subject: The Wanderer: Part 19 of 73 [print this page] The Wanderer by Callie Roos, motivational speaker and author
Part 19 of 73
"Our eyes were irresistibly drawn to a tin of food which he had placed in front of the Land Rover's wheel, in the tyre track. The label had been removed. We had hardly had any foodduring the selection course, Xaba, hardly any! Up until now we had had sour mealie meal about four times. The maize meal is halfcooked and then some raw meal is added. Stir in five or six tins of condensed milk and leave it standing in the sun for a day or two until it is good and sour - rotten sour! When they dish up, you walk past with your hat in your hand to receive a generous helping of the slosh. You carry it with you for days on end, but you can'tdo anything with it.
Our eyes are on the tin. In eleven days, this might be our first proper food. In our minds it is still our last day. The selection course is ending, today. "The Captain announces a new grid reference and a heading. That is far, unrealistically far! 'It is more than twenty kilometres from here, northwest away from the river. See you there tomorrow morning. I am not waiting for anyone! You have to go into the river to get there,' he adds. At first we don't understand. The Sergeant Major makes it clear. We walk into the river until everything is under water. I can feel the weight of my pack increase as everything absorbs water. Now it is no longer just the cement-filled mortar tubes in my pack. Everything is leaden.
It is a struggle to turn around in the water and get out on the river bank. It is deep here. It feels as though the river is sucking me in. I swallow water and in the process, nearly lose my hat.
