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The dock master at Manaus warned us against our trek up the Amazon with the clouds threatening in the west. Even Miguel, our guide, refused to accompany us. But I only had three days left to show my high school science students at least a few more of the Amazon’s wonders before our field trip to Brazil ended. Now as the strange glowing clouds descend, I feel I’ve made a terrible mistake.
“Dr. Chambers. What’s wrong with the air?” 15-year-old Billy is the youngest of my students. We’re all coughing. It’s not the cloud. That’s vanished. The entire river and surrounding jungle are suddenly unfamiliar. The river’s wider..and running backwards! I know enough paleontology to realize the impossible has happened.
There’s a ferocious roar coming from near the left bank. It’s getting closer. Sarah is the first to see it. “Look!” She’s screaming in horror.
I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw photo writing challenge. Based on the Google Maps image above, authors are supposed to write a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. Mine’s a solid 146.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
I did a little research on the area of the photo and on the river itself. Manaus is the capital city of the state of Amazonas situated on the Negro River in Northwestern Brazil.
The Amazon is only 11.8 million years old and achieved its present shape about 2.4 million years ago.
However, the ancient version of this water way was thought to have run backward, from east to west sometime in the mid-Cretaceous period about 130 million years ago.
Mr. Chambers and his high school science students are in a lot of trouble.
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Love how the tension starts to ratchet up from the first line. I wonder if Mr. Chambers is old enough to remember Land of the Lost… If he is, I’ll bet he knows what happens next.
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I bet he knows they’re doomed. Thanks.
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They need a Magic School Bus.
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Hadn’t thought of that. Good one.
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These time travel stories are covering longer and longer periods – back millions of years now! Like an wild version of Jurassic Park – certain to be an education for them…if they can make it back.
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More like “Cretaceous Park” in this case, Iain. I was surprised to find that as far as rivers go, the Amazon is relatively young. The Nile and even a river in North America are millions of years older. Still, the Amazon has always been the source of mystery. I just added one of my own accompanied by the occasional “time storms” that send the unwitting backward in time.
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Yikes! Nowhere to run I’m afraid.
The river’s wider..and running backwards – this line says so much. Spine-tingling good.
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Thanks. It’s funny what a few scientific tidbits will inspire.
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Dear James,
The tension in this is as thick as the air around them. Scary stuff.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Really scary to be stuck 150 million years in the past. Wonder what their life expectancy is?
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What a back in time story, scary too. Well written,James
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Thanks, Neel.
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Sounds like a tale that you just must continue! Is the roar a waterfall? Have they time traveled? So many unanswered questions toy with the mind. Great Write! Enjoyed both it and the little info blurb on the river.
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Yes, they time travelled over 100 million years into the past. That roar is a dinosaur. Not sure how to continue since their life expectancy is none too good.
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