Info About Poker Card Reader

The day was cool as we moved up the river to places unknown to me. Elena and Katy, as well as our guides all talked about places that meant nothing to me. Matt sat quietly with sculpting clay in his hands, which makes sense because he is a sculptor. Katy and Elena sat above Ellen, Matt and me and they prattled on and on about their lives. It is not a bad thing, rather it is polite conversation that they share with each other that reminded me of the conversations that women had in Merchant Ivory films.

In the distance a group of hippos made their presence known. Hippos are the most aggressive animals in Africa. They have been known to attack boats like ours, tipping them over and then crushing the passengers with their 3-foot canines. And this aggression does not end at the shoreline. Many people are killed by hippos on land as well. A hippo cannot jump so they trample anything in their way. So on land, a hippo might not chew a person up, but it will stamp one to a bloody smear. For these reasons when we encounter hippos on the river we speed the boat up and escape.

A strange thought pops into my head. What would happen if I were to be killed by a hippo? It is not fear or anything, rather I thought it funny. What a way to go.

“Did you hear? Josh Powell died! Yup had is head bit off by a hippo!” I could imagine the people showing up at my services. Some people would be truly sad and I know others would be showing up to insure that I was in fact dead.

I shared this with Ellen and she laughed and then took the macabre fantasy to another level describing who would be there and exactly what they would be wearing and saying. She and I are both in a rarified place in this world where people have to be somewhat courteous to us by virtue of our families or professional position, but beneath the obligation many of our courtesans do not care for us. And unlike most who travel in this circle, Ellen and I both are too vocal about our knowledge of what other's really think. It is for this reason that I tell Ellen that if I do in fact get 86ed by a hippo I want my funeral to be invitation only. We both start to laugh. Peels of hysterical laughter coupled with us bumping our shoulders against one another is making our fellow travelers uncomfortable.

But then Mike points out an elephant on a hill, it is captivating and the group re-calibrates – we are back on Safari. Mike suggests we return to the camp, take a break and watch a sunset on the water, then dinner. We all agree it is a good idea.

Back at camp a few retire to their tents. Some read. And when our rest is over we return to the boat and drift into a larger pond of sorts. Katy asked Mike to plug in her iPod and the music does not break a silence, because there is no silence here, but adds to the natural sounds - and it was Katy’s iPod that made me take notice of her as something more than just a nice young woman. She had musical tastes that were beyond her years. And I mean just that, the music was obscure 70s and 80s music. Good music that was devoid of embarrassment, pretence or “soulful connection” rather it was just good fucking music. And when I commented on it, Katy had a look on her face like a world-class poker player – she knew she had really good musical taste. And this posture engaged me. A lot people have good music on their iPods – but I think more than most are told to pick this song or that one. Or they rely on top 10s and the like, but Katy’s music collection was far to broad in both style and time to be anything but a library of music that was collected. And of course I knew every song, because I, like I suspected Katy did, loved music and saw my own life at times (or wished I did) in pictures put to music – this is the music that is on my iPod.


We cruised the river until the sun went down.

Back at camp we ate dinner around the fire and talked for hours, and as we grew tired of rehashing the day that we all shared together we started to share stories of lives, peeling away layer of subtle defense after layer.

It was peaceful.

Then Captain came to the fire, sat down and told us a story.