“Hello?”
My voice echoes through the trees, making the place sound empty.
It is, besides the small animals I see every once in awhile. A monkey howls above me, making me jump. I glance up just in time to see it hop from one tree to the other. My breaths come out in heavy puffs. I reach up to wipe the sweat off my forehead and push my hair back. I don’t even know why I chose this job. What was going through my head when I decided to go to Madagascar for a little extra money? It has been hours since I got here, and I still haven’t seen any civilization. My car is still a couple miles back, where I left it when it ran out of gas. My water bottle is empty now, and my throat is dry. I was supposed to be at the research center two hours ago. I’m probably going to get fired now, if I ever make it out of this place. I check my phone in hopes of having a little signal, but luck doesn’t seem to be on my side today.
My shirt gets caught on a bush, pulling me back when I try to step forward. I roll my eyes, turning around to pull my shirt loose. When I do turn around, it’s not a thorn bush that I see. It’s a person. Usually, I would be happy to see a person, so that I could get out of this place. Now? Not so much. The man standing in front of me looks to be a whole foot taller than me, dwarfing me. I glance up at his face, expecting to see him angry, but he wasn’t. He almost looked amused.
“Very ve ianao?” he asks, his voice coming out gruff and deep. My mind goes blank, and I’m confused. I don’t know how to speak Malagasy! What is he saying? Great, now I probably look dumb too. “I said, ‘are you lost?’” he repeats, this time in english. I let out a relieved breath. I can get out of here after all. “Oh, thank heavens! Do you know how to get out of here?” I ask. His deep chuckle rumbles through the forest. “Of course I know how to get out of here.” he laughs.
“Please, get me out of here!” I say excitedly. He chuckles again, taking my hand to lead me out of the forest. I was jumping for joy on the inside.
It took us another half hour to get out of that place, but we made it. It turns out, I had been wondering around the same area the whole time, clueless. Just my luck. He took me back to my car, starting to walk off. “Wait!” I called. He stopped in his tracks, turning around to face me. He raised his eyebrow in questioning. “I, um, need gas. Do you know where I could get some?” I asked him. His eyes lit up. He motioned for me to follow him with his hand. I stepped forward, following him back into the woods.
He took me the opposite way we came, walking for only about ten minutes before he came to a stop. In front of me, was what seemed to be a little town. It wasn’t anything fancy, some large tents here and there. He led me to a smaller tent, where he handed me a small jug filled to the top with liquid. “It’s one of our last ones, so it’s kind of small. Sorry.” He told me. I smiled at him, giving him a nod of reassurance. He nodded back, leading me back to my car. I filled my tank, starting the car to see that I now had a quarter of a tank. Thank heavens. “Thank you, I really appreciate what you’ve done for me today.” I tell him, reaching out to shake his hand. He gives my hand a firm shake. “No problem, tsara tarehy.” He responds. I get in my car, wondering what he meant.
I’ll have to ask someone at the research center, when I get there.
