached into his briefcase. He proceeded to take out a series of photographs and place them on his lap. He placed two on the table and set the rest back in the briefcase.
“Are these similar to the foot prints you saw today?”
“Yes, this first one is.” Jack said, pointing to the photo on the left.
Philips wrote this down and placed the photos back with the others. Rebecca noticed his briefcase seemed to be a bit unorganized. He probably traveled a lot and didn’t have much time to be tidy, she thought.
“Did you here anything during the night that might have sounded like an animal?” Philips asked.
“I did hear something, it sounded like grunting,” Jack said.
“We couldn’t really tell, it was low and the fires outside could have distorted the noise,” Rebecca said as she looked at Jack. He nodded his head in agreement.
“I thought it sounded like one of the wild pigs we saw earlier in the forest.” Jack said. The couple looked worried, almost if they had done something wrong.
“I think we're done here, if you like, you can accompany me back to the San Jose airport, and from there you can go back to your hotel. Don’t worry about what happened here, I don’t think we’ll need to contact you again.”
The couple seemed relieved to here that, and know, they were finally going home. They waited another fifteen minutes until the helicopter arrived. Jack could here the drone of its engines in the distance as he watched Philips talking to one of the elders of the village. They were talking in Spanish. The village member seemed to be arguing with Philips about something. He kept repeating the word hupia. Philips saw the helicopter had landed, so he finished his conversation with the man and met the Fields inside. As they lifted off the ground, Philips spotted a smile on Jacks face. Then he looked once more back at the village as it grew smaller in the morning light.
They landed at the San Jose airport within ten minutes. Philips pointed out the direction of the exit for the Fields, and they walked off and hailed a taxi to take them back to their hotel. Philips took out his cellular phone from his briefcase and tried to turn it on. It was low on batteries and wasn’t responding so he stuck it in his pants pocket. He then walked off to a phone booth, it was occupied. So he sat down in a chair and began to recall in his memory the last time he had to go out to the Ismolayan area because of an incident such as today.
It was about four months back, a small farming village was having problems with crops being destroyed and livestock being attacked. The soy and agama bean crops were being eaten. At first the goats were held responsible, this was then confirmed when their feces was tested for traces of soy. The goats were then contained in separate pens away from the crops, but the problem continued. Not only that, but the goats and pigs were turning up brutally mauled. On some occasions nothing would be left of an animal but a half an eaten carcass or a limb or two. The dogs were then thought to be attacking, but then dogs would also turn up torn apart. The final conclusion was that a jaguar was responsible for the happenings.
These happenings had been going on since the summer of 1989. The incidents had been decreasing around 1996 but a steady rise has started lately.
The man on the phone hung up. Philips unhook the phone and took out a small booklet from his briefcase. It was a phone book, he opened it up to the first page where he found a small yellow piece of paper with some scribbling on it. It said Derrick Carter and it had a phone number. He dialed the number and waited, then he dialed the extension number and waited again as the phone rang. It finally stopped ringing and a mans voice answered.
“Hello, Dr. Carter’s office.”
3/26/2003 12:14:52 PM
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