Suddenly, we saw the monster!
A dragon! 
It flowed silently down the river yet creating terrible waves with its tail. We could the people it had just swallowed in its belly. We cowered on the bank, hardly daring to breathe.
Perhaps, absorbed with digesting its previous meal, it did not attack us. As quietly as we could, we followed in its wake. The dragon kept swimming. When it passed a bend in the river, the chief smiled. "We have found something far better than the pseudoryx." But when we turned the bend, the fearsome animal was gone!
The river was dead calm.
We kept going.
Around the next bend, we saw two bridges. 
What
civilization could thrive in such a jungle - and with such beasts? We stopped
to investigate. 
I thought I saw people inside, but the chief laughed. "That's just your
imagination, boy." 
I wondered at how we had not seen any modern roads, much less concrete bridges, since Hue. The concrete road quickly devolved into dirt and gravel, and led back into the jungle, at least on our side of the river. I began to cross the bridge when I looked down and saw a a most strange object.
I shuddered with fear at the maker of such an obscene artifact. Carefully I stepped off of the road and joined the chief.
We entered the covered bridge.
Continue on to 4. The Bridge
Click on the links below to read the story
Introduction - 1. The Arrival - 2. The River - 3. The Monster - 4. The Bridge - 5. The Palace
This story was created by Heather
Cleary for the UCLA class, IS287a.
Photographs are courtesy of Howard
Besser.