The Yellow Box

He has been in Peru for five years now and he sometimes questioned whether he had made the right decision of staying on when his contract had finished. He was a self employed consultant Geologist and he had been hired by a huge oil conglomerate in the United States to look for any sign of oil or gas in the lower Andes around Arequipa. His four year contract had run out the previous year and although he had found small deposits of both gas and oil they were not commercially viable, but he liked the place so much that he had purchased a small two bedroom log cabin a few miles outside Omate, a small town in the lower Andes, just a mile off the main road, surrounded by trees.

He had been driving for some hours now and the constantly twisting road made him wish he had stayed in Arequipa. It was late in the day and the sun was setting over the pacific. He looked at his dashboard clock, it showed half past seven. The rain had stopped and he had switched off his wipers with a sigh of relief, he might still get home in daylight, then again he might not.

He wondered why all the Peruvian drivers used full headlights at the first sign of rain. Some, including himself, still had them on. "Damn" he thought, "I’m going native". He stretched his six foot frame as best he could in the roomy driving seat. As he drove he reflected that it had been a good decision to take the contract after his wife had died of Ovarian cancer at the age of forty. It had got him out of the States, far from his friends and well-wishers. They had no family for his wife had been unable to bear children due to blocked tubes. Both of them had been only children and both of their parents were divorced and had moved away from their respective homes in Des Moines, Iowa, so there had been nothing to prevent him, at the age of forty two in his desire to get as far away as possible. One of his old friends had offered him a four year contract in Peru to search for oil and gas. He had been given a cash float and told to hire his own local labour and charge to the company all hire charges for vehicles and equipment. His salary and expenses arrived monthly in the local bank.

The sky overhead cleared completely and it became quite bright. Suddenly he felt his car lurch, then it happened again. The road ahead seemed to be moving of its own accord. He stopped the car at the side of the road, he knew that it was an earth tremor, he’d experienced several this past few years. He looked in his rear view mirror, there wasn’t another vehicle in sight. After about a minute the road stopped heaving and all became quiet again. He started the old Buick and resumed his journey.

He had only been driving for a few minutes when he was forced to stop by some rocks strewn across the road, some were quite large, others very small, obviously the result of a rock fall due to the earth tremor.

The road was only blocked for about ten yards. He got out of the car and began to move the rocks, when he saw a car coming from the opposite direction with a man and woman in it. The man got out and silently began to move the small rocks on his side. Slowly they began to get results, but two large rocks about three feet in rough circumference still blocked the road before them.

"Will you help me move these rocks?" he asked the man in Spanish.

"Si Senor" the man nodded, and together after much struggling they managed to push the large rocks to one side.

"Many thanks" he said to the man who looked him in the eye.

"My pleasure Senor" replied the other, and got into his car and drive off.

He dusted off his jeans and denim jacket then looked up and down the road, there were no other vehicles in sight. Obviously there must be other rock falls he thought, which are now being cleared. He went back to his car, wiped his hands on a cloth he kept in his offside door pocket, and looked around. Far down below he could see traffic backing up on the road he had just come along. So he had been right, there were other rock falls. He looked up at where the rocks had fallen from and hoped that there were not going to be any more. Suddenly his eyes noticed something bright yellow about a dozen feet from where he sat. He got out of the car and gingerly climbed up the shallow incline to investigate. It was a yellow box about 15 inches long by 9" by 9" square. He cleared some rock from around it and lifted it out. It was made of some type of plastic with no obvious openings visible. He retraced his steps, put it into the back seat and drove off. It was quite dark now. Some two hours and one more rock fall negotiated, he arrived at his home, parked the Buick and went inside. He felt really tired and went to his bed not even bothering to eat, and leaving the yellow box in his car.

He woke with a start, something was wrong he felt. He listened for the sound of intruders, there wasn’t any. He switched on his bedside light. Instantly he heard the sound of the diesel generator kick in and the bedside light glowed brightly. He looked at the clock on his bedroom wall, it showed ten past six. It was still dark outside and he had not bothered to close the curtains. Whatever it was it couldn’t get in for his doors were locked and his windows had bars in them, for up here in the mountains there were still a few wild animals left, not to mention the deadliest of all, man.