Ernie's Bad Call
by Andy L.
One blistering hot day, in a desert near Saudi Arabia, a man named Matt looked out upon the vast expanse of sand. He was searching the mirage cloaked horizon for any sign of life. Matt was on a quest for a lost oasis that his grandfather had visited. He remembered his grandpa’s stories of sunsets at the lake, and how his favorite number was five because that’s how many palm trees there were on the horizon in the evenings. He said it was like heaven on earth, and that there was no place he’d rather be.
According to his map, Matt had another 19 miles to the oasis he was searching for. He estimated that he could make it by nightfall, he was finally nearing his destination. The desert was scattered with other smaller oases in which were his lifeline, they supplied him water, bathing, and sometimes food. Matt had spotted one earlier, and was now nearing it.
After filling his canteen, and drinking as much as he and his camel possibly could, and going for a refreshing swim, Matt and his camel Ernie went on their way. Their pace quickened as darkness 
neared, and they had to accept the fact that they weren’t going to make it that night.
“Well Ernie, I guess we should stop to rest huh, we’ve had a long hard day and I’m sure we’ll make it tomorrow,” Matt depressingly said to Ernie.
Ernie didn’t agree though, he wasn’t ready to stop now after all the days in the hot desert, Ernie was frustrated and impatient and wanted to push the rest of the way through the dark.
“Well Ernie, I guess we’ll push on tonight then, when have you ever been wrong anyways,” Matt stated happily. As they rode off, he smiled at the sight of five palm trees in a row along the horizon.
3 Hours Later
Matt and Ernie had been going for what seemed like an eternity, and were running off of pure urge to get to the oasis, they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings, just thinking of how much further and how nice it would be.
Suddenly Matt and Ernie felt the ground come out from under their feet, and a swarm of butterflies erupt in their stomachs, then a sudden, chilling splash. They were soaking wet, tired, and confused as they crawled their way to the river bank. The soft damp sand, and the 12 hour walk took control, and they fell asleep before a word or a grunt could come out of their mouth.
The bright sun emerging from behind a tree woke Matt and Ernie. It was an overcast, cool day, which was perfect for a man and his camel that had been traveling in the hot sun for a week. Matt woke up dazed and confused, little memory of what had happened the night before. He looked over at Ernie, who had a depressed look on his face.
“ Well, our map’s gone, and we have no idea where we are,” Matt angrily stated to Ernie.
Ernie couldn’t talk, but his facial expression summed up his feelings, he sadly stared in Matt’s eyes and lowered his head down.
“Were going to make it Ernie, it’s okay,” Matt reassured him. Matt decided that the best idea was to try and find other people. They decided to follow the stream down until they found a small town or group of houses. Matt broke out the saw and began cutting down small palm trees. He began making cord out of wood shavings, while Ernie helped haul the logs to the riverbank. They assembled a small raft, in which they could float on to civilization.
After a several hours on the stream, they came to a spot where the stream narrowed and the raft could not fit through. Matt was frustrated and impatient, so he threw his saw into a tree and ripped the raft apart, he figured they had a long ways from here, and that they would have to walk. He took Ernie’s harness and led him along the smaller stream.
A mile or two down the stream, it widened and got deeper as it met another stream, but they had no raft or saw to make one, so they kept on walking.
Matt and Ernie came over a hill top to see the creek flow into another oasis. Matt and Ernie drank, and headed toward where the stream would flow out of the oasis, but there was no outflow. With no sign of civilization, and no clue as to where to go, Matt and Ernie threw their stuff down and fell asleep.
After a well needed afternoon nap, Matt awoke to the blinding light of the poorly shaded sun, the only thing that did shade it was a row of five, perfectly placed palm trees on the horizon. As he lay down watching the sunset, he thought about what had gone wrong in the last couple days, and his grandpa's old stories.
Matt suddenly sat up and startled Ernie awake. “This is it!” he yelled with joy. “It’s the oasis, remember the five palm trees, and the sunsets, we saw this before, when we kept going over night, this is amazing, I can’t believe that… blah blah blah” As Matt rambled on, Ernie had no idea what he was saying, but all he knew was that Matt was happy, and that his mistake had only been part of the journey. When Matt finally calmed down, he and Ernie watched the sunset fade away as they fell asleep.
