Lisa Dalrymple - Jungle Jitters

Life was sweetif I didnt think about becoming an anacondas breakfast. I was sitting beside my best buddy, Dre, and we were flying along the Amazon River in a motorboat. Dres attention was glued to the screen of his dads old camera. He was all about getting video for his 912 YouTube fans. Noelle bounced along on the front seat, her black ponytail whipping about in the wind.

We were totally psyched to be on this trip. Mrs. Gallagher, our sixth-grade teacher, had been grinning since we got into the boat in Iquitos. Her husband had designed a school for a Yagua village, and because Dre, Noelle and I had done a lot of fundraising for the project, we all got to come to Peru with him while he inspected it.

In the back of the boat, Armando slowed the motor. We are coming up to the quebrada, the creek, that will take us to the Jaguar Jungle Lodge.

His accent was cool, but I had to listen hard to understand what he said.

I turned back for one more look at the Amazon. I had pictured it snaking through overhanging vines and jungle growth, but it was miles widea supersize water highway.

Mr. Gallagher fidgeted with the brim of his Indiana Jones hat and gave me an impatient smile. Behind him, a flash of silver shot from the water. It streaked toward Armandos neck. He ducked, but he was too slow. The fish sank its teeth into his shoulder. I tried to call out, but my mouth was frozen.

That wasnt the case for Armando.

Guys! Guys! he shouted. Look at this!

He gestured to the long silver creature attached to him. Okay, the fish wasnt physically attached to his body. But it had latched onto his T-shirt with fangs the size of my baby fingersand that was pretty much the same thing.

His shirt ripped as Armando tore the fish off him.

Freshwater barracuda, he explained. They get excited by the moving boat. They think we are something to eat.

He snorted and tossed it overboard. I edged away from the side of the boat while Noelle laughed nervously and put her hand on my arm. She did that sometimes in math class too, but I knew she was only trying to see past me out the window. Dre pointed his camera at the water where the barracuda had disappeared. Wasnt anybody worried that a vampire fish had jumped out of the river and sunk its teeth into one of us?

Dre was probably just ticked that we didnt get a photo. I dug my phone out of my backpack and hit the Home button. Zero bars. But I didnt need reception to take pictures.

We rounded a bend in the quebrada. Murky water lap-lapped against the sides of our boat, and vines trailed from overhanging treetops. This was the Amazon I had imagined. Bugs droned around us, and sweat plastered my jaguar-spotted life jacket to my back. Armando had said a quebrada was a creek, but I didnt think Id even be able to touch the bottom. Not that I planned to find out.

A couple of boys were paddling a hollowed-out tree trunk. I shuddered at the thought of being that close to the dark, muddy water. If I fell in, I wouldnt even be able to see my own feet. Never mind what was swimming just below them.

I wondered if they thought we looked funny in our life jackets and sunhats while they glided along in their faded shirts and shorts, looking totally comfortable with the river. They stared at us as we passed. I guessed they hadnt seen that many people with dark skin and dreadlocks like Dres. He held his camera to one side and waved. Hey, Tate, you should wave too, he said, elbowing me in the ribs.

Tate? Mr. Gallagher asked his wife. I thought you said his name was Ethan.

It is. Tates short for Potato, I believe.

Mr. Gallagher nodded as if to say, That makes total sense, while his expression said, That makes no sense at all. Mrs. G. looked apologetic. I knew she would never tell him the joke, so I explained. Like a boring old potato.

Noelle punched me on the shoulder. Oh, come on! You know its not because youre boring.

Oh, really?

No. It was that speech you did in third grade. It wasumimpressive. Who knew anyone could talk for a full twelve minutes about potatoes?

See what I mean? I said. Boring.

But over the next five days, I was determined to take on anything the Amazon could throw at me. No one would ever call me boring again. That is, if I survived.