Project Backwards; Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven:

     

     Where was he? Steve Weaver blinked in confusion and looked around. That was the hardest part of jumping through time; he never knew where or when he was going to wind up. At least he no longer took hours to figure out what had happened, as was the case after his first time-jump; but it was still hard not knowing his new situation. The first thing his foggy eyes saw was jungle, then he heard a deep growl that seemed to shake the very vegetation all around him. He felt frightened, and glanced wildly around for a beast of some sort, but instead saw a vision of people through the forest. Steve crept up to an opening in the forest, and looked out on a camera crew, filming the opposite way. There was “1 Million Years, B.C.” stenciled on the back of the director’s chair, who was himself standing. Then, a woman in a fur bikini came running from the forest on the far side of the clearing; looking afraid, glancing over her shoulder, and running from; nothing. Steve recognized her flopping, and her face also; Raquel Welsh. The law of gravity didn’t seem to apply to those babies.

     “Cut!” yelled the director, and Raquel’s pontoons came to rest. “Remember Raquel, Harryhausen will add the dinosaurs later; just look afraid and pretend there’s something there, and that all cavewomen wore fur bikini’s.”

     “I know, but it’s just so hard,”

     That’s what she said! thought Steve to himself, as he watched her.

     “it’s just so hard pretending there’s a ferocious dinosaur there, when there’s nothing.”

     “I know, Raquel, but believe me, people won’t be watching to see anything believable; I mean, the very thought of dinosaurs and humans living at the same time is ludicrous enough; and that fur bikini? Believe me, no one’s expecting high art here!”

     “I suppose you’re right; can we do that take again? My frightened look could have been better, and I forgot to bend down so I could be shot from my best angle.”

     Steve continued to play voyeur from the trees. The filming must have almost been finished, because the director yelled, “That’s a wrap!”, and then the entire crew disappeared into the jungle; presumably, there was a road nearby; and he was standing alone in the strange jungle. Wow, seeing Raquel Welsh and her two gigantic friends was something else! Well, he guessed it was time to go. “Get me out of here!” Nothing happened; he could hear the sounds of the jungle all around. What? Maybe, for whatever reason, whoever or whatever was handling his jumps through time hadn’t heard. So he shouted, “Get me out of here!” once more, this time tinged with a little fear. What if he was stranded here; forever? Not only out of time, but in this strange place? The beginning of panic set in when once again, nothing happened. The beginning, hell, full-blown, jelly-legged panic. He was stuck here!

     He glanced around him, and listed to the strange animal noises off in the distance. What now? He figured it wasn’t long before sunset, and the thought of spending the night here terrified him. He’d best start walking. He began slogging through the dense vegetation in the same direction the camera crew had gone, hoping to find the road out of here. Before he had taken but a few steps, he heard a mighty roar, and froze. It was the same roar he’d heard before, only this time the movie people were long gone. This was real! He felt the cold sweat of fear dripping off his brow. He started running blindly though the jungle; his every step driven by unreasoning panic. He ran for a ways, then paused to listen. Sure enough, the flesh-eating carnivore was still crashing through the jungle. “Oh please, someone get me out of here!” he shrieked, the sound of his pathetic screeching sounded like a little girl to him. Then everything went dark.

     The bear who’d been tracking the man scent, paused in confusion; suddenly, the scent was gone; the man had disappeared.

     “Please, Mr. Chaffee, can’t we film the last scene one more time? I know I can do better!” pleaded Raquel Welsh.

     Director Don Chaffee debated whether or not to spend anymore money, then decided it wouldn’t take that long to film one more scene. Plus, Raquel would have to put on her fur bikini again. That thought helped make up his mind. “Okay people, we’re going to stop, and set up for one more shot. Miss Welsh, please change back into your costume, and crew, get the speakers ready to broadcast ferocious dinosaur sounds.”

     “And, action!”

     Raquel flopped her was through the jungle, glancing fearfully over her shoulder, with the sound of a angry beast echoing through the trees, and the director thought to himself,

     Good decision, Don!

     Steve once again came out of the fog. If that was your idea of a funny joke; not very funny! he thought, angrily. He had no idea why the saying of “Get me out of here!" hadn’t worked the first couple of times. Well, whatever the reason, he had learned that something he’d always believed, that dinosaurs were extinct, wasn’t true. He had heard one with his own ears. Now, where was he? He appeared to be in some sort of a house. Just then, came a knock on the door. He debated whether he should answer it or not; then decided to. He walked to the door, opened it, and looked into a face he knew so well. No, it can’t be! he thought.

Reviews

[Michael Stevens]

She is a popular actress, or at least she was back in the 60's. She was better known for the size of her pontoons than her acting!

[char]

Another person I am unfamiliar with.