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I woke
with a jolt and a terrifying feeling I was
about to fall from the violently bucking
rodeo horse in my dream. But, even now
with my eyes open, I wasn't sure I was
properly awake. I was still being bounced
vigorously in my seat and there was a
cloud of dust all around. It was a
disorientating moment, looking across to
see Alex grappling with the steering wheel
as he navigated the narrow furrows of the
bumpy dirt track, seeing him in his black
fatigues and not the cowboy outfit I'd
seen him wearing in my dream. I let out a
little shriek of panic when he suddenly
jumped with both feet on the brake,
twisting the steering wheel one way as the
vehicle skidded almost sideways in the
opposite direction before stopping. The
cloud of dust that enveloped us glowed
orange as it temporarily blocked the
sunlight before slowly dissipating to
reveal an alien, surreal landscape the
likes of which I'd never seen
before.
"Where
are we?" I mumbled. A voice in my head was
saying "You're not in Kansas anymore,
Toto."
Alex had
already opened his door, jumped out and
made his way around the front of the
vehicle. I was still flapping my hands,
trying to swat away the particles of dust
and grit that swirled in the air around my
face when he opened my door. It felt like
he'd opened the door to a furnace, such
was the sudden gust of heat radiating from
the barren, red landscape outside.
"What
time is it?"
It felt
like I'd been asleep for just a few
seconds and I couldn't figure why it now
looked like I was on the moon and not
still in Sydney.
"Alex?"
I needed to hear him say something,
anything to convince me I wasn't still
dreaming.
"Bloody
hell!! You sure can sleep. It's already
2pm! I would have stopped earlier but you
looked so beautiful asleep I didn't want
to wake you..."
"Where
are we?"
"Not
sure myself."
It
wasn't the answer I expected to
hear.
"I've
got to check the map. May have taken a
wrong turn."
"A wrong
turn? You can say that again!" I mumbled
to myself.
"Anyway,
I suggest you take this opportunity to go
to the bathroom and freshen up while i
prepare some tucker."
"Some
what?"
"Tucker.
Food, you know?"
"Oh,
yes, of course."
I still
had no idea what he was talking about.
Alex started to walk toward the back of
the vehicle.
"Alex?"
"Yes?"
He stopped and looked back at me.
"Just
one question..."
I
actually had a million questions
ricocheting like machine gun fire inside
my head.
"What's
that?"
"Um..."
I started gesturing at the vast emptiness
around.
"What is
it?" Alex leaned around the back of the
vehicle to retrieve a five gallon plastic
container of water.
"Where
is the bathroom?"
"There!"
He waved his arm in a broad sweep,
casually indicating no place in
particular.
For a
minute I thought Alex could see something
that I couldn't. I looked again, staring
out and the nothingness all around. In
every direction, it was like looking out
at the ocean - a flat ocean of red dirt
speckled with tufts of low growing grasses
stretching out as far as the eye could
see. A lone tree in the middle distance,
its leafless branches clasping up at the
sky like a tortured hand clawing the
heavens for moisture, was the only object
of any description between us and the
horizon far beyond it.
"Where?"
"Anywhere you'd like it to
be!"
I found
Alex's casual attitude slightly
unnerving.
"You
can't be serious?"
"You see
this soil?"
"Yes?" I
looked down at the small cloud of dust
raised by Alex's boot stomping on the
ground. The red soil was all I could see
and I wondered whether it was some kind of
riddle he expected me to solve.
"Probably been ten years
since this soil has seen a drop of
water."
I
started to blush as it slowly dawned on me
what he was suggesting. "And..."
"Go on."
Alex waved me away with his hand and
chuckled. "You'd be doing the environment
a favor!"
I stood
staring blankly at him for a minute. I had
so many questions but none of them seemed
to address the problem. "You
mean...?"
"Hurry
up! We haven't got all day."
Alex
turned his attention back to the water
container. I looked back out at the
emptiness all around, hoping to see
something that might afford me a little
privacy. The solitary tree in the distance
shimmered like a mirage but I started to
walk towards it anyway.
"Don't
go too far..."
"Why?" I
asked, hearing the warning implied by his
tone.
"I don't
want to have to carry you too far if you
get bitten by a snake."
He was
laughing but I could tell he wasn't
joking. I immediately remembered a program
I'd seen on Discovery Channel. Australia:
home to nine out of the ten most deadly
snakes in the world. I suddenly felt like
peeing right there on the spot in front of
Alex. Personal safety above modesty, I
reasoned to myself.
"Go on.
Just don't go too far."
"You're
sure it's okay?" I still needed one more
reassurance.
"You'll
be fine. Just be quick."
The
panic I felt in the pit of my stomach
seemed to knot tighter around my bladder
with every cautious step I took through
the knee-length needles of brown grass.
Every ten or so steps I'd glance back, not
just to make sure I wasn't straying too
far from the vehicle but to see whether or
not Alex was watching. I saw him on the
other side of the vehicle, his back to me
and standing in a way that suggested he
was taking a pee himself. "It's so easy
for guys!" I muttered to myself.
After
walking about thirty yards, high stepping
cautiously over clumps of sharp, spiny
grasses, the cramp in my stomach became
unbearable and the urgency of my need to
pee won out over modesty. I stepped back
and forth between two small clearings of
red dirt, eventually deciding the least
rocky of the two would be the most stable
underfoot for the precarious balancing act
I knew squatting would be. I unhitched my
belt buckle and unzipped my jeans, grabbed
hold of my panties with my thumbs to pull
them quickly down together with my jeans
until they were at my ankles. Then, after
lifting my shirt and holding it pressed
tightly just under my breasts and out of
the way, I slowly squatted, lowering my
bared bottom carefully so as not to sit on
any sharp needle of grass.
The
relief was instantaneous as my bladder
emptied, sending a jet of pee down on the
dry, red dirt. It seemed an endless stream
that, for the minute or so it lasted, held
me trapped on the spot like I was tethered
on the end of a golden thread. It was
however impossible to relax and completely
enjoy the feeling of relief and I had to
continually tense muscles to moderate the
flow so as not to splash muddy, pee soaked
red soil onto my jeans and shoes.
"Come
on! Hurry up!" I groaned to myself. The
sight of one ferocious looking ant
scurrying out of the grasses nearby across
the hot, dry soil had me looking for more.
The more I looked the more I saw and I
suddenly realized I was surrounded by
them. I tried to will them not to advance
on me, imagining for a second I could
generate some kind of force field with my
mind, but it did nothing to stop them. In
fact, if anything it appeared as if they
were now aggressively seeking me out and I
shrieked in panic.
The ants
were the largest I'd ever seen. An inch or
more long with a black, battle-like armor
shell covering their backs, a large,
orange bloated rear section and pincers on
their heads that looked like they could
cut steel.
"Alex!"
I squealed loudly and leapt to my feet. I
hadn't quite finished peeing and the
feeling of hot moisture dribbling down the
insides of my thighs felt revolting but it
was preferable to being bitten by one of
the nasty looking ants. I screamed Alex's
name again as I stumbled through the
clumps of sharp grasses, my jeans and
panties still trapped like a hobble around
my ankles.
"Alex!!!"
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