Chapter 10




Chapter 10
 
 
 The World Council of Academic and Scholars had convened in London to discuss the scientific anomaly of the man who lived among apes.  When it came time to vote, every Council member but one raised a hand in favor of capture, and a future of permanent experimentation. Only one man stood for the basic right of a man to live as he pleases: the scholar, Bulldog White. As the rest of the Council organized an expedition party to apprehend the savage, Bulldog slipped out and made his way into the jungle to warn Tarzan.  
Two days later, Bulldog was swinging from tree to tree with the wounded body of Tarzan heaved over his shoulder. The smell of lead from the bullet in Tarzan’s shoulder clashed with the fragrant scent of banana trees and faint aroma of inevitable rain.  Hundreds of feet below, the hunting party’s jeeps roared and the sound of crushed branches and muddy tires echoed for miles in the hot, sticky jungle.
Bulldog cradled Tarzan to a flat spot in an enormous rubber tree, handed Tarzan a mango and took a big gulp from his canteen. With mango juice squirting out of the sides of his mouth, Tarzan blurted, “Tarzan thank Bulldog for help. Tarzan Bulldog’s friend. Tarzan stay in jungle.”
“Hey I’m the same way. I’ve told enough kids to get off my lawn to know that sometimes a man just wants to be alone with his woman and his monkey,” quipped Bulldog as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.   
“Jane and Cheeta safe?” 
“Oh, don’t worry about them,” assured Bulldog, gazing down at his watch, “I already talked to Jim the Rhino and Shunk the Lion. They’ll guard them while we’re away.” 
Tarzan jumped to his feet in surprise, then fell down again grabbing his shoulder in agony, “You…you speak animal like Tarzan?”
“Sure do! Picked it up one summer in Larkin Branch, Kentucky. One of my best friends is a squirrel,” said Bulldog with a smile. 
With a loud “bang!” the rubber tree shook violently, and Bulldog peered down between the flat wet leaves to see a jeep full of hunters at the base of the tree. A tall, thin man with pale skin and a handlebar mustache stepped out of the vehicle – it was none other than Dr. Martin Chummersbee, the notorious neuroscientist. He held a megaphone to his fuzzy mouth and shouted, “Bulldog, let’s be reasonable.  Bring the specimen down. No harm will come to him.”  
“His name is Tarzan,” yelled Bulldog, “and no, I won’t bring him down. He is a man and he deserves to be free!!!”
“Don’t be a fool,” chirped Chummersbee, “think of what he can do for science.” 
Bulldog let out a loud chortle and quipped, “Think of what he can do for humanity!”
Before Chummersbee could reply, he saw a brief flash of shadow and a rustle in the trees. He knew Bulldog and Tarzan were swinging again.  As he launched himself into the vehicle seething with anger, Chummersbee turned to the head tracker in the driver’s seat and spoke through gritted teeth, “Don’t you dare shoot that ape man again– I need him alive. Use the tranquilizer darts.”
“What about Bulldog?” 
Still gritting his teeth in rage, Chummersbee said flatly, “Kill him.”    
Ten miles later, a weak vine snapped mid-swing and sent the two men tumbling to the earth. Luckily, Bulldog had landed with a splash in a small lagoon, rendering him wet, but uninjured. As he waded to shore and found Tarzan unconscious in a cold bed of moss and rocks, Bulldog heard the ominous sound of vehicles approaching. Within seconds, four jeeps surrounded Bulldog on all sides, and a smug Chummersbee slowly sauntered toward Bulldog.
“Well, my friend, looks like we’ve reached the end of the line” Chummersbee sneered, “It was a noble try, but now it’s over now. Give up the ape man now, or so help me, I’ll have you shot dead right here and now.”  Tarzan started to stir, and Bulldog braced himself on a rock and leaned down to help his friend to his feet. 
“So,” chimed Chummersbee, “what will it be?”  
A quiet sprinkle of rain began to fall and the soft tapping of raindrops on leaves filled the air. Bulldog winked at Tarzan, tilted his head back and let out a deafening howl. He could feel the cool water droplets kissing his face, and for a moment he thought only about the beauty of nature and how free a man feels in it. When he opened his eyes gracefully, he stood for a moment watching the hunting party as their eyes quickly darted around the jungle in anticipation of an unknown consequence.  After a few moments of silence, Chummersbee chuckled, turned to the head tracker and said, “Shoot him.” 
Just as the tracker raised the rifle sight up to his eye, the ground started to shake.  One of the trackers on the other side of the lagoon yelled, “ELEPHANTS!” and quickly turned to run away.  The rest of the expedition had only seconds to scatter into the jungle before the elephant stampede was upon them, crushing steel and rock and anything else in their path.
After the dust settled there was nothing left on the floor of the jungle but smashed jeep parts and misshapen rifles.  High above the destruction, in a tree well out of harm’s way, Bulldog handed Tarzan his water canteen.  Tarzan grimaced as he extended his arm for the water, but then quickly smiled and said, “That good trick.”
Bulldog let out a deep sigh and patted Tarzan on the knee, “I’ll teach it to you one day.”
 
Inspired by: Bulldog White
Written by: Scott White
Edited by: Jordan McMillian
 
 
 
 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Introduction to Bulldog:      Ray “Bulldog” White. The name may seem inconsequential to you, but it sure means a lot to me.   Born in 1925 in Larkin Branch, Kentucky, Bulldog served in the military as a young man and worked nights at the local Ford plant to provide for his family and two children. He was a man of few words, but he lived out his values by working hard and working honestly. In many ways, Bulldog supplied everything needed to create the stories in this book. You see, Bulldog is my dad.      When I was 10 years old, I lost my hamster. This would be a tragic event for any young man, but I was confident; certain that there was one person available who could help with such an important problem – Dad. I don’t remember how long the search lasted, but ultimately Dad delivered and returned my hamster safe and sound. What’s more, he also presented me with a hand-drawn map of his search around the house; how he had stalked th...
Read more
Image
Santa’s sleigh burned in the snow. His reindeer roamed in an open field nearby. All the gifts for all the good children around the world - burning to cinders. Santa turned on his side and gasped for air, a track of snow behind him chronicling his crawl away from the wreckage. A black boot slammed in front of Ol’ Saint Nick’s ol’ saint face. The black boot led up to a man covered in black body armor, obscuring his eyes with black goggles. “Well, well, well, Santa. Looks like you had yourself a little accident!” chortled The Man in Black. “Isn’t one of the first lessons in flight school to always keep an out for projectiles?” The Man in Black pointed to his Jeep. A rocket launcher was mounted in the back. “You never know what you might run your sleigh into up there.” Santa cried out, “ Why ?! Why would you do this to me - and the children?” Sneering, The Man in Black hissed, “Children? I don’t care about ch...
Read more

Chapter 12

Image
Chapter 12: The cattle were all calm now.   Pam, Jan and Shar, the Calamity sisters, dismounted their horses to take a look at the prized cattle they had just stolen.   “Ha! That was so easy,” whistled Jan.      “Darn tootin’! How much do you think we can get for these?” asked Shar.   “These are some the best cattle in the land, I’m guessing 20...30 bucks a head,” said Pam. “We’re going to be rich.”, said Jan, “easiest job we’ve done!”   “That’s right,” smiled Shar, “with Bulldog gone, it was like taking candy from a baby.”   All three sisters cackled and whinnied, their howls echoing off the dusty peaks miles in the distance. But their laughter was sharply interrupted by a familiar voice, “Now don’t you ladies go counting those cattle before they hatch.”   All three sisters looked around startled and bemused.   “Who said that?” said Shar as all three women drew their guns.   “I did,” said the facel...
Read more