Amanda the Archaeology Student
A Short Story About Something Being Not Quite Right
She had come to the Caribbean island to join a team of volunteers helping on an archaeological site, and now needed to drive across the island to Papeete to join the rest of the team.
The drive was a scenic one, taking her past terraced fields of rice, and houses still waiting repair after the cyclone that struck the island the month before.
Evidence of the destruction was visible, with sections of corrugated iron from roofs still embedded in the trees, and numerous Coconuts and Pineapples lying everywhere.
Finally Amanda arrived at the dig site, and was introduced to the other members of the team, and was given a tour of the site where she was to spend the next two months.
She already knew that she was going to really enjoy her time here, and that October would come around far too quickly.
The site was one that was quite unique, and the team had been working for the last year unearthing the remains of a Guarani temple, and she couldn't wait to join in the work in the morning.
During the evening meal, Amanda had a chance to get to know the team better, and everyone seemed to bond really well, in fact some of the people already seemed familiar to her.
It had been a long day of travel for her, and before long Amanda began to yawn, and bid her new companions a fond "goodnight", and headed off to bed, where she fast fell into a deep sleep, where her dreams told her that something wasn't quite right.
Her day had seemed just too perfect, and although she just couldn't wait to start work on the dig, something was tugging at her, something wasn't quite right, and then she remembered that she had just started at university.
Something is not quite right indeed, in fact there are 10 things that aren't quite right in this story. Can you figure out what they are? There are no prizes for guessing, only knowing that you are smarter than the average bear. Or maybe you didn't get them all right, but learned something in the process.
WAIT HERE AND SEE IF YOU CAN WORK OUT WHAT IS WRONG BEFORE READING THE NEXT PAGE
What Is Not Right With This Story?
1. Port Moresby is in Papua New Guinea, which is in the Pacific.
2. The airfield at Port Moresby has a huge runway, built by American engineers during WWII for long range bomber strikes against the Japanese.
3. Papeete is the capital of Tahiti, which is in the Pacific.
4. If Amanda was on either Papua New Guinea or Tahiti, you can't drive across the island, they are both mountainous.
5. Rice is not grown in the Caribbean.
6. Cyclones are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. In the northern Hemisphere they are known as Anti-Cyclones or more commonly Hurricanes.
7. Pineapples grow in the ground and not on trees.
8. Amanda arrived on a clear April morning and was going to be on the island for 2 months. October is 6 months away.
9. The Guarani are a primitive tribe that live in the Amazon rain forest in what is now Paraguay.
10. The story takes place in a dream. Amanda had just started at university, studying ancient history and archeology, and in her dream she was already working in the field.
I hope you enjoyed this short story and puzzle. If so, please let me know, and I will see if I can come up with some more unusual tales.
Published by Tony Payne
Tony Payne is a freelance writer who lives on the South Coast of England with his wife Debbie. He has worked in the IT Industry all his life, and has been writing on various sites for the last 10 years. T... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentThanks, Tony.
Very clever!
First, I was looking for grammar and spelling mistakes, but then thought it was probably geography stuff, of which I know very little. Cool idea, though.
I did, indeed, pause - but I figured it was a matter of geography and history of "the region" and they are among my most hated subjects, so once I figured that much out, I clicked to page two! Your writing quality was excellent.
Clever and interesting! Always a good read Tony!
Very creative story. Thanks
This is extremely clever, Tony. Do some more! Of course I was too impatient to try to figure anything out and immediately went to the second page. At least I should have picked up on the April/October discrepancy, but did I? Nope.
This was fun!
I enjoyed this!
Good one! That was fun! I thought the rice fields did not sound right... :-)