Post by Amanda Kimmel on Mar 27, 2012 22:19:20 GMT -5
Episode Three: The Origin of Deception
Tribal Council loomed once again that evening. Amanda was uneasy at lunch with the gang.
“What’s the matter?” DD asked.
“Why is this place called Deception Valley, anyway?” Amanda asked.
“Uhm,” Parvati was speechless.
“I don’t know,” DD added, moving her arms out in bewilderment.
“This place has been around for a long time, hasn’t it?” Amanda asked. “I mean, people have lived here for millennia, right?”
“Maybe,” Parvati replied. “The culture is so not what I’m used to.”
“It isn’t China, that’s for sure,” DD chimed in, referring to where she and Parvati had each won their seasons.
“Well yeah,” Amanda added. “But why do the Bushmen call it Deception Valley?”
“The name did inspire the twist,” Erik recalled.
The cook came over. “It is because of the mirage. The mirage of the past long forgotten.”
All four of those seated at the table looked confused.
“Isn’t a mirage an illusion?” DD asked.
“What does the past…?” Amanda began.
“A long time ago, there was big lake here. Deception Valley was river which flowed into the lake. Over time, it dried up into the salt pans you see today. You are lucky, it is the rainy season. You no see mirage. You have rainwater.”
“That is part of why we came here now,” Parvati joked.
“This is the greenest desert ever,” DD added. “Wait, where the heck is Bobby?”
Parvati rolled her eyes.
“You haven’t heard all of it yet,” the cook continued. “Some San say that the desert dried up because of a curse.”
“Cliché time,” Amanda whispered to Erik, who nodded.
“Bobby, get your butt back here!” DD yelled.
Dead silence.
Amanda and Parvati started laughing.
“What?” DD asked. “I don’t want the curse to hurt Bobby!”
“We don’t even know what the curse is yet,” Parvati responded.
“The curse may not be around any longer,” the cook continued. “It may have dried up with the lake.”
“So the lake was cursed?” Parvati asked.
“The pans… was the lake saltwater?” Amanda asked.
“It was, it was,” the cook continued. “Do you have saltwater lakes in America?”
“I don’t think so,” Parvati replied.
“There is the one in Utah,” Amanda recalled.
“Oh, right.”
“Maybe we can play a mirage into a challenge?” Erik asked.
“Probably not, given that they appear at random, and not much in the rainy season,” Amanda replied. “This is like The Lion King’s ending.”
“I love that movie!” DD interjected.
“Who doesn’t?”
“Bobby?” DD asked aloud.
“I’m with Amanda,” Bobby replied. Everyone turned to see Bobby, on the porch, dressed in camouflage. He was with a bushman, and they were hauling an antelope carcass. “I brought dinner.”
Everyone laughed.
Later that afternoon, Amanda reviewed the challenge plans for the next day, to brainstorm Treemail. She had wanted to get it done before Tribal Council, because she knew a thunderstorm was approaching and she wanted 1) to have power and 2) to be able to call Andy if necessary. Amanda smiled upon seeing what the challenge was, since she knew things would get personal.
“Make a stack… make a cut… make a choice…” Amanda thought aloud. “Hmmm, this one might not rhyme. Haiku maybe? Oh men Rudy would love that.”
”Make a stack, then smack
Choose wisely, they may cut back
So let them have hack”
“Why is it that whenever I write a haiku, it rhymes after all?” Amanda again thought aloud. “Andy loved the last one, at least. Way back in Malaysia. I will use this.”
A certain tinge of nostalgia rushed down the beautiful brunette’s spine. Remembering Malaysia from over a year prior was strange to her – she hadn’t even met DD or Parvati then, and she had been more concerned about rooting for Candice to go on that mad immunity tear. She also recalled Morgan asking Robby C to blindside himself, and got a good laugh out of that.
“What are you laughing at?” Parvati asked, entering to see Amanda giggling.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just funny memories, that’s all,” Amanda replied.
“Which ones?”
“Malaysia. Morgan asking Rob C to blindside himself.”
“OMG I like forgot about that!” Parvati exploded.
“Funniest attempt to blindside someone ever.”
“Totally.”
Meanwhile, DD was watching Bobby and the bushman cut up the antelope.
“Isn’t hunting illegal out here?” DD asked.
“Yea,” Bobby replied.
“Then how did you get this?”
The bushman cut in. “We were in the jeep and going on safari. This poor antelope rushed out in front of us and we hid it, ya.”
“And if you hit a deer with your car, it’s yours,” Bobby added.
“In America anyway,” DD added. “Wait, you were going on safari without me?”
Bobby stood cold in his tracks. “I was, uh, looking for romantic places!”
“Uh-huh.”
“No seriously.”
DD looked lividly at her husband, like she was about to shoot lasers to the same extent that Amanda would.
“We were looking for something, man,” the bushman added.
“I am not a man, I am a woman. Do Knocker and Melon mean nothing to you?” DD replied.
“They mean a lot to me,” Bobby quipped jestingly.
This got DD to laugh. “And that’s why I married you. That and Manchuria.”
“Aw yeah, Manchuria!”
“We did spend our honeymoon there.”
“For a reason.”
The bushman looked confused.
“I love it,” Andy replied. “Best haiku I’ve heard in ages.”
“Aww,” Amanda uttered, blushing. “You’re too kind.”
“I love you, too, you know.”
“I love you more.”
“No I love you more.”
“When are you coming out here so we can, you know?”
“I’ll see if I can come out soon. My boss had better let me.”
“Yeah. If she doesn’t, shall I laser-eye her?”
“Of course!”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
*phone kiss*
“I think my boss just saw that, gotta go.”
“All right. I’ll call you again tonight, okay?”
“Wonderful. Loveyoubye!”
Amanda blew a kiss into the phone as he hung up.
“I swear, you two never cease to be cute,” Parvati commented.
“Well duh, we love each other,” Amanda replied. “I’m hoping he proposes out here.”
Parvati snickered. “I hope he does too.”
“Crap, I forgot to ask him to look up that curse.”
“You can tonight.”
“Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”
“Maybe you are,” Parvati assured. “Hope so. I hope it doesn’t come into play and like cause our camp to be trampled by elephants.”
“Hopefully not the same one that stole my hat,” Amanda joked, laughing afterward.
“DD says that was a very amusing scene.”
“Stop teasing me about it! My hat is a part of me! Why do you think I wear it so much?” Amanda adjusted the bill of her hat upward and then downward; then flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “It’s sexy, too. And Andy LOVES it.”
“Duh.”
Unbeknownst to our heroes, something was about to happen. Night fell, and Amanda went to Tribal Council, where the sixteen remaining Americans converged to vote somebody out. Another day, another blindside. The next day, there would be fifteen left, and a challenge that would be about stack and hack…
