Kong (A James Conrad Love Story)

Meetings

It was about a day of leaping from tree to tree, keeping behind them, making sure they didn't die. It was hard work too- they could have died so many times I stopped counting. A mother long legs here, a stick walker there, they were lucky they weren't all dead. I occasionally clambered down from my perches to check on them when they stopped, but I was fairly certain that the tracker could tell I was out there. His eyes always flashed to the spot where I had been a split second before. Yes, he knew there was someone out here. His hand was always on his gun, which was slightly unnerving. I wouldn't get off the island if I had a hole in my head.

Finally, I got bored and figured that if they weren't stupid, they probably wouldn't die too quickly. I took half an hour off, bathing in the lagoon ahead of them. It smelled vaguely fishy, but I didn't much mind. It was a far cry better than looking like a muddy savage.

Slightly surprising was when one of the water buffalo waded into the water next to me. The waves from its steps nearly knocked me over, they were so powerful. They weren't usually so brave, pretty much fifty foot tall cowards. Although, they were some of the easiest prey on the island, so they had good reason to fear. I had seen them literally scare themselves and run away screaming, bowling over trees as they went. Not the most intelligent, but at least they never tried to eat me. As the buffalo neared, I could see a milky white scar under its right eye. I knew all the animals nearby, and this one was affectionately named Grace.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're all thinking. "How stupid, a magical animal trainer." Well first of all, it's not stupid. It's called survival. If I didn't know the animals, I would have been dead a hundred times over. And second of all, I don't train them. I cooperate with them. They don't kill me, I help them when they need it and give them their space the rest of the time. It took years to make peace with all the creatures, years of living in constant fear of being impaled or torn apart or some equally gruesome death. The jungle was only pretty as long as you didn't meet any of its inhabitants. Now all I have to worry about is the skull crawler, and Kong keeps a fairly good handle on them. Most of the time. Ever since I had been here, at least. Only my own foolishness had gotten me face to face with the beasts.

Grace was one of the first animals I ever befriended. I was completely lost and confused and definitely in panic mode, but she found me and protected me until I could make it on my own. I guess I was her honorary calf. A little odd, perhaps, but I certainly did't complain.

I smiled at her, and relaxed back into the water before hearing footsteps behind me and standing abruptly. Grace lowed softly and turned in casual interest. I could only hide just behind her front foot, completely frozen. It was the group that had crashed. I hadn't expected them to make it this far this fast. I muttered to myself and hurriedly yanked on my clothes, not really wanting to confront them buck naked. I felt like that would be a kind of bad first impression. And there was no way I'd be able to slip away this time, not with a tracker that good. He would hear me before I made it two steps. Not even taking about getting out of a lake surrounded on all sides by open meadows. Fantastic. I sighed and stood, dressed to impress. Or not actually, since I still looked crappy. I just looked less gross than before.

I peeked around Grace's leg, to see the army man pointing at her head, point blank. This was why I wanted to wait a day- he looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown. The tracker looked calm, just waiting for Grace to go on with her business. His gun was slung loosely over his shoulder. This man was too confident for his own good. Perhaps the overly ecstatic army guy would live longer.

Just as his gun was starting to lower and he realized Grace posed no threat, I slipped out from behind her leg. I went for a blasé approach and said loudly, "Fine place you've picked for a walk."