1,000 Miles To Mozambique

Chapter the First

I am only able to hear the snap of a wire cord before my body hits something of a wood surface, tumbling forward, then free falling off of an edge and slamming into a concrete ground with a reverberating force that seems to rattle my very frame. I stand up in a swift manner, quietly taking inventory of my environment. Dusty. Maximum time around four months undisturbed. Open window. Rotting fruit. Scattered papers and belongings. Inhabitants must have left in a hurry. Harsh winds blowing through. Lack of moisture in the air. Climate is dry and stormy; possibly desert. Abundance of natural light. Around mid-afternoon.

I notice I am dressed in some sort of sleeping gown that is stained with dirt and seems to be ripped in places, indicating that I was probably previously involved in some sort of altercation in a muddy environment. Somehow I was transported from that location to this room.

I look behind me and discover a steel archway suspended by a wooden platform against the wall, with two broken cords hanging in tethers from the highest point. From the appearance of the breaks, I can assume much pressure was applied before causing them to snap. I conclude that the wires had been wrapped around my hands to keep me hanging in the air. The reason, is beyond me.

The room is relatively small and filled with what looks to be the possessions of a scientist, possibly an inventor. In the center of the room, amidst an open trunk and fallen yellowed parchment, stands a wooden rocking chair. It is painted over a yellow green color that has started to chip away, leaving me to believe it had been well used. There are the remains of a nearly identical one lying in the back left corner of the room. Next to the broken chair, there is a door that has been boarded up with approximately fifteen planks. Impaled through the door is a four inch dagger.

As I am observing the remaining contents, I collect a leather worker's belt, a wool coat, a bandana, and a pair of doe skin boots that I am able to bring down to my size by stuffing four or five handkerchiefs into the toes. After I remove the dagger from the wood of the door, I find a similar blade, a small pistol, a screwdriver, plyers, and a pocket sized knife, which I promptly arrange into my belt. I pick up the nearest stack of papers from the ground and scan over them for any useful information. I gather the name of the scientist to be Hansel Kaufmann, Germany being his country of origin.

After I button up the coat over my nightgown and belt, I tie the bandana around my neck and find a well preserved aviator's hat, with the goggles in relatively good shape. I am able to remove some of the curious gadgets atop the work desk to reveal a dust coated mirror, which I wipe away with my sleeve. For a moment, my reflection almost startles me. It is so feminine, yet there is a hardness in my light eyes that is unfamiliar to me. This is but a fleeting sense, and it diminishes once I fix the hat over my short brown mane that sticks up every which way, and fit the strings to tie them under my chin.

I see, hanging by a thumbtack above the mirror, a pair of padded leather gloves which I take to slip onto my hands.

Lifting the bandana above my nose and securing the aviator goggles into place over my eyes, I look away from the mirror and towards the open window.

The green shutters bang against the frame and only open enough for me to get a glimpse of bright white light. A gust of wind blows a coating of sand across the sill. I will have to assume there was a reason that the door had been boarded up: to keep me in, or something else out. If Dr. Kaufmann had left the window open but barricaded the door, I ought to leave that door alone.

I stride to the window and gently push open the shutter flaps, only to be blinded by the desert sun. My eyes adjust after a moment and I am able to observe the outside. Whatever room I was now in, there didn't seem to be another one in sight. The only tangible objects upon the windblown sand dunes were arbitrary debris of some sort of large machinery. I cannot see anything else for miles along the horizon.