Searching for Susan

``But I'm so thirsty!''

``Then you should have brought your own damn bottle, you water addict!'' Tina screeched at Sam, who was deliberately sticking his tongue out at her like a panting dog to demonstrate his utter requirement of water.

It had been a long and hot day. Tina and Sam were out in the jungle, looking for Anton who had been missing. Anton's wife had gone out after him, but they didn't hear from her either. The rest of the villagers got concerned and so they asked for volunteers to find out what had happened to the two of them. Tina volunteered, and Sam, for whatever reason, decided to tag along.

Except Sam loved drinking water. He loved drinking it so much that even during happy hours at the village pub, he would get nothing but water from the barkeep, who was very annoyed at him since that meant that the profit margins were extremely thin to non-existent with Sam.

Initially, Tina didn't want Sam to come along, knowing that his water addiction would become a liability in the jungle. But he pleaded and appealled to her, extolling the benefits of entering the jungle as a pair as opposed to the dangers of being alone. Against her instincts, she relented.

And now, in addition to finding the missing couple, they had the new problem of satiating Sam's water addiction.

It was not that he was dehydrating. He didn't pee at a much higher rate/volume as compared to the others either. He just loved drinking copious amounts of water. That was generally fine, except when leaving the village and entering the jungle where such sources of water was hard to come by.

Tina was adamant of not carrying a five-gallon jerry can of water just so that Sam could satisfy his cravings for water. That would slow them down a whole lot more than would be expected.

Naturally, she was annoyed when he started badgering her for more water, eating into her own personal supplies.

``But I've already finished my bottle!'' Sam complained as the two of them made their way through the paths.

``I didn't want you to come at all! But noooo, you said that you would be fine and handle your own water addiction by carrying enough water for yourself. Where had that promise gone?'' Tina replied exasperatedly, her eyes scanning the soft mud. Donkey tracks. That was the animal that Susan had gone into the jungle on. Still, Tina was feeling disturbed. If Susan was still on her beast of burden, why hadn't she returned yet?

``How was I to know that even bringing extra bottles was insufficient?'' Sam protested.

``Oh come on,'' Tina replied tiredly. ``It's you for goodness sake! You never have enough to drink even with the damn well next to you! What made you think that what you carried with you was enough to begin with?''

``I thought we could easily find water in the jungle in the form of pools and what not from the rain last night.''

``Yeah, right. What do you know about the damn jungle, Sam? At least I have been a tracker and walking about here. Goddamnit, I should've trusted my instincts and not get cowed into bringing you along.''

``But you love me, right?'' Sam replied, almost sweetly.

``That is not the point!''

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 2014-01-24 12:40:10)