Gross Fun In Treasure Hunt

   There was rubbish everywhere. The place had a strong unusual stench and flies were hovering all around the place. A rat scuttled across the floor over my feel into the hole on the other side, probably startled by my forbidden presence which somehow cast a darker shadow into the already-hauntingly dark space. I nearly lost my grip, not that I was afraid of rats; I never was, (until I watched horror flick titled “Rats”, but somehow I grew up loathing hat creature rather than fearing it); but the shock of having something using your feet as a bridge to cross a dirty floor was its playground was just too much for me.

    I plucked up my faltering courage, took a deep breath (which by the way was a serious mistake; the horrible stench overcoming my nostrils and blurring my senses for a moment), and a ventured into the unknown. My first step resulted in a slurpy crunch. Darn it, there was virtually no solid ground to tread on. How I wished I had webbed feet or flippers at my disposal, but shoes would have to make do, I was in a treasure hunt anyway and in a treasure hunt, you do not have everything you want, or more appropriate, everything you need. The next step I took, and I was cursing my luck; it was never my choice to come into this place, let alone search for a clue in a sea of rubbish, but somehow I got the straw, and I could not in any way protest, for I was the one who proposed that we draw straws and I was the one who conducted it, so no one else could have cheated.

    I took a glance around, there was nothing much to see in the dim light anyway apart from rubbish, but I suddenly felt like Ethan Hawk in the Mission Impossible series on a mission and felt that it was the right thing to do to take a quick look of the place. It was a wooden shack, and a pretty run-down one, probably about fifty years old. By the foul, repugnant environment encircling the area, the huge towering load of rubbish, not just ordinary rubbish, but stuff rotting all over the place, a perfect haven for maggots, it seemed that the rubbish here would date back at least a decade. That thought almost made me puke.

    The last few stages of the treasure now seemed like a piece of cake to accomplish, this had to be the worst. We had to go through drains, roll through mud and sludge, very much like the Fear Factor reality series TV show. But I never imagined that I would have to go through this.

    Trying to hold my breath to no avail as the stench again and again penetrated my nose (I wonder if the Rafflesia smells like this?), I trudged forward. According to the clue given, the next clue would be buried somewhere in the mess, I would have to search for it with my bare hands; a simple enough task, yet an impossible one at the same time. How in the world would I ever manage to find it, and if I ever did, I would most likely have contracted various lethal diseases from these bacteria-infested place.

    I decided to start from the back; at least I would be working towards the front. Then I remembered that I brought with me a torch light; it would come in handy now. Armored with light, I confidently strode towards the back of the shack. Juices flooded into my shoes, soaking my socks and feet. With immense difficulty I reached the back, took a deep breath from a small opening nearby, bent down on fours, and started searching.

    I felt like a blind man groping in the back; at least I would find something very suspiciously resembling the clue but one closer look at it revealed that it was just another piece of well-preserved junk. Slowly I covered the area of the six-inch rubbished floor, going from left to right, front to back, just like a land mower does. After half an hour I found nothing, nevertheless, I was very optimistic,   “It has to be somewhere”. I thought. “And it’s near, I can feel it”.

    However, my optimism quickly evaporated and was replaced by a series of heart-stopping shocks and surprises. Quite a few times instead of finding something solid. I caught hold a wriggling objects, only to pull them up to my face and throw them away in disgust and fright. Rats were the most frequent. As I trudged through, covering my area, and encountering more pests, my shocks transformed into rage and frustration, “Where the hell is it?” I stood up and kicked up the turf f rubbish which I immediately regretted because I tripped and the face-first into the layer of muck. I spat ferociously, the taste of it was too much for me to bear.

    Anyway, with a heart now filled with a deep grudge ad extreme cursing towards anything that came in my mind, I went on despite my hurt cheekbone and bruised knee caps. After what I seemed like an eternity, I finally approached the entrance, and still not had not found what I wanted. “The organizers must come from the sewer”, I cursed under my breath. My whole body was stinking and soaking filth and I was attracting a household of flies, flying annoyingly around me, trying to make a nest out of me. As I groped through the last few meters of mess, now having a really shrewd suspicion that I had duped into this for nothing, my knee hit upon something hard. I picked it up and saw to my amazement that it was the clue. A rectangular piece of shining metal bearing words which spelled the words to the next clue, possibly the treasure itself. I held up triumphantly and saw the rare gleam of its bright surface.

    Shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!” just like the Archimedes did, I sprinted right out of the door straight into my waiting friends who were beginning to wonder if I had died in there.

    “Where is it?” shouted one.

    “You got it?” chided another.

    “Wow, you really smell like s**t!”

    “Anywhere, you had better have it; if you do, the next ten meals’ on me; if not, you better watch out!” my leader said.

    As I held out the clue for all to see, cheers were heard, and I received hugs despite my stinking appearance.

    I grinned. Nothing was better than this. To have friends raving over you even when you stink; hey, treasure hunt’s not that bad after all.

Lee Qin Zhi