The Ranger

Mr Sermon had reached the Forest ranger’s office 20 minutes early. Being a senior officer in the Brazilian Forest Department, he had been called upon by the headquarters to meet up with the forest ranger, Mr Roger Wilson and address his concerns. The Amazon tropical rainforests and its surrounding tribal settlements had never failed to intrigue him in his twenty five years of service. Before him stood an old station surrounded by the deep jungles of Brazil. Soon, a man in a ranger suit walked outside to greet Sermon. He was a tall man and his face let out a slight smile. “Good Evening Sir, I am Roger Wilson the ranger of this station, please do take a seat inside.” Sermon followed him inside.

There was a small office table with lots of papers scattered around and a hearth right beside the table. A small table lamp stood at the corner of the table, in fact it was the only source of light in the small cabin other than the open window.  On the table stood a label, it said Roger Wilson. “So you’re the only ranger in this station?” asked Sermon.

“Yes sir, as for now. There are other small stations around too. Some tribal settlements are near the station as well.”

“The headquarters have informed that you have asked for help?”

“I’m afraid so, there is something really weird going around here in area 67.”

The ranger gave a deep sigh and paused for a moment. “I can’t really explain it. Sometimes I ponder whether I see things or if it’s a-”. Mr Sermon looked at the ranger trying to figure out the cause for the interruption. The ranger looked in the most abominable way at the open window as if he’d seen a ghost. As Mr Sermon turned around to check what was outside the window, the ranger gave out a cry “Sir, I’m afraid you’d have to go now. I have to close this station and head off home as it’s quite late.” He seemed quiet troubled and petrified as if he’d seen a ghost. “What happened all of a sudden? I’m quite sure you were saying something.” Mr Sermon asked. He was pretty sure something was not in form. The ranger had no time to answer, he ushered him out of the office, locked the door and left for his way. Mr Sermon found this rather absurd of a ranger, well, who wouldn’t? He stood for some time in front of the office wondering where he had landed, and then climbed on to his own jeep and drove back to his guesthouse.

The next day Sermon reached early at the ranger’s station. Wilson came outside greeting Sermon. They took a seat inside eager to recommence their conversation which was oddly interrupted last night.  

“Wilson, I would like an explanation for what happened last night.” Sermon articulated.

“Sir, I am terribly sorry for my behaviour last night, but that thing just took over me.”

“Which thing? Would you like to be specific?”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t believe me, in fact I also called other rangers here but they simply thought I was crazy, but I have been seeing things. Rather peculiar but oddly true. Sir, see that window behind you?” Wilson pointed towards the back of Sermon. Sermon turned himself around to see a shabby little window next to the wooden shelf. He noticed that it was kept open last night too.

“Oh yes, you were looking at it in dread last night, weren’t you?” Sermon asked with growing curiosity.

“Yes you are right Sir. Every time I sight that thing outside the window, the following day a terrible incident occurs. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with it. To be specific it’s like a shadow of a man, he’s trying to tell me something by waving his hand. I even tried going outside to check who it was, but it vanished into thin air. It usually comes during the night and the following morning some animal is found dead in the forest.”

“Terrible incident? Okay, so you’re talking about the animal deaths that are occurring recently in this area?”

“So you know about these incidents, don’t you?”

“Yes I do, but how are you so sure they have something to do with the sightings?”

Now all this time Sermon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He felt annoyed at first thinking Wilson was playing a prank on him.

“Sir you might think I’m wasting your time, but I’m afraid I’m not. The same shadow was here yesterday outside the window when I asked you to take leave. I was afraid something terrible would happen around here that’s why I panicked. And today a leopard was found dead at dawn.” Sermon’s expression changed to a serious look.

“It was there when I was with you?” Sermon asked curiously.

“Yes Sir”

“Did it do something?”

“It was waving his hand.” Sermon thought for a while.

“This is rather abnormal, but I do believe you now. I’d have to go now, can I come and meet you tomorrow morning?”

“Surely sir, I’ll be waiting.” Sermon stood up and took his leave. He was still wondering about the shadow outside the window.

Sermon reached the station early in the morning the following day. This time there was a crowd around the ranger’s station. Many other rangers had gathered around the station. “What has happened? Why have people gathered around here?” Sermon asked to one of them.

“Ranger found dead this late morning Sir.”

“What! How? Tell me.”

“Sir we don’t really know, but the witness says he had got a stroke.”

“Can I speak to the witness?”

The ranger took him to a native man. He looked to be in his late 50s. His large white eyes and immaculate set of white teeth shown out of his pitch dark complexion. His dishevelled hair stood up in spikes. As they approached him, he greeted them with his broad smile.

“Hello, can you tell me how did the ranger die? Did you see him?” Sermon asked curiously.

“I was collecting some dry twigs and branches late at night yesterday, when I saw the ranger come outside the station. When he saw me he had a rather frightened look on his face. He looked at me, as if he had seen a ghost. He seemed to be afraid of something. And soon fell dead to the ground.”

Sermon was shocked at hearing this. He hung his head down at the death of the ranger.

“Sir, then I called help by waving my hand and shouting. He had been dead till then.”

Sermon lifted his head and starred at the native and said – “You waved your hand?”

“Yes sir, why? That’s what I had done when the other animals got killed.”

Sermon starred at the native with growing horror. “Faith is a peculiar thing” he thought,“While it makes the man stronger in certain situations, in this case, a leap of faith had led to the ranger’s demise.”