“I think we’re more likely to see black caimans,” she said, grinning.
“So in other words, this is exactly likeTemple of Doom.”
“How about you go on out there and start jumping around like Short Round and let’s see what happens?” she joked.
“Do I need to change your nickname to smartass?”
“Nah. I’m good with Pringles.”
He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “All right then, Pringles, let’s do this. I’ll go first.”
The setting may have come straight out of a movie, but the bridge itself was nothing like the one inTemple of Doom. This bridge consisted of just three thick vines, almost in the shape of a triangle. Two for handholds, one to walk on, all being held together with other, thinner vines along the way. It looked sturdy enough, but it still was really only a bunch of vines wrapped together out in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. And was probably hundreds of years old…
Rafa took one step out onto the bridge, steadying himself with his hands on the “rails,” and then he shook. The bridge wobbled, but it didn’t fall.Well…here goes nothing.
“Hold on to your potatoes!” she called out with a laugh, channeling her inner Short Round.
He shook his head and laughed, then took another step out, shuffling his feet along the vines. Slowly, he moved across until he was hovering over the middle of the ravine. There was no going back now.
“Wait until I get to the end,” he called back to Miri. Who knew if it could hold both of their weight?
Rafa looked ahead at the remaining span of the bridge and back again.This is long.Then he glanced down.Really fucking long.
The bridge drooped under his weight, but he kept going. Almost there.Hmm…what’s that weird groaning sound?
“Do you hear that?” he called to her.
“Yeah, what is it? Do you think it’s an animal?”
“I don’t know. It’s like a creaking. Like…” He paused. Oh no. The vines. The vines coming unwound. “Shit! The bridge. It’s going to collapse.”
“Rafa!” she screamed.
The bridge sagged farther. He only had seconds, really. The vines started to unravel, pulling out of the ground from the far end where Miri stood. He realized that he had only one option: to keep going. He scrambled as far as he could toward the opposite end of the bridge before it gave way from under him, leaving him hanging from the vines against the side of the ravine. He hit the rock face with a thud but held on tightly.
“Rafa!” Miri screamed out again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he grunted as he used all his strength to pull himself to the top of the cliff. Once he made it over the edge, he lay flat on his back and looked up at the sky, panting. That was close.
He turned back to look at Miri on the other side of the ravine. Well, damn. This just made things a lot more complicated.
“Stay there,” he called out. “I’ll look for another way over.”
“I don’t think we’re going to find any more bridges.”
“Maybe we can climb down.”
Even from the other side of the ravine, however, he could see the face that Miri was making: it was a terrible idea. Besides, the cliff walls were steep. And making it to the bottom meant crossing the river where black caimans were a real possibility.
“We don’t have time for that,” she said. “What about that?” She pointed over to a tree that had half fallen over the ravine. The trunk didn’t cover the distance, however.
“You’re not going to push that over the rest of the way, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No, I think I can make it.”
“Make it? Pringles, what are you—”
He didn’t have time to finish his question before Miri was in a full-out sprint, running up the trunk of the fallen tree.
