Simple Pleasures.

     It has become quite routine.

     First you crack open the package.  Then you fill the pot with hot water and fire up the burner.  Throw that slice of delicious sweet-cream salted butter in, followed by the rice and seasonings.  The seasonings themselves are so very delicious that I can't help but dip my finger into the packet a time or two and take a little taste.  I am, after all, only cooking for myself!

     Next the water begins to boil.  Stir it up good... really good.  Throw the top on and turn the heat down.   I smirk with a half-evil grin as an aroma of deliciousness begins to permeate the air within my home.  Phase one of my master plan is complete!

     Run upstairs.

     Surf the 'net.

     Run downstairs.

     Sure, it's a little early, but why not start on the salad?

     As I pile the leafy herbal mix onto the plate, I grab the large knife and pick the perfect sacrificial clove of garlic.  I can almost hear each of them calling to me, "Pick me!  Pick me!"  Sorry, fellas.  Only one of you today.  On second thought, you can never have too much garlic!  I greedily grab another clove.  Peel the roughage and mince away to my heart's content, my mouth salivating in anticipation of the incredible meal I will shortly be consuming.

     Onions, Tomatoes, and a host of other ingredients into the salad, topping it off with my favorite magical dressing.  Now for the final phase of my master plan!

     The Tilapia fillet is ready and the olive oil is heating up nicely in the pan.  Throw in some of that minced garlic... Ahhhh!  Nothing quite fills the air with such pleasant authority as sauteed garlic.  Next, I throw down the fillet and dress it up with those seasonings and spices that have become the staple of the majority of my cooking efforts.  Splash it with some lemon and admire the work of art that lies before me.

     Who says that art can't  be delicious?!

     My patience has paid off.  My efforts have been rewarded.  My incredible nightly feast is now ready to be enjoyed.

     Routine?  Sure, it's routine.  But for me, it's one of those rare things in life that remains ever enjoyable.  One of life's true Simple Pleasures.

     I lie back in my recliner and let out a satisfying sigh after finishing the last tasty bite.  Few things in this world compare to the feeling one gets after eating a meal that leaves you wanting more while offering a lingering taste to remind you of its awesomeness.

     I couldn't imagine enjoying it this much if I didn't make it myself.  If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that putting the work in to achieve something makes it far more satisfying when you do manage to achieve it.

     And you know what?  I wouldn't have it any other way...

Trying my hand at a first-person short story, part 3.

Toying around with plot twists and some dialogue.  This is part 3.

     With a mighty heave I launched the grappling hook at the large timber. Sailing through the air gracefully and true, it latched itself perfectly onto its target.

     “Amazing!” I thought to myself, “I thought it would take a few tries to snag it!”

     I gathered the length of rope and prepared to sneak back to the rocks I had been hiding behind, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement. One of the other patrolling islanders had appeared from around the corner on the other side of the temple and was heading in my direction! Slowly, very slowly, I crept backwards and knelt down to do my best to stay out of sight.

     Suddenly, he stopped.

     Did he see me? Thanks to the light from the pyre, I was casting a faint shadow, so perhaps he saw that? I quickly began to plot a quick escape in my head, but before I could think for too long I saw him move again. He was actually eyeing my hiding spot over by the rocks! Looking over I noticed that the tip of my spear was visible, and I kicked myself for being so inept and not properly stowing it. It appeared that my original plan had been thwarted by my own stupidity, and since I wouldn't be sneaking back over there any time soon, I analyzed the situation as rapidly as I could and tried to come up with a new plan.

     Almost instinctively I grabbed hold of the rope as tightly as possible and before I could stop myself, I yanked with all my might! The air cracked with a loud “pop” as the timber snapped out of place, followed by a dull groaning sound as the headpiece slowly began to lurch over. In an instant I saw that my plan worked, indeed the headpiece was going to fall from the temple as I had hoped, but I also realized that I was standing right in its path! With no time to spare I threw caution to the wind and dove straight into the nearby brush, hoping none of the islanders (who were now turning their heads and watching their precious idol “fall from the heavens”) would see me.

     Screams pierced the air followed by the resounding crash of the headpiece, and peeking up from the dirt, I saw it literally explode into a hundred chunks of stone. I ducked my head again as a huge cloud of dust and debris covered the area and flew towards me, and could hear the yelling and commotion of the islanders as they rushed over. Realizing that I might not have much of a chance to escape, I decided to use the dust cloud as sort of a cover to sneak away.

     Doing so with great haste, I managed to crawl through the brush to a nearby tree and, poking my head up, could see that every single one of the tribesmen had come to investigate what had happened. Being well out of the light and under the aural cover of their chattering, I made a beeline for the rocks I had stashed my gear at and crouch-ran over as quickly as I could. The plan had worked... sort of. At the very least I had a golden opportunity to rush over to the captives and free them from their cages, so I had to roll with it and give it my best shot!

     I grabbed my equipment and bolted towards the cages. I could see the look on the captives' poor faces. It was a look of both bewilderment and disgust. Surely they were suffering tremendously! No worries, however, because their suffering would soon be over, or so I thought...

     “You there!” I noticed that one of the captives was looking at me and was addressing me, “Just what in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!” He was a large man, about my height and spoke with a thick Australian accent.

     Reaching his cage, I answered back. “Rescuing you. We don't have much time, as soon as I pop the door on these cages you two need to c-”

     “Do you have any idea what you've done? You're ruining everything!”

     I was shocked. “Ruining Everything? What are you talking about?! I came to rescue you guys!”

     The other captive, a short and rotund man with an olive complexion, fired back, “Imbecile! We're here to investigate this tribe and their rituals! To think we'd be so daft as to get ourselves caged up accidentally...”

     “Nobody else is supposed to know about this island or this tribe.” The larger Australian interrupted, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

     Astonished and a tad bit intimidated, I answered back, “I was shipwrecked here about five days ago. I've been trying to figure out how I was going to get off this island and when I stumbled across the temple and saw these islanders toss you into these cages, I hoped you might have a way out of here...”

     “We're not prisoners. We allowed ourselves to be captured intentionally. We're on assignment from a very prestigious magazine to investigate this tribe and publish a report on them, and this was the only way to get close enough to do it!”

     “That's right. Now you need ta' get your blimey rear out of here before they see you! Our float is on the far Northwestern coast and it has a radio. You can use that to call in a taxi or whatever you need to do, just get going before they see you! Go on, bugger off!”

     Turning around and looking over to where the headpiece had crashed, I noticed most of the tribesmen were still in a frenzy of confusion and shock. Some were kneeling on the ground and raising their hands up to the heavens, probably questioning their deity as to why this happened. Others were flailing their arms and making angry gestures at each other, chirping away with what were likely accusations in their tribal tongue. Suddenly, one of them looked over and spotted me.

     “Ma n'tukat!” He screamed in his unintelligible native tongue. “Grong Ma!”

     A few more of them looked up and saw me. “Grong Ma'a! Ouk m'grogk'rat!” They screamed as they grabbed their spears and began to move in my direction. Not wasting another second, I fired off a quick apology to the journalists and bolted off into the jungle. I could feel the ground shaking underneath my feet as the entire tribe charged after me, screaming at the top of their lungs. I had no idea where I was going in the dark but I certainly wasn't going to let that stop me from running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me.

     A spear went whizzing past my ear.

     “Damn!” I thought, “How am I going to get out of this one? What the hell was I thinking?!” I was clueless. It was now a matter of pure, animalistic fight-or-flight instinct. If they caught me, they wouldn't be throwing me into a cage with my new best friends back there.  That I was sure of. While running as hard and fast as possible, my mind raced trying to come up with some kind of idea. In the sheer terror of the moment, nothing whatsoever was materializing. “This is it, isn't it? No way I'm getting out of this one!”

     All of the sudden, an idea found me. It appeared in the form of me tripping on a limb, flying through the air, and breaking through the ground. I found myself falling for a brief moment, and then hitting the bottom of whatever I had just fallen into with a loud, reverberating “thud!”

     Consciousness slipped away and the world faded to black...