Chapter 22 Choosing an Option (1/2)

Luke had realized that everyone was in a state of shock due to the incident of the bears. He knew he had to stop their negative thoughts otherwise fear would get embedded in their mind.

Ben had been literally trembling. Danny, who was sharing the tent with Ben, was quite shaken after the incident as he had encountered danger at close quarters. To some extent, even Danny did have a close encounter.

To deviate from the issue, he decided to bring the situation to as normal as possible so that all would start feeling normal.

He turned to Sherpa and said, ”First things first! Sherpa, you need to help me dismantle the equipment we set up last night.”

”Yes, of course, I would have dismantled it myself if everyone had not got up,” replied Sherpa.

”All of you please complete your ablutions, your morning chores and get ready. Then we will make our campfire to cook breakfast and make tea or coffee.” He smiled at everyone and added, ”Thereafter, we can all sit down to come to a decision as to which of the 4 options you would follow. We can take a vote on it.”

”Luke Sir, can we all come and help you dismantle the equipment first?” choired the students.”We will do everything else afterward.”

”Of course, come along,” he replied thinking it was necessary to create a diversion so that all would feel safe and comfortable. Even Zia seemed perturbed as she was in a pensive mood.

Everyone walked over to the two tripods which had been placed some distance away from their camping area. These two infrared cameras were placed on tripods at a level ground by Luke and Sherpa. One camera had been placed facing their camp and the other was placed facing the cliff side to note any activity on the snow-covered mountainside.

Luke removed the cameras one by one and handed them over to Zoya and Zen. He and Sherpa dismantled the tripods, folded them then packed them in their respective bags. These two sets of tripods were handed over to Ben and Danny with specific instructions not to drop them. Then Luke asked them all to come with him to his tent so that he could pack them. Everyone started walking and making a beeline towards Luke Sir's tent.

There Luke took the cameras and put them inside his tent.

”I think we all need to finish our ablutions and then get ready for breakfast,” he added with a smile on his face. ”After that get the campfire going so that we can make our breakfast and have some coffee or tea.”

Everyone agreed to do as Luke Sir had said. They went to their respective tents got their towels, brushes and went to the wooden washrooms. There were two washrooms with attached toilets. The washrooms had running water coming through pipes connected to the stream. The used water went through a drain and into the ground. The water was quite cold. The attached toilet was clean too. They all had to go one by one. Boys used one washroom and the girls used the other.

First, one to enter was Sunny. After doing his business he found that while washing his hands the water was very cold. So he just washed his face, hands, and feet. Thereafter, he soaked the hand towel and wrung it dry to remove as much of the water drops as he could. Then he rubbed this damp towel all over his body, wore a fresh set of clothes. Got ready and came out after soaking the hand towel again and wringing it dry and placing it outside on the grass to dry. He told all the others how to go about taking a sponge bath with their hand towels. Some of the girls were carrying those type of towels that are given in airplanes.

Soon all, even Zia, were ready and they assembled before the campfire area. A campfire was lit and they were busy making toasts, applying butter, the powdered milk they mixed in boiled water to make glasses of milk for everyone. They also made instant oatmeal porridge as well as tea and coffee. They had their breakfast, then cleared up the area to ensure no crumbs were left.

”Everyone has had their breakfast and coffee/ tea, now we need to take a decision about which option we should take,” Luke said with a serious look on his face.

To recapitulate, I had given 4 options which were:-

1. Continuing to camp here, though it is not advisable as we do not know how many bears there are and they will definitely come back. I have a gun but limited bullets. Furthermore, we cannot shoot to kill wild animals' only fire bullets to frighten them.

2. Would you want to move into the guest house at night? This would mean dismantling the tents and dumping them in the guesthouse. This is a good and comfortable option. By the time we need to go back, the bears would probably have gone elsewhere.

3. We can radio the authorities to send a rescue team to come and get us while we stay at the guest house. This is another option. But if, on their way, the rescue team does not meet any bears, we would look stupid and probably, we all would be laughed at in school and the city.

4. We can try to get back by taking any of the other trekking routes.

”Now tell me what do you guys want to do? We can take a vote on it.”

”We do not want to move into the guest house or stay here in the open at the camping site,”Zen replied.

”If we call for rescue and the bears are no longer in the area, everyone will laugh at us. Our entire trekking trip will be treated as a joke and perhaps no more trips will be allowed. I think we need to move on taking another route to go home.” Chris added.

Luke wanted the opinion of others too, especially Zia. ”What do the rest of you say? This is just the response of Zen and Chris.”

The students, one by one second, what Chris had said. Sherpa also said this was the best option.

Luke then turned to Zia. ”Zia ma'am, what is your opinion and what do you suggest?”

Zia thought for a minute and then replied, ”We can neither sit around waiting in the open nor move into the guest house to wait for the rescue party.”