Pear Adventure

The cold, dry mountain air made it hard for Jack to write in his notebook, but he didn’t care. He stood on the border between the forest and the enormous mountain range before him. Sleeping there that night couldn’t deter his emotions for being in such a fascinating place. The foot of the mountain was where he was looking for his prized research goal.

“Altitude is 574 meters high...temperature is 3 degrees Celsius…”

He quickly reached into his pocket to pull out a portable thermometer.

“Hmm...okay, it’s 3C. In Fahrenheit, that’s like 37 degrees I think. Perfect.” Jack thought to himself with a smile on his face.“

“This is the perfect day to find the pear trees.”

Jack’s pleasant moment of ruminating was interrupted by rustling from the tent behind him. He turned around to see a sleepy looking man, dressed in his hiking gear.

“You sure get up early, mate. What’s the rush? We have a whole day ahead of us.”

Jack put his supplies away and walked over to the man, still stretching as he let out a loud yawn.

“Well, I believe we should be able to make it to the small area of pear trees. The information that Aiaru gave me says we only have around a 4 hour hike from here. We can grab the samples, take a few pictures, and start heading back to the village pretty early in the day. We might even be able to camp closer to the village if we can leave soon, Murphy.”

Murphy yawned loudly once more before turning around to point at the tent.

“Well, you got to ask this little one. She is the guide so she knows best,” Murphy said pointing at the tent. “She is still getting ready. Thought I’d give her a bit of privacy while getting ready.”

“While she is getting ready, I might see ‘bout grabbing one of that Gorin Piss’n you brought at the street market before we left the village. This whole adventure is about food, in’it? I’ve been famished since I got here.”

“I believe you mean the Goreng Pisang. But, before you do that, take a look at this. Here, here. Let me show you this mistake I made last night. Don’t worry! It’s a good mistake but take a look, see!”

“Calm down, Jack,” Murphy said as he rolled his eyes and reached into Jack’s bag, looking for breakfast.

“Damn, must still be in the tent,” Murphy said to himself.

Just as Murphy turned around, a second figure emerged from the tent.

<<“Good morning, Aiaru. Did you sleep well?”>> Jack said cheerfully to the young woman holding a large backpack of supplies.

<<I’m doing well, Mr. Jack. I am ready to continue our trek.>>

“No idea what she says but tell her g’morning in her language,” Murphy said nonchalantly.

Jack gave a soft smile.

“She’s ready to start the hike to the small grove of pear trees. I just need to get one fruit and we can head back. Easy.”

The trio hiked for twenty minutes, crossing a mile of forest before coming to a small clearing.

“Here, I believe the pear trees...ah yes. There are some right over there!”

Jack ran across the field, leaving Murphy scrambling to catch up.

“Hold on, Jack! I know you're excited but geez. Give me a warning next time you want to take off like that.”

Jack nodded his head with a smile before turning his focus to a group of large trees.

“Look up there,” Jack said, pointing to the greenery of the trees. “These pear trees are home to some of the first species of pears in the world. There are other variants in some places like Europe but these are special. These have been isolated and untouched. By getting a sample and studying it, we might find out more about the beginning of pears in nature. Isn’t that cool?”

Murphy again rolled his eyes.

“Thanks for the science lesson, kid but we need these samples to get the full money from the grant. I’m just on this vacation to get away for a bit.”

Jack sighed and began feeling the trunk of the tree.

“Let’s look around for any seeds or fallen fruit we can gather. Different samples would benefit this project a lot.”

Murphy turned around and gazed across the field.

“Hey, what is that girl doing? She is staring at the ground over there. Does she have an attention problem?”

Jack stopped picking up fallen pears and glanced at Aiaru.

“I’ll go see what is keeping her. Just continue collecting pears,” Jack said signaling Murphy to continue collecting.

Jack ran back to where Aiaru stood, fixated on something at her feet.

<<Oh, Mr. Jack! Look at this. Some strange footprints here. I’ve never seen them…>>

<<Let me take a look, Aiaru. Hmm...is this some kind of hole?>>

<<No, Mr. Jack...this looks like a footprint.>>

Jack bent over the crevasse in the ground, noticing five small claw marks where a creature’s toes dug into the Earth.

<<What kind of animal has these kinds of footprints, Aiaru? I don’t know any creature that looks like this.>>

Aiaru scratched her head and folded her arms, continuing to study the prints.

<<It may be some type of monkey. Monkeys are known to be in these areas sometimes. They also might like the pear fruit themselves.??

The two were suddenly startled when Murphy yelled for their attention.

“Hey, guys! Take a look at this! It’s more interesting than some footprints in the mud.”

Jack and Aiaru ran to Murphy to see what the attraction was. They both gasped as a small, green monkey sat next to Murphy.

“It looks pretty frail. Maybe it is lost or something. Yeah, maybe it lost its mommy. Should we do something about it or just leave it here. It might actually sell as an exotic pet…”

Jack sighed and shook his head.

“I’m sure if it is here, it is in the best place. We should leave it alone…”

Murphy bent over and began to wave his finger in front of the monkey. The small creature only stared at Murphy as he tried to amuse it.

The monkey swayed its head back and forth as Murphy attempted to amuse it as much as he was entertained.

<<Please tell him to not disturb the creature. We need to get what we came for and leave.>> Aiaru pleaded with Jack as he nodded in agreement.

“Murphy, let’s collect our samples and get going. We don’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to…”

Suddenly, a low crawling could be heard above the trio. The air turned still as the only sound that could be heard was Murphy’s pandering to the creature. Jack and Aiaru looked into the trees to try and pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

<<We might have angered the mother.>> Jack said with a worried tone.

Aiaru hurried to the pear bags that had the samples.

<<I’ll get the pears in the bags. Now is the best time to…>

The two were jolted to attention after Murphy let out a bloodcurdling scream. They swung around to see Murphy clutching his hand, gushing streams of blood from his hand.

“That fucking thing took my finger, it got my finger!” Murphy let out another scream as he gazed in horror as the small monkey nibbled and chewed on his index finger.

In a panic, Jack grabbed Murphy by the arm and pulled him away into a dash. Aiaru followed with the sacks of pears.

Dashing with all their strength, they finally hid in the bushes.

Whipping out a handkerchief, Jack tightly wrapped gauze around Murphy’s hand to stop the blood loss. Murphy quickly fell to the ground, still clutching his hand in pain.

“We need to get out of here. Whatever that thing is, it is carnivorous. We will be eaten alive if we stay,” Jack said, grabbing one of the sacks of pears from Aiaru. Nodding in agreement, Aiaru signaled for the three to get moving. Before the trio had another moment to think, the sound of thousands of rushing tree branches and foliage filled the air.

“Oh no, this isn’t real,” Jack said in desperation, exasperated at what he believed the sound to be.

“Run!” Murphy yelled without any restraint.

The three dashed through the brush as the sound of thousands of monkeys only grew closer.

“Throw some of the pears! The pears!” Murphy screamed. “It wanted that damn fruit. Give it to them!”

Jack reached into his sack and pulled out two pears, throwing them behind him as he continued running.

The sound of the pursuers could be heard dashing toward the spot where the two pear fell. Only a few seconds later, the sound again continued following them.

Aiaru grabbed her entire sack and began flinging the fruit in all directions. As soon as the fruit would hit the ground, swaths of the impending sound would scurry toward the fallen fruit.

“It’s working, it’s working!” Jack thought to himself as he emulated Aiaru. Throwing the fruit from his sack again made the sound of the monkeys disperse more and more.

Feeling elated that the plan was working, Jack’s eyes widened as he felt the bottom of his bag. He only had one fruit left. He stopped in his tracks. Aiaru stopped next to him as Jack gazed at her sack also. It was completely empty.

“Come on you idiots! Let’s keep going. This fruit isn’t worth this much trouble,” Murphy said angrily.

Jack took a deep breath, holding the last pear in his right hand. He turned around the face the remaining sound of angry creatures.

<<Aiaru, please follow Murphy to safety. This is my fault. I’ll hold them off.>>

Aiaru nodded her head and continued running into the forest.

With the pear in his hand, Jack closed his eyes, waiting for the moment for the creatures to arrive. The screeching only grew louder until finally, it was directly above his head. Knowing this might be his only chance, Jack threw the last fruit a few meters from his spot and waited.

The forest suddenly grew silent. Jack, too scared to move, held his position as he heard a small rustling approaching. In a moment, he could feel a small nose inspecting his leg. He opened his eyes slightly to see a small, green monkey, seemingly the same one that attacked Murphy, clutching what looked to be Murphy’s finger.

Jack froze as he watched the creature slowly sniffing his feet and ankles, Each moment seemed to be a lifetime until the small monkey suddenly perked it’s ears. Still immobilized by his fear, Jack only watched the monkey as it gave one last screech before turning around, taking Murphy’s severed finger with it.

Jack kept standing for another minute, confused and cautiously happy that there was only silence around him.

“But..why didn’t the monkey want the pear? Or...was it after something else…”