Oliver Strange and the journey to the swamps (school edition). Diane Hofmeyr
the corner of his eye Ollie caught a flash of colour and heard a long drawn-out scream as a shape plunged over the bridge railings. “Someone …” he couldn’t get the words out, “… someone’s jumped off there!”
Zinzi laughed. “It’s a bungee-jump, silly. He’s tied to an elastic rope. Everyone knows that!”
Ollie gulped. Everyone except him! He read the sign attached to a cage that hung out over the railings in the middle of the bridge.
BUNGEE VIC FALLS!
LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN! WE DARE YOU!
111 METRES OF PURE ADRENALINE!
Minimum age: 16 years. Minimum weight: 40 kg.
Maximum weight: 140 kg
He glanced over the railings. His stomach twisted. Far, far below, the river was churning through a narrow gorge of white rapids. But worse than that – someone looking no more than a tiny caterpillar on a thread, was hanging upside down by his feet, bouncing and twirling back and forth on the end of a rope with his head barely skimming the frothing water.
He gave Zinzi a quick sideways glance, trying to hide the sick lurch in his stomach and nodded. “I knew it was a bungee-jump!”
A man in a helmet whizzed down on a winch to help the person come back up. Ollie watched the next nervy jumper get harnessed and creep out onto the caged platform. The gate was clipped open and the boy sat dangling his legs into nothing but air. The river was a long, loooong way down. Ollie saw the instructor mouthing things at him. Then the boy leapt with his arms outstretched, his eyes tight-closed like Icarus falling to the earth.
Down … down, dowwwn! A never-ending fall. The cable seemed to stretch to its limit but still he dropped. He was going to die. To hit that water and die. At the last moment the cable sprang back and bounced him upwards into the air like a puppet, then down he went again. People at the railing cheered.
Zinzi gave him an elbow jab. She had a glittering fearless look in her eyes. “I’d do it if we had more time.”
“Lucky for you, we don’t.”
“I would. I’m telling you.”
“You’re not sixteen.”
“So …?” Zinzi grinned.
Ollie smiled back weakly. Try as hard as he could, his face wasn’t able to match her fearless look. Things in Africa were making him dizzy. As they turned to go back across the bridge, the man in the dark raincoat was still there.
Post-reading
| 1. | Why is Ollie suspicious of the man with the umbrella? What is there about him that suggests that he is not a tourist? |
| 2. | Zinzi is fearless – or is she just bragging about wanting to make a bungee jump to impress Ollie? Explain how you came to your answer. |
| 3. | Why does Ollie pretend that he knew that the person who jumped off the bridge was a bungee jumper all along? |
| 4. | Why does Ollie say that “things in Africa were making him dizzy”? |
| 5. a) | What is the last thing Ollie notices as they cross the bridge? |
| b) | What do you think this means? |
| 6. | If you could choose a scary or exciting sport like bungee jumping, white water rafting or sky diving which would be your choice and why would you choose it? |
4. A Whisper of Something Sinister
Pre-reading
| 1. | What does the chapter heading suggest about what will happen next? |
| 2. a) | “An icy flash of lightning streaked up his spine”. What does this tell us about how Ollie is feeling? |
| b) | How would you feel in this kind of situation? |
| 3. | Why does Ollie only “think” that his father is in Ilala? |
“You wouldn’t have.”
“Are you saying I’m chicken?”
“Your eyeballs would pop out.”
“Did you see anyone with popped-out eyeballs, Ollie?”
Ollie thought of the downward rush. He knew his eyeballs would pop out. There was no way he could do it.
The bus was crowded and hot as an oven and smelt of fumes and brake fluid. The aisle was blocked with sacks of rice and mealie meal and the overhead racks were overflowing. They found two seats in the back row. A huge tyre was propped up against the emergency escape window. Fat lot of good that would do. Ollie wiped a clear porthole on the dirty glass to grab one last look. At least they’d got rid of the creepy man.
Zinzi took out a mango and offered Puku a piece. Ollie chewed on a corn cob. Around him people were talking loudly. Their voices rising up through the rumble of the bus like bubbles from water. The man in front of him was oddly silent. Ollie stopped chewing and stared. An icy jolt streaked up his spine. Surely not? Yes, it was. No raincoat now. But dark sunglasses with a hat pulled down low.
Ollie nudged Zinzi. “It’s him.”
“Who?”
“That man. The one who’s following us.”
“He’s not following us. He’s just on the same bus.”
“He looks suspicious.”
Zinzi laughed. “You’re suspicious. You’ve been reading too many spy stories.”
Ollie bit his lip. The man was making him extremely nervous. “How far is Kasane?”
“About an hour.”
“An hour? That’s a long time on a bus with someone like him.”
Zinzi shook her head. “Forget him. Who are you meeting in Kasane?”
“My aunt. Do you know a place called Ilala?”
Zinzi clicked her tongue. “Ilala’s not a place, Ollie. It’s the name of a palm tree! Everyone knows that.”
Ollie looked back at her. Everyone except him. “Are you sure?”
“Yep. Ilalas grow everywhere in the swamps.”
“Everywhere? But if we find the right tree …?”
Zinzi pulled a face. “Botswana’s huge, Ollie. Bigger than the whole of England. Bigger than Texas.”
Ollie glanced at the broad shoulders of the man. How was he going to find his father? He hoped his aunt knew what she was doing.
“You okay?” Zinzi asked.
Ollie nodded. “Yeah! Fine.” But the rat was back there in his stomach gnawing at him. His dad had written Ilalaland on his last letter. Now there was no such a place. Zinzi had clapped on her ear-phones with the volume turned up loud. He stared blankly out at the trees flashing past – thorn trees with smooth bright yellow trunks. “Fever trees,” he said under his breath.
Zinzi lifted her earphones. “What?”
“Fever trees!” Ollie snapped. “The great, grey-green greasy Limpopo all strung about with fever trees.”
“The what?”
He gave her a hard stare. “The Elephant’s Child. Rudyard Kipling.”
Zinzi shook her head. “You’re weird, Ollie.”
He wasn’t the one who was weird. It was weird his aunt hadn’t been in Bulawayo to meet him, weird he was travelling with a python, weird a sinister man was following him and weird Ilalaland wasn’t a place.
Post-reading
| 1. | Look at a map of Africa and a map of England. |
| 1. |