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Published: April 3rd 2006
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April 1st- April Fool’s day. I hope you all did not waste the opportunity to perform a stunt, prank, or practical joke on those that mean something to your life. What better way to demonstrate your long-lived love, like, or hatred for someone than a well-rehearsed lie. After much brainstorming, Breck and I decided the genre of shock/ horror would be most respectable. Considering our already heightened vigilance to crime in the city, we capitalized on the chance to distort reality. Our three targets slept innocently at the end of hallway: Tiffany, Samantha, and Christy.
The scene required a minimum of setup and basic props: bloody butcher knife, pile of scattered cash, injured/dead victim (Breck), and of course some strategically- placed ketchup. We were ready. It began with slamming and banging of the doors and walls of the hallway adjacent to their room. At the end of the “struggle,” Breck fabricated one last gasp for help. Immediately I began running. Down the hall. Into the girl’s room. Slammed the door behind me. They awoke with a fright. With terror in my eyes and breathless lungs, I attempted to explain that Breck had been hurt by someone (possibly still in the
The crime scene 2
View from the girls door! What you don't see is the bloody fingerprints that Breck made on the wall and doorway. Pretty good, huh? house) and was bleeding everywhere from his injuries. While we should have anticipated the reaction, they were more frightened than we had desired. In my attempt to create authenticity, I played off their emotion and got quite carried away with the performance. A host of coping mechanisms were displayed: whimpering, crying, pushing buttons on the security system, and trying to escape through the barred windows. I told them to get me a weapon, and I would go search the house. I didn’t find out until the skit was completely over that they had given me a large hairbrush with which to destroy the assailant(s). In my absence, they managed to peak into the hall long enough to see Breck’s tomato covered feet. This is when we started to realize we had gone too far. Breck got up and went to the door. With a knock, he explained he was OK. But it was too late. They did not think it was funny. And with good reason. It was a poor choice of actions, especially since one of the girls had been held at gunpoint in Oklahoma before. We all learn from our mistakes, right? I just hope we didn’t cause
Indiana Jones
Leaving the Temple of Doom; otherwise known as the Sterkfontein caves. them to develop a post-traumatic stress disorder.
April 2nd- The morning air was cool and crisp as we gathered outside the guest house anxiously awaiting the arrival of our guide. Andreas; a middle age, South African citizen and son of German immigrants, would be our escort during our tour of the Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve. This piece of private property is in the town of Krugersdorp of the Gauteng (Hho-tang) province 15 miles southwest of Johannesburg, the most populous city in SA. Gauteng means “Place of Gold” in the tribal language of Sotho and refers to the gold rush in this area in 1886. The narrow dirt roads that spider throughout the park afforded only inches between passing cars. Within minutes of our entrance, we spotted a pride of lions transecting their restrictive grassland biome. Captivity changes animals, and these were no different. They used the roads just as human pedestrians. The only problem was that the traffic ahead of us would not pass the lions to let us have a better look. We soon figured out that most of our cameras were worthless. Without a lens the size of a Sonic foot-long cheese coney, the photographs did
Lion cub's attack!
Tiffany and I being attacked by lions and tigers. no justice to these majestic creatures.
Next stop was the Sterkfontein cave system. This site is internationally famous because of a discovery that changed the world of paleontology and anthropology forever in 1936. Dr. Robert Broom found the first complete adult skull of a 3 million year old primitive hominid later scientifically named Australopithecus africanus. More recently in the late 1990’s, they found a complete human skeleton, which has been dubbed “Little Foot.” While sharing many of our (homo sapien) traits, the big toe was ape-like so that the organism could use it similar to the thumb for grasping objects. Literal and staunch evolutionists even suggest that these hominids are the missing link in our supposed transition from ape to man.
As the sun slowly descended to the West, we hurried back to a different section of the park for the most anticipated activity of the day: playing with lion and tiger cubs. After sorting our way through a labyrinth of reptile displays, mongoose cages, porcupines, rhinos, and vultures, we came upon two separate enclosures. For twenty rand or ($3.25) you could actually be thrown in the lion’s den. One cage held the six adolescents. Their weights ranged
from 60-130 lbs. A rowdy, rebellious sort not unlike human teenagers. Playful but powerful. Sweet but strong. I spent 15 minutes petting them although that was admixed with the time I attempted to photograph their movements. They really were caught up amongst themselves in recess and paid little attention to our presence. One of the white lions was particularly playful and in fact invoked fear in me once. As I was crouching to pet his buddy, he lowered his head, put his ear’s back and charged me. When I stood up to prepare for his lunge he slowed down and gave me a weakened pounce. I was still a bit shocked about how strong he was. His paws appeared too big for his body and felt like 10 pound dumbbells striking my thighs. The trainers in the enclosure told me to just push him down. Sure enough, he fell sideways and began rolling on the ground as if to ask me for a belly rub.
The 3 month old cubs were precious. We had longer time with them because we were the last group of the day. These 20 pounders would give my kitty Bella a run for her money.
From above
Good thing I had jeans on. They are fed at closing time each day, and their hungered aggression was apparent in play. Eight bouncing, pouncing, cuddly cubs busily scurried around our ankles. They weren’t large enough to take you down, but that did not stop them from latching on to your pant legs. I developed what seemed to be a mutually interested relationship with one of the tiger cubs. He would not leave me alone and persisted at following my every movement. I took advantage of this by obtaining many great photos of him as well. At one point he solicited the assistance of his cohort- the only other tiger cub. While it was two on one, he managed to take hold of the skin over my right biceps. After nearly a minute of his grip, I shook him off to reveal a rather impressive, blood tinged bite mark with accompanied bruising. However, I loved every minute of my time and could not bring myself to say goodbye to my new miniature friends.
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