The Bush Pilot

Abriss:

Schauplatz:

Epoche:

Female main character Sandy Small, trained mechanic and pilot from London; early thirties; charming, stubborn and daring; extremely attractive (slim, long hair, feminine curves); pretends to be a man on paper in order to get the job as a pilot for the St. Benedict mission station in the Brazilian jungle; has had one long relationship with a man so far; thinks that she is not made for long-term relationships; falls in love with Billy; after the plane crash, they are finally a couple.

Male main character Dr. Billy Norman, head of the mission station; mid thirties; gruff, unapproachable and initially tries everything to get rid of Sandy; left the private clinic in Liverpool to help people in the jungle and to forget the fatal accident of his wife Mary; fights back his feelings for Sandy for a long time; gets bitten by a poisonous snake and fights with death, but survives and finally confesses his love to Sandy.

Best friend of the main female character Beth Holloway, Sandy's best friend from playschool days and now flat mate in London; not keen on the idea that her friend wants to go into the jungle; small role at the beginning of the story.

Brazilian male nurse Joaquim Santo, approximately 20-year-old Brazilian; grew up in a village in the jungle; works as a nurse and is Billy's right hand at the mission; admires Billy and is nearly always at his side.

Nun at mission station Sister Pilar, nun at the mission station; caring; the only woman whom Billy accepts around him; wise and kind; notices very quickly that Billy and Sandy are actually made for each other; the rumour that the two have died almost causes her to lose her belief in God.

Father who was transferred for disciplinary reasons Father Andreas, a rebel priest in his earlier days; transferred to the mission for disciplinary reasons; Billy's silent, gruff demeanour reminds him of himself when he was still young; Father Andreas at peace with himself today and extremely kind.

Female main character The first name of the heroine is ...
The surname of the heroine is ...
The hair colour of the heroine is ...
The colour of the heroine's eyes is ...
The name of the fragrance worn by the heroine is ...
The heroine prefers wearing clothing in the colour of ...
Term of endearment used for the heroine is ...
The name of the heroine's hometown is ...
The country in which her hometown is located is ...

Male main character The first name of the hero is ...
The surname of the hero is ...
The hair colour of the hero is ...
The colour of the hero's eyes is ...
The name of the hero's aftershave is ...
The hero prefers wearing clothing the colour of ...
Term of endearment used for the hero is ...
The favourite music of the two protagonists is by (interpret) ...

Best friend of the main female character The first name of the heroine's friend (female) is ...
The surname of the heroine's best friend (female) is ...

Brazilian male nurse The young Brazilian's first name is ...
The young Brazilian's surname is ...

Nun at mission station The first name of the nun is ...

Father who was transferred for disciplinary reasons The first name of the Father is ...

After two days, Sandy had recovered sufficiently to be able to stand up and walk around without too many problems. Her arm still hurt as did the many bruises she had but, all in all, she felt at least reasonably fit. However, her head was a maze of thoughts. Straight after the crash, the pain and her anxiety about Billy had occupied her every thought and deed. With every hour that had passed since then, however, she spent more time pondering about the future that lay ahead of her and Billy - and the prospects were far from rosy. Sandy reflected again and again on whether she could have done anything differently. She had tried to reach the Rio Juruá and had given her last position to ground control in Manaus. She could not have done more. Unfortunately, this last position was at least a hundred miles from their current location. One hundred miles in the rain forest. That was almost the same as crashing on a different continent. Sandy's gaze shifted. Through the swathe that her plane had cut through the jungle she could see a small shaft of sunlight. Otherwise the surroundings were a permanent twilight. The canopy formed by the centuries-old trees was so dense that the sun had almost no chance. It was always damp and misty down here. Sandy looked at Billy as he stirred in the twisted wreckage that he had temporarily hung above the fire. Maggot and caterpillar goulash again? The menu here wasn't very varied. Hunting with an axe and a knife was a fairly fruitless exercise. Billy walked towards her with the makeshift saucepan and placed it between himself and Sandy - not goulash but rather fried snake pieces with leaves that reminded Sandy of half-cooked spinach. One had to get used to the taste, but if you were hungry you could not afford to be fussy. "We'll have to find our own way to the mission, won't we?" Sandy's words hung in the air, full of meaning. Billy stared at the piece of meat that he had just speared and turned it back and forth in thought. He looked up. The answer lay in his eyes. Sandy nodded, "You also don't think that they're still looking for us." Billy shrugged his shoulders, "Perhaps they are, but the chances of finding us here are extremely small. As I said, the hole that the plane ripped in the canopy looks huge from down here, but from up there..." He placed the piece of meat in his mouth and chewed on it as though it were leather. "They'll look for one more day at the most. After that, the effort would be too big. Who wants to spend large amounts of money to find dead bodies; or not even that but a crumpled plane and maybe..." He did not end his sentence, but Sandy knew anyway. Bodies didn't just remain in the jungle - they served as nourishment for every animal that came along. Sandy's gaze moved upwards again. In the last two days she had not heard the noise of an aircraft once. If they were indeed still looking for them, they were far away from the scene of the crash, or - and this became more and more likely in Sandy's view - the authorities in Manaus had not even considered the possibility that they might have survived. "What are our chances, if we set off on foot?" Billy hesitated, "Not very good. We don't know exactly where we are. You have an injury, and even if you feel better now, you'll soon see how quickly you become tired once you have to start fighting your way through the jungle. My pulled tendon will also become problematic. There are no easy hiking paths here. We are miles from the mission, and I reckon we'd need three weeks to walk there if not more. I don't know of anyone who has survived that. Basically, it's almost a miracle that we weren't an easy prey for a jaguar a long time ago." Sandy didn't show how shocked she was at his honesty. She stretched her head determinedly. "You're too pessimistic, Billy!" she accused him, "We'll set course for the Rio Juruá, build ourselves a float and travel to the mission." She said it as though all one needed to do was go to the builder's store and buy a few materials. Billy looked at her and shook his head, "You really do have courage. Any other woman in your position would have collapsed." His voice contained a hint of admiration, which Sandy had never heard from him before. "I'm not like other women," she replied in all seriousness, "Otherwise I wouldn't have come here in the first place." "Doubtless so," Billy agreed, "And I'm damned lucky that I crashed with you." Sandy had to laugh against her will, "It sounds as though you've finally accepted me." Billy shook his head, "I respect your courage even if I'm afraid that it's based on recklessness." Sandy's rage welled up quickly and she pounded him with her fists, "You're still a horrible macho!" She stood up determinedly; "So, let's get going." She looked around, scrutinising her surroundings, "In which direction is the Rio Juruá?" Billy pointed to the wreckage of the plane, "I'd say that way. Just before the crash, you had set course for the river." He looked at her directly, "We'll know whether we were wrong or not in a week at the latest." He examined the compass that he always carried with him and asked, "How sure are you that your last course was correct?" "Very sure. Let's say ninety per cent." Billy nodded pensively, "According to that, Manaus must be north of here. That means that we need to travel west." Sandy swallowed hard, "And if I was wrong?" Billy made a dismissive gesture, "Our chances of surviving here are so small that it doesn't really matter." He briefly grabbed Sandy's hand and pressed it lightly, "I don't think you were wrong. You're a good pilot." "That was clearly the case," Sandy replied with a touch of sarcasm, pointing to the wreck of the plane. Billy looked at her but refrained from making any comment, saying only, "Come and help me." Together they packed any tools they could find in the wreckage of the plane besides the tarpaulin and the mosquito net that had been at the very rear and that could still provide a degree of protection despite its venerable age - as they had noticed the previous nights. They also took the emergency case although it still contained only a few medicines. Sandy looked up once more at the small piece of sky that she could see from here, "What are the chances that somebody will still arrive here?" she wanted to know. Billy looked at her, "Probably about ten per cent." Sandy took a deep breath and then forced a smile, "Right, let's go." They left the wreckage of the plane behind and plunged into the impenetrable jungle, unaware that two glowing green eyes were following their every move... Making progress through the jungle was an arduous affair. Lianas as thick as a person's arm wrapped themselves around the bare trunks of trees that had stood here for hundreds of years. Sandy twitched back in horror more than once as she imagined she had seen a movement in the darkness of the jungle. Luckily, this turned out to be just a liana. Billy tried to cut a path that was passable to some extent at least, using an axe and a knife although every step was a struggle. Plants with sticky leaves surrounded their legs time and time again, and their constant companion was the buzzing of insects. The damp heat caused Sandy to perspire freely. Her blouse clung to her, and the bugs darted at any area of skin that was not covered. Despite the heat, Sandy wished for some sun to dry her clothes and keep away the insects even if only for a while. She looked longingly above her; she saw nothing but the impenetrable canopy of the rain forest, which let through no more than ten per cent of the sunlight. They wandered through the darkness of the jungle surrounded by the green arch of leaves above them, reminding them of a dark, mediaeval monastery. Only the sounds were anything but church sounds. A choir of hundreds of different types of birds surrounded them, and they often heard the loud screech of monkeys or even the wild hissing of a predator. Sandy mechanically placed one foot in front of the other. For hours now, her arm had been hurting her so much that she could hardly move. Her every thought and feeling was solely turned towards this pain, and everything else was incidental. She only tried to keep up with Billy reasonably. She managed more or less to push the myriad of sounds around her into the background. Just don't think of the threatening danger with every step, she told herself, otherwise she would doubtlessly go mad; apart from the fact that she had already been almost mad from pain. "Billy." She whispered his name, but still he turned round as though she had screamed loudly. "I can't any more," she stammered before collapsing in a heap. She saw Billy kneeling at her side - everything was a blur - and felt the soft pressure of his hand, wishing that he would kiss her at that moment; a last kiss before she died.