Last Man standing/ draft 1

Last Man standing/ draft 1

fiction
edward w pritchard

" If the devil buys you a drink, it's up to you to tip the bartender "
ed pritchard, " Last man Standing" 2013

Note- Shackleton stories are a compilation of facts, and more than some amount of fiction -author


When a small group of men are desperate, when a small group of men are freezing and starving to death, when a small group of men are hopeless, insignificant details become important; details like should the strongest man of the group, your friend who died first from the hostile environment of being stranded in the cold of Antarctica, died from living for weeks and weeks under a small row boat, details like should your friend who is dead be dragged by a rope tied to his head or his feet become so important that exhausted men will physically fight over their opinions. Dragged headfirst or feet first? How should your friend be dragged over the snow and ice to a crevasse? Should the dead man, Swenson, be dragged by a rope by his head which would cause his blond hair to bounce along the stiff frozen ground or unceremoniously by his feet, his feet which have pained the dead friend with frost bite and possible amputation for several weeks. How should your dead mate be dragged to be thrown into a crevasse to lay for thousands of years dead and forgotten in Antarctica?.

There are now four of us left of Shackleton's crew living under a boat waiting for rescue. The big Norwegian from Minn- e- so- ta is dead, first to go and now that the we are disposed of Swenson at the crevasse we must return to our routine, the routine we have followed for eleven weeks, a routine that involves spending hour upon hour under a dark wet row boat, laying upon the frozen ground in a clammy sleeping bag. Lunch is at one, perhaps the chef has prepared some stale penguin milk with a little spoiled seal blubber floating on the top. After lunch maybe a stimulating game of checkers, laying there under the dark boat or a story read aloud from Nord who once had a orators voice, but now coughs more than a little, from the wet cold no doubt. It gets deathly cold here in Antarctica this time of year; we have all heard it can get cold in Antarctica, now I know it is a true fact.

"How did your grandfather spend the year 1915, during the great World War, little Johnny? Why he laid under a boat in Antarctica and froze to death."
end part 1