Events inspiring this story came from reading screenplay format versions of John Steinbeck's - 'Of Mice And Men' and Harold Brighouse's - 'Hobson's Choice'
Prologue....
Currently retired and living in the Vale of Glamorgan with my wife Elly, plus our dog and our cat I enjoy writing stories drawn from amazing life experiences in various parts of the world. Set in contemporary Arizona this fictional story was inspired by a helicopter flight into the searing heat and mind-boggling terrain of the Grand Canyon for a relaxing picnic. All was well until our pilot advised his six British passengers we could explore the area, the nearby Colorado River etc, but to keep an eye open for rattlesnakes. We all looked forward to lifting off.
With the essence of the story being how complete normality changes in the blink of an eye to abject terror I drew on a factual incident when I was a Paratrooper/Medic billeted in a tented camp in the UAE and picked up a football sized rock to bang in a loose tent peg to see a large scorpion crawl from beneath it and halt between my hands before I instinctively reversed the rock to give it a terminal headache. Those terrifying milliseconds of unexpected fear and revulsion are portrayed in the opening scenes and continue, mercilessly, for the entire second half.
Barrie David.
SYNOPSIS
Luke Blake's Screenplay
Pheonix - Arizona
Yesterday...
At age thirty-six Jeffrey Blake is a genius at stock market trading. When his obsession for more wealth creates massive contempt in his fifteen-year-old son Luke, an aspiring writer of Screenplays, his wife Elena, (Lenny) convinces a belligerent Luke to go on a man-to-man vacation in an RV with the father he despises where hostility reigns until a defining row at the Grand Canyon brings a fragile truce.
Deciding to go 'off road' they pick up a stray mongrel Luke names Beric and meet Clem Hudson, a Vietnam veteran and campsite owner who tells Jeffrey about Prairie Basin, an isolated lake at the peak of a nearby mountain range. Being the ideal place to further bond with Luke, Jeffrey ignores Clem's warning about the hazardous trail getting to the lake and how dense fog can very rapidly obscure the entire area.
Camped beside the lake, all goes well for two weeks until the ever-vigilant Beric warns of a distant rattlesnake Jeffrey shoots with his Winchester. Visibly distressed and informing Luke about his lifelong fear of snakes they hurriedly leave but when Jeffrey drives further into the mountains after missing the trail back down them the dense mist Clem warned about rapidly descends forcing them to halt for the night.
The next morning they awaken to find they've stopped beside a huge colony of rattlesnakes, three that enter the lounge area of the RV via an unsecured side door begin an ordeal of unrelenting terror that drives Jeffrey to breaking point. In the pitiless heat of the small rear bedroom they're trapped in, and the infestation of the lounge increasing, Luke, utilizing items at hand, conceives a daring but ingenious plan to cross the lounge to the safety of the sealed driving cab. A plan demanding one infinite requirement. Their absolute trust in each other...
