Chapter 12 Scene 8

Overnight there is a heavy rainstorm lasting four hours. Everyone in the shelters is well protected, but Phato, pinned on his back in the heavy crab trap in the darkness, has to lie there and take it. Once the storm is over he falls asleep quickly, and is sound asleep as day breaks.

The rest of the group eats fruit for breakfast and Tom announces, "We need to get started on building the bridge to Phatoland."

"I'll help," offers Machk. "We need lots of lumber, logs, and lianas."

"I'll chop down some dead trees to get the lumber."

"I can cut the lianas."

Olof doesn't want to be left out and says, "I'll collect logs that drifted on shore."

Quest 10: Collect twenty lumber, fifteen lianas, and ten logs."

When the three men go after their objectives, Sophia volunteers, "I can watch Phato."

Kuruka reminds her, "You must not interfere."

"Oh no, I promise I won't." Sophia is looking forward to watching Phato struggle to escape the crab trap and definitely does not want to help him.

"Good," replies Kuruka. "I will go hunt some snakes, they will be useful and we don't need them bothering us."

As Kuruka heads east toward where the snakes are, Sophia goes south the beach to watch Phato. It is about ten o'clock when he wakes up. He tries to sit up and fails, blinks, and then remembers where he is. He has to wriggle just to be able to move his arms. Once he has a little freedom of movement, he examines his prison and determines which rocks attached to ends of ropes have to be pulled through which openings in the net to untangle the crab trap. Just because he can see what to do doesn't make it happen right away; it almost always takes some time to maneuver his arms into position.

Sophia is captivated by the sight of the struggling native boy and could watch him all day. It still takes Phato a solid hour to get to a point where the crab trap is straightened out over his upper body, He has to rest for a few minutes, and then he carefully brings the part of the trap down his body and over his legs. He can't sit up any further, but his entire body above the waist is now free, glistening with sweat. He looks around, sees Sophia watching him, and ignores her. Taking another deep breath, he sets about freeing his legs. It is easier for him to see what he is doing but awkward at times when he has to move rocks by his feet. It takes almost another hour before he can scoot out entirely from the crab trap.

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