Do you know these stories?
My childhood was filled with dangers. The media I consumed were filled with real-life things that could kill you in an instant: hot lava, pools of acid, quicksand, piranhas, space aliens... the list was endless. Grownup life was surely going to be exciting! Hence, it is not just the lack of flying cars, jetpacks, or cities under the sea that makes adulthood disappointing, but also the complete lack of quicksand or sudden lava flows.
Two short stories from my childhood highlight dangers that I was sure I would face (bravely) once I was grown up that I have never been able to locate and reread. Here's what they were about, as best as I can remember.
The first is about a terror that turns how to be strangely absent in my life: Being attacked by army ants which, everyone knows, can strip a person down to a skeleton in mere minutes. This was a common feature of most every adventure story set in "the jungle." I've found other classic short stories on this topic: "Leiningen Versus the Ants" or "The Empire of the Ants" but it is not either of them. Both of those stories, and I'm sure my mystery story as well, are colonialist tales of the Great White Man facing down the myrmecologian horror whilst the simple natives looked on in awe. Such tales white supremacy where staples of my youth, unfortunately.
In the mystery story our protagonist is in a jungle clearing near a river. I think that is were the camps was set up for explorers (maybe?). He's been injured and is in a wheelchair (which they brought with them on the expedition?). Anyway, he's alone in the camp for some reason. And then.... the ants approach! Our protagonist knows, as twelve-year old me, knew, that they would devour him in minutes! How can he save himself, as hobbled as he is by his injury?
He knows, somehow, that army ants always follow the leader. So the first ant that enters the camp he puts the barrel of his rifle down on the ground in front of it and the ant automatically follows the barrel of the gun as he guides the ant around the perimeter of the camp with the gun barrel the other ants simply follow along. Our protagonist begins to spiral the ants around and around thus, saving himself from being overwhelmed by their ravenousness. But! He is in the center of the spiral, and is simply trapping himself in the middle of the spiral! Eventually, he knows he will run out of room and they will then feast upon his quivering flesh, consuming him alive! As the inevitable end approaches, he contemplates making a break for the river where he will surely drown, but that death will be less painful than being consumed by the ants.
And then.... I don't remember. Does he die? Does he get rescued? Does he devise another cunning plan to save himself? I wish I could tell you! Find the story and send it to me!
The second story I cannot find was about a venomous snake. Again, our heroes are colonialist occupiers in, if memory serves, India (maybe it is a Kipling story?). In our tale, a gentleman is in his bed, reading. Then, he sees a small snake slither under his covers (why is he covered in blankets in India? Who knows?).
The small snake, the gentleman knows, is not only extremely venomous, but also very aggressive, making it the most dangerous snake in India (maybe?). More dangerous than the cobra!. Hence he has to remain completely motionless because the slightest movement will mean the snake will bite him and he will die quickly and in great agony.
Eventually, the gentleman is joined by two friends (or maybe servants?). How to rescue the poor man trapped in bed by a snake somewhere under the covers? The snake is so small (but dangerous!) that it is impossible to tell where, exactly the snake is. Eventually they hit upon a plan. They will chloroform the snake! (Apparently, they had chloroform? Maybe the guy is a doctor?). Anyway, the story is about how quietly and gently they applied the chloroform, while the trapped man sweats profusely and gets mosquito bites and is unable to move. They apply cold compresses to his head to help him deal with the heat (so why were there blankets?). Then, after they think they might have chloroformed the snake (or maybe it was ether?) they slowly, slowly begin lowering the blankets. A great deal is made of how painstakingly slow they do everything so the snake does not attack.
If memory serves, and it might not, the snake is gone once they completely remove the blankets. Which is kind of anti-climatic, I admit.
Do these stories ring a bell for anyone? Do you have titles or authors?Or suggestions about where to look? I'd love to find out how accurate my memory of them really is!
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
