"So here we are Hugh; just you and I - the two of us, so to speak. These next few months will be a rare chance for you and I to grow old. We'll be alive! How exciting is that?"

"I know I'm here because of experience and you: well you were nominated and elected out of necessity, no less. It'll be alright. We'll manage. We're both clever. Yes?"

"Me? Like I said, its my second crack at this."

"You know, do you remember your tangle with that big old pike a few years back, I bet had you not been swallowed up by that fish, and with both you and that old pike able to escape disaster like you did - well that's why you are here - because you are industrious Hugh. You are an absolutely marvelous team member and in the eyes of all of your peers, too, and that sir is a for certain."

"You and I, we'll lay low, bide our time, and with a bit of luck we'll be picked up and returned to our crystal homes again. You watch. You wait and see."

"We are anima after all, and we'll make it happen."

"You know, we could become celebrated for inhabiting these two marsh men bodies. I can see the title now: 'Hugh and Manny and the Tale of the Marsh Men'."

"How long till the couriers get here Manny?" asked a concerned Hugh who apparently hadn't been listening to me for the past five minutes.

"Let's check on their progress," I answered as I consulted with their interface: "Six hours or so," I reported, "That'll be just before sunrise. It'll be chilly out there. Our Couriers will be freezing without their upper garments on. There's going to be a whole lot of shaking going on - that's for sure."

"We should rest Hugh," and I trimmed my energy down, "and if you can't sleep - study the lay of the land just like you did inside that big old fish," I said.

"What's it like?" asked Hugh as he tried to relax.

"Where? Out there on the terra firma? Well, it's wet. It's damp. It's moist. It's misty - or perhaps they call that foggy I think. It's rainy, snowy, and icy at times. It's wet in every shape and form, but you don't need flippers and gills to get around, instead you have these moist air bags in your chest cavity called lungs that absorb oxygen that in turn is circulated with some glucose in a closed loop circulation system - like what a jalopy of a set up I must say."

"Presently, the atmospheric pressure out there should be around a thousand millibars or so, and falling. Oh-oh, you know what that means: Snow! The temperature on the shore of our favourite lake is negative five degrees Celsius at this moment and predicted to rise to about negative four and a half by the time our couriers finally arrive. Oh. I forgot to mention - the wind. There's going to be a good breeze out there; we'll only be a few meters from the shore."

"Is that like a current or a wave?" asked Hugh.

"No," well maybe I thought. "But wait until you feel the wind on your flesh and blowing through your hair."

"Hair?" asked Hugh in wonderment.

"Yeah hair, but we'll have to see what kind of hair Hugh Macdonald has; he could be bald for all we know."

"Bald?" asked my befuddled anima.

"Not to worry my friend; it's just a bit of vernacular to describe a lack of hair. Hair is nice but we won't be alive long enough to worry about it. One hundred days; I have to empathize that - it's only one hundred days in these conditions - keep that in mind while you are here."

"Why when I was last in this same predicament, my courier had the beginnings of a monkey's butt."

"A monkey's butt? On your head?" asked Hugh in a panic.

"You'll see. It's no big deal. There's lots of them out there, and it's the least of our worries," I said to my excited partner.

"Worries?" cried Hugh.

"Adaptation will be the biggest hurdle. We have to assimilate, Hugh. We have to blend in. We can't be arousing the suspicion of the natives. If any of them get wise to us; we got to go. We got to relocate. You'll see. And if I can indulge you a little, picture our new world like a big enormous school of fish, and where every fish in that school looks just the same as it's neighbor, and you and I too, are going to look just like the rest in that school. With some practise, it'll become easy fitting in."

"Manny, how long ago was your last time?" asked Hugh who was starting to get a grasp of what I was telling him.

"Alive? Well I believe that there were about four and a half billion fish in that school back then and if I recall correctly someone in the media didn't like Mondays. That would be about forty-four indigenous, solar years ago I'd say."

"So let's review. What's your full name?" I asked.

"Hugh Macdonald," answered Hugh.

"And where are you from?" I asked.

"Toronto, Ontario."

"And what is my full name now?"

"Emanuel Logan."

"And where am I from?"

"Thunder Bay, Ontario."

"Very good. We're going to ace this thing! Right?" I asked Hugh who appeared a little more confident.

"Yep," answered a reassured Hugh.

"I'm going to power down for a few hours. There's not much that we can do until our couriers arrive. Got it?" I asked.

"Yep," answered Hugh.

"Tomorrow, I'll show you how to wink and whistle."

"Wink? Whistle?" asked a confused Hugh.

"Yeah. Don't worry you'll like it."



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