Wings air Down (manxman)

antagonism

December 20, 17:00 (5:00 pm)

The evening is colder then it has been since we landed four days ago. Who would have thought at the beginning that we would have lasted this long? I feel more and more tired and without energy as time does by. Maybe the lack of energy has to do with being stuck here, or with the meager soups we ingest twice a day.  As we have less and less food, the soup becomes more watery. I look at what I have in my cup right now and it looks like hot water slightly colored with a few things floating and at the bottom of it. The floating is manly from the leaves that were taken from the shrubs and crushed pine needles from trees that grow in the area. The aroma of the pine needles seems to reinvigorate me slightly. I start sipping at my concoction as I make my way back inside the aircraft.

“What is this? Do you call this soup?”

Not again! Since the day I faced Roberto when we thought we had no more food he has been complaining about one thing or another.

“Roberto, please move along,” says the pilot in a calm voice, “Beatrice does what she can with what she has.”

“We are all going to get sick, now we are using pine needles in this so called soup. We will all die with stomach cramps, if not worst.”

“We will not die, we tested the needles last night on a few volunteers, they are all healthy.” He points in my direction since I was one of the volunteers; it seems the only one around at the moment.

I have to admit I was scared to try the needle tea last night. I heard somewhere that pine needles are laxative, so I thought that I was going to run all night to the bathroom. But it actually went down pretty good.

“How do you feel Marco?” Why do you have to drag me into this? I wonder. I look around and I notice that the other passengers around are also looking dubiously at their soup.

“Fine,” I just say, “never felt better.”

“Any stomach cramps?”

“Nope.”

“There, you see. Now please move along, we still have about 70 people to feed.”

“I don’t trust him and nor do I trust this crap, you are going to send us all to our grave.”

Somehow I think he has an issue with me being gay more than anything else. This is absurd, so I just blurt out.

“If you don’t want it, just give it back. There is going to be more for us, that’s all.”

“That actually brings another point, how come a frigging frail old lady has to have as much as me or a kid.” He points at a 10 year old kid next to him. “Everyone knows that men need almost twice as much a woman and much more then kids.”

“I don’t understand you.” I snap, “first it is crap and now you want more! Which one is it? I cannot follow you.”

“Please don’t go there.” The captain says with all the authority he can muster taking over the conversation. “We all share equally and that is final! Now please move along with your soup or give it back.”

“I don’t agree with it, who in hell put you in charge? We have been sitting here like cornered rats. We have no food, and we are getting wasted waiting for a rescue that is never going to show up. I say the hell with you and we redistribute the food according to the individual needs.”

“That will not happen. You are upset at nothing. Search and rescue will find us. If we move we are dead. We have shelter and, yes, we have food, even if in limited quantities. I have flown the area many times there are no towns around here, so moving would means cold, no shelter and no food. We stay here and we wait for rescue if we want to live.”

“We are free men and this is not a dictatorship, it is our life you are playing with and we should at least have a say in what you plan on doing. I have never voted on any of this, including poisoning this crap with needles.”

“And what would you vote on?” This guy really gets the worst out of me. “Please raise your hand if you want to die of cold and hypothermia.” I wait for a second.

“Oh look nobody raised their hands. About this, who wants to die of hunger and starvation?  or injury while trying to cross the mountain?” I wait again.

“Nobody again. There you go; we had a vote; are you happy?”

The captain looks at me then at Roberto.

“Marco, Roberto please calm down. Now, once again, let’s look at it objectively. We do have shelter, food and water. We can actually make it if we do not start fighting each other. Right now our worst enemy is us. We must not loose temper, nor faith…”

He is not finished but Roberto just cuts him out.

“Faith, do you know what you are saying old man? Please don’t tell me you believe in his crap.” He points his finger at me. “My boyfriend is coming I feel it in my heart he is so close to me.” He says with a contorted face. If he was planning on insulting me, it actually make me want to laugh.

“You got it wrong.” I add calmly, “It is not in my heart that I feel it, it is in my loins.” And just to make it clear I point at my crotch.

Roberto gets a couple of shades redder if that is possible, turns and storms away inside the aircraft. Everyone just laughs at the comment.

The pilot approaches me, and says still smiling.

“You really have a way with words. But can you please try not to enrage him that much, I feel he can really cause a lot of troubles onboard.”

“Enrage him? He is the one that stands on my nerves. And besides, you dragged my into it, you should have asked someone else about the needles.”

“You were the one that was there.”

“That is my life story being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Actually I think more at the right place at the right time.”

“I guess it is a matter of opinions.”

He just smiles. “Now that I think about it, may be it was good I dragged you into it. He was really going to try to create a revolt this time.”

“Better luck next time.”

“I hope not! Just be careful will you. People are capable of doing a lot when under the right pressure. God knows what Roberto can do right now.”

“Fine, I will be careful.”

“Good, and let’s hope they will find us soon.”

*****

A bit of information, if interested:

There is a big argument about pine needles in this chapter. Actually without knowing, the survivors had an excellent idea. Pine needles can be turned into tea. It is made by taking about a handful of preferably fresh needles and crushing them in 10 to 15mm long pieces. The crushed needles are placed in a cup and add hot water. After about 10 minutes of brewing the needles can be removed by sifting and the tea is ready. Most pine needles are edible. They contain high amounts of vitamin C and A. They can be used as cold and infection relief, decongestant, antiseptic when chilled, improve mental clarity and aromatherapy.

Some species of trees have isocupressic acid, which causes abortion in cattle. It is said that in some cases the cattle will drop the fetus in a matter of hours. It is therefore recommended for pregnant or women that may be pregnant to avoid this tea, even if not all pines have it. 

Common Yew also contains toxins that can harm humans. Some of the toxins are actually used in Chemotherapy, and if you know anything about it, then you know that it has very nasty side effects.

The Australian pine (Norfolk Pine) has also proved poisonous to house pets. 

Finally, for the species of pines that are ok to consume, most of the plant is edible with many healthy benefits, including: the sap (high in vitamins), the pollen, young pine cones (before they become hard), pine nuts of course are used in many recipes and the inner bark (which, if harvested, may actually damage the tree permanently, not a good idea for the tree's sake). 

Thanks to rain_water for being the first to mark as reading this book. I hope you like it up to now...