Scavenger Hunt

by John R. Little

  They still had a long way to go before arriving in Tibet.

  She yawned and thought of crawling into bed. Bea was already sleeping in the far side of the double bed Susan would be sharing with her. Joe was also asleep on the other bed, which was a single. She could hear his gentle snores.

  She should be sleeping. But the costs were really getting to her. So far, they’d spent more than $24,000. She checked the formula again but it was simple and clear. There were eight weeks in the race and after only two, they’d gone through almost half their money.

  Part of it was the luck of the draw, getting the first two locations that couldn’t be much farther apart. It felt like all their time and money was spent on airplanes.

  She saved the file, expecting that a copy would be immediately uploaded to the producers in New York. She had no illusions about anything being secret.

  Maybe all the teams were running low on money and the producers would bump them all up at some point…

  Susan pulled the cover over herself and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep. They only had four hours before they had to get up again and get ready for the flight to Tibet.

  She thought again of Michael, wondering how he was doing.

  Michael - Three Years Earlier

  Sophomore year at Harvard medical school. Fucking A! Michael dumped his books on the kitchen table and walked directly to the bathroom to have a shower. Joe wasn’t back yet, but he would be soon.

  It’s party night!

  The first Friday after classes start was party night. Well, hell, as far as Michael was concerned, every Friday night should be party night, but this was the first real chance to get to chill out after the start of the fall semester.

  He tried not to think of the ridiculous amount of homework on his plate for the weekend. That could wait till tomorrow.

  He smiled at himself in the mirror before getting into the shower. He loved how his black skin glistened as the water fell over his body. He kept the water as hot as he could stand it, and steam soon filled the bathroom. He let it all spill over him, eyes closed, as he tried to get visions of basic anatomy and intro psychology out of his mind.

  “Gonna dance the night away,” he said.

  He had a nice stash of pot to bring to the party and a six-pack of some cheap local beer, so he was set. He just needed a dancing partner, and with 200 people likely to show up at the party, that wouldn’t be hard.

  He finished his shower and brushed his teeth and put on his best black jeans and a black T-shirt with AC/DC inscribed across it. It was a warm day in Boston, so a T-shirt was all he’d be wearing.

  “Ready?” asked Joe as he walked in.

  Michael almost snickered at Joe, who was dressed in tan colored pants and an off-white dress shirt. It looked like he was going for a job interview.

  “You rockin’,” said Michael.

  The party was halfway to the other side of campus. Med school was at one end and Law school at the other, and the dorms were scattered around the edges. Michael and Joe shared a room near the Law school.

  “I’ll meet you there. I have to pick up this girl on the way,” said Joe. “Susan. She’s in my classes and I convinced her to come tonight.”

  “Good by me.” Michael smiled at Joe. “You got something goin’ on with little Miss Susan?”

  Joe didn’t answer for a minute. “No,” he finally said. “She’s really nice, but I don’t know…”

  “Just a friend then?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Rock on, brother.”

  At the party… wow! She looked amazing. Michael found her irresistible and couldn’t understand why every other guy in the place wasn’t falling all over themselves to talk to her.

  He’d never believed in love at first sight. Until then.

  The next night was their first official date.

  Michael picked her up and they went to a pub for dinner. He had a double cheeseburger, while she had fish and chips. Five minutes after finishing his meal, he’d forgotten all about it. They had a couple of beers together and then went for a walk through downtown Boston.

  He loved the city and liked to pretend he was a tourist, gawking at the buildings and taking photos that he’d later delete from his camera. He always got smiles from locals who loved the enthusiasm of the visitor, not knowing he’d lived in Boston his whole life.

  They talked about movies they’d seen, the courses they were taking, their families, and a hundred other topics. Mostly they laughed.

  Susan held his hand the entire time. He never wanted to let go.

  At ten o’clock, they walked back to her apartment. They didn’t need to say anything; they both knew how the night would end.

  Their lovemaking was amazing. He wanted her to have the best sex of her life, but he was surprised when it was also the best he’d ever had. After, they lay together, and Michael couldn’t stop holding her body to his. He needed this woman, and he had no idea how he’d managed to go through life without her up to this point.

  Susan - Lhasa City

  Susan and Joe landed in Tibet just before noon. They climbed out of the plane and onto the tarmac of the landing strip, followed immediately by Bea, who was already checking out camera angles and getting close-ups of the mountains in the distance.

  From the first step, Susan struggled to breathe. The other dozen or so passengers on the small propeller plane must have been locals. They didn’t even notice the thin air. She felt her lungs wanting more oxygen and she inhaled deeper. She tried breathing through her mouth but it wasn’t any better.

  Joe seemed to be having an easier time of it. He was breathing hard but not really struggling.

  “The numbers don’t really prepare you for reality,” he said to her.

  She nodded. They’d found lots of information about Tibet and Lhasa City in particular on the Internet and the one fact they noticed most was that there’s only 68% as much oxygen there as they were used to. They were at the top of the world.

  They started to walk toward the terminal and as she started to get her mind into tourist mode, she noticed things and didn’t just concentrate on her breathing.

  The terminal was simple and small, with no advertisements, no loud colors, nothing but a sense of austerity and peace.

  Bea joined them, carrying a couple of cameras that she didn’t trust to be checked. “Always wanted to see Tibet.”

  “Funny,” said Susan. “I’d never imagined coming here. I’d thought of lots of places I’d like to travel to, like Egypt or Greece or Italy, and I thought those places would be exotic. Now, I’ve been to Antarctica and Tibet. Hard to believe.”

  Joe added, “That’s got to be about the longest distance you can travel in the world. I want to map it on a globe when we get back home.” He put an arm around Susan’s shoulder, which felt odd to her.

  “Let me help you,” Susan said to Bea. She moved to the camerawoman and grabbed some of her gear. Joe had to let her out of his grip.

  They managed to get through customs without much difficulty. The show had arranged for them to be pre-cleared.

  A taxi drove them to the middle of Lhasa City, to the Lhasa Diren Hotel. They took a room on the third floor. There was no elevator.

  After they settled in, they walked back down the stairs to the lobby of the hotel and out to the street. It was comfortably warm. Susan wore a long white shirt and tan-colored pants, not wanting to wear anything that could conceivably be unsettling to the local people.

  She could see the Potala Palace only about a half mile from where they stayed. It was a palace in the sky, built on top of a rising mountain that seemed to lift the building up.

  “That’s the home of the Dalai Lama,” she said. It was a magnificent palace, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

  “Not any more,” said Bea. “It’s just a museum since he fled sixty years ago.”

  Susan could see Chinese soldiers everywhere. They weren’t threatening, but their presence indicated the world ha
d moved on since 1959. Tibet really was a province of China now, even though Tibetans refused to say those words.

  “Any guess?” asked Joe.

  Susan looked back at Bea, but of course she couldn’t say anything to help them with the game. “The crowd seems to be that way,” said Susan. “Let’s go.”

  Joe and Susan led the way with Bea a step behind them.

  Dozens of people all seemed to be milling around but generally moving toward one area. They followed.

  All the people were Asian, and Susan felt totally out of place. She couldn’t believe how much it bothered her to not see any other North Americans anywhere. Lots of the people stared at the three visitors as they walked, and Susan felt like she should be looking down at the ground.

  The streets were very narrow and there were no cars anywhere. Susan felt claustrophobic.

  They came to the base of a large temple. Joe stared at the map he called up on his tab. “This has to be the Jokhang Temple. And that would be the Barkhor circuit.”

  Susan stared at the hundreds of pilgrims walking a slow clockwise circle around the temple. Maybe thousands. Tens of thousands. It looked like the rush of people leaving Madison Square Garden after a Knicks game, but in slow motion.

  They all inched forward with a purpose, wanting to show their devotion by circling the palace three times.

  Susan watched one nearby woman lying face down on the ground with her arms outstretched. She stood up, put her palms together above her head, lowered her hands to her stomach, then lay back down again. She was then only a few feet closer to her goal than the last time, and then she started the routine again.

  Riot police stood in groups of eight or ten soldiers, all of whom looked to be about sixteen years old.

  The whole place reminded Susan of a fantasy movie.

  “Any ideas?” Joe’s words seemed to fall on the street beside her. “Susan? Any idea?”

  “It’s so amazing,” she whispered. “How long will it take that woman to circle the palace three times?”

  “Longer than we can wait. We have to find the caves, remember?”

  Susan looked at Joe and felt sorry for him. How could you come this far and see thousands of people expressing their devotion to their religion and not feel moved? Not feel the intense desire and pain that woman must be feeling? Not feel the spiritual and cultural differences that separated the three Americans from these beautiful people?

  She shrugged. When they won the money, she’d come back and show it to Michael. He’d appreciate it.

  “There’s lots of caves but Drak Yurma seems to be awfully obscure.”

  “There must be a tourist shop somewhere here.” There was a lot of doubt in Joe’s voice. There were more than a million people living in Lhasa City, but tourism wasn’t on their minds.

  They walked around the central part of the city and saw lots of signs, but they were all in Chinese or Tibetan.

  After an hour, Susan said, “This must be the only place in the world where English isn’t easily understood.”

  They found a restaurant and had no idea what they ordered. Susan pointed at her stomach and rubbed it and mimed eating. The waiter was an old man with no teeth who smiled and nodded.

  The food was awful, as she expected. She’d read that Tibetan staples centered around yak butter and barley and not much else. The tea they brought was very salty and not very good, but they ate the food and drank the tea and hoped somebody could help them.

  Joe paid for the meal with his credit card, which fortunately was accepted. There was a different old man at the cash register and he asked, “Drak Yurma?”

  The man squinted and Joe was about to leave, but then the waiter called back to somebody else in the restaurant.

  A young woman came to the front. She was covered from head to foot in bright burgundy wraps.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “You speak English,” said Joe. “That’s wonderful.”

  “Only little. Please be fast. I don’t belong here.”

  Susan took over the talking, hoping to make the girl more at ease. “Can you tell us how to find a cave called Drak Yurma?”

  “Not cave. Drak Yurma is name of Buddhist priest in Jokhang Monastery. Why you think is cave?”

  Joe pulled out his notebook. He’d written the clue down word for word: Go to Lhasa City and find a cavern, Drak Yurma.

  Susan said, “I suppose cavern could be any large area, not necessarily a cave.”

  “Now four o’clock,” said the girl. Drak Yurma accepts visitors only in the morning. Go at six tomorrow morning.”

  She lowered her eyes and shuffled back into the dim recesses of the restaurant.

  Joe - Lhasa City

  Joe Anderson grew up in Ayr, Pennsylvania. It was a tiny town nobody’d ever heard of, almost a village, and when he left home after high school to attend Harvard, everyone in town was surprised. He was a quiet boy, never caused any trouble but also never really stood out in the crowd. He did have straight A’s but not many people knew about that.

  After his undergrad work, he transferred to Harvard Medical and he met Susan Cook in his freshman year. She was in his basic anatomy class and they happened to sit in adjoining seats one day.

  He loved the beautiful brown sugary tone of her skin, her nice smile and laughing eyes. He wondered if he’d ever have the courage to ask her out.

  And then he did. Sort of. He asked her if she was going to the frosh party and offered to pick her up on the way. Well, at that party, she took one look at Michael and his heart sank. It was obvious who she was interested in.

  He stared at the ceiling in their hotel room in Lhasa City. It was still a bit hard to breathe, but he must be getting used to the thin air, since it only really bothered him when he consciously thought of it.

  It was the middle of the night and he’d just dreamed of Susan. They’d been traveling together for six amazing days now… and six nights.

  In his dream that’d just ended, he’d walked over to her bed and she invited him to join her. “I want you, Joe.”

  She moved the covers off her and was totally naked. Joe touched her body everywhere, licked her and kissed her all over, and they climaxed together at the end of a wonderful lovemaking session.

  He woke up with an erection and rubbed himself a little bit, remembering how amazing the dream felt, how real.

  He’d never had a real girlfriend. A couple of times, he’d had sex with girls after a wild party but for the most part the only sexual relief came from his own hand.

  “Susan,” he whispered. “God, I wish…”

  Susan and Bea shared the double bed and Joe was in the single. Susan was on the side near him and he could hear her shallow breathing.

  God, he was so horny, and she was right there…

  He sat up and in the darkness he could make out the shape of her body under the blanket and her face on the pillow.

  He rubbed himself a little more. He was really hard now and he couldn’t stop. He needed to come. He thought back to his dream, back to when he kissed Susan’s breasts and sucked her nipples.

  Just a bit closer.

  Joe got out of bed and faced Susan, being as quiet as possible. He stood beside her, his hand moving faster and faster. He needed to do this near her, wanting to continue the dream. He’d never have had the courage to do something like this, but when he woke up erect, his brain wasn’t doing much of the thinking for him anymore.

  He could feel himself getting closer. He licked his lips, imagining Susan kissing him.

  A moan slipped out of his mouth. Not too loud, but he stopped masturbating and looked down at Susan. To his horror, she was staring back at him.

  Chapter 13: Team Hollywood

  Fernando - Faroe Islands

  Fernando Santiago woke and tried to think of where he was. It was only week two of their trip and he was already having trouble remembering.

  They’d left Chihuahua City near Copper Canyon on Sunday afternoon and f
lew to Mexico City. That part was clear enough. He remembered the run-down airport with the smog seeping inside.

  From Mexico City, they flew overnight to Frankfurt and grabbed some sleep at the hotel attached to the airport. Fernando remembered Brittany and Carlos arguing about who should get to have a shower first. Fernando just wanted to sleep.

  Then to Copenhagen. Then to Vagar, a small town in the Faroe Islands. It’d been six hours since they landed at Vagar and they had barely stopped moving since.

  He paused in his thoughts to confirm that was where they were now. An island chain that didn’t belong where it was, in the middle of the northern Atlantic, halfway between Scotland and Iceland.

  Yes. Vagar. Some tiny place nobody’d ever heard of in the middle of a nowhere-land owned by Denmark. They’d all looked up the Faroe Islands on their tablets over the past couple of days, ever since they’d gotten their second instruction: they had to capture an Atlantic puffin, unharmed on Litla Dimun.

  So they all googled the Faroe Islands. And Litla Dimun. Then they all looked up Atlantic puffins.

  The biggest surprise was when Fernando checked Wikipedia for Litla Dimun. It was the tiniest of the 18 main islands, and the population listed was exactly zero. What kind of place has nobody living there?

  They spent the day traveling from Vagar to Litla Dimun. A small plane took them halfway, then a boat and another small plane got them closer. Now, they had to spend the night in a tiny village called Sandvik. They’d hire a boat to take them to Litla Dimun in the morning.

  Sandvik had a population of 97 people. Fernando felt fortunate to find a small inn that actually had room for all of Team Hollywood. They didn’t speak any English but the old man who answered the door understood a bit of Spanish, so they could communicate. The rooms were tiny, small enough that Fernando and Brittany had to sleep in separate rooms. He was perfectly happy with that.

  Fernando had never felt so removed from the rest of humanity. Even as he thought back to wanting to take his own life by jumping from a roof into Los Angeles traffic, he still had felt connected, but not here. Not when there were fewer people here than almost anywhere else in the world.