Jungle Jokester

Synopsis: While on a school trip in the Amazon, Jake keeps himself entertained by playing jokes on his roommate. Tables turn when Samuel has the last joke.

A handful of students are invited during the summer months to visit the Amazon Refuge Wildlife Conservation Center to learn more about the Amazon Rainforest and work alongside natives to learn more about their way of life. Samuel Rivington is one of those students. His parents feel it’s good for him to get out and learn more of the world. Five students who attend R.S. King High School in Sinton, Texas are accompanying Samuel, one of which is Jake Dellano. Jake is brilliant, but also a prankster. Although he and Samuel are friends, they are nothing alike. Jake has decided to make it his mission to lighten up Samuel during their trip.

The first few days of their stay at the ARWCC are involved as they are getting acclimated to their surroundings and it just so happens that Jake is rooming with Samuel in his hut. Jake pays little attention to neatness and his side of the hut reflects that. Samuel, however is very meticulous to detail and very neat. Jake makes a mental note to those details.

Most of their days are spent in lectures and tours around the compound, they learn of  the  wildlife that are indigenous to the rainforest. Samuel takes notes while Jake looks for means of opportunity. He’s ready and has something in mind. During the evenings after main meal, everyone is left to their own devices as long as they don’t stray beyond the perimeter of the compound’s first outer zone.

Jake and a few guys sneak out to the edge of the zone and spy on some native women bathing in a pond. Jake manages to sneak over to where they have their clothes on a large rock being unseen and removes them to a bush a few feet away. He returns to the group a hero as they continue watching with delight. As the ladies exit the pond, they begin to shriek and gasp as they cannot find their clothes; the guys unable to contain themselves begin laughing and the women begin throwing rocks at them. They find their clothes and the guys having more than their fill of native biology return to their huts.

Samuel is reading as Jake returns with a huge grin on his face. Jake tells him of their adventure and invites him to join them next time. He doesn’t answer and Jake goes to bed. While laying there Jake decides it’s time to help Samuel come out of his shell. He’ll begin slowly with one or two simple gags to warm him up. Awhile into the night, Jake sneaks up out of his bunk and goes over to Samuel’s neat and orderly things. Knowing that Samuel is very methodic about his belongings, Jake begins by moving things around, just a few things out of place when he spies his shirt. A light bulb goes off in his head and he grabs his shirt and decides to remove the buttons. He takes the buttons and places the shirt back where it was and returns to his bunk.

The next morning as Jake is waking up he notices Samuel looking around in confusion; he replaces the items to their original locations and grabs his shirt. Jake is dressing as Samuel is trying to button his shirt. He notices the missing buttons and more confused as ever he removes the shirt and instead wears a t-shirt. Jake smiles to himself and they begin their day. Today they are going into the jungle on a little hike.

Jake takes this opportunity to look for anything that he can use in his little “Samuel Awakening Project.” While they’re on their hike Samuel finds animal fecal matter and decides to scoop some up. Anyway they are taking samples of plant life to study and compare to other regions. Jake is sure that it’ll come in handy later. For the next few days Jake continues playing little pranks on Samuel, and Samuel is none the wiser, or so it appears.

Jake decides that he’s ready to use the animal fecal matter that he found. After Samuel is a sleep, Jake gets up and carefully smears it on the floor where Samuel walks every morning. Once finished he returns to bed and waits for the excitement. His slumber will soon be interrupted.

Samuel is sleeping soundly when all of the sudden he feels movement on top of him. He turns over when he hears a shrieking sound. He sits up, sees it and screams loud enough to send shivers down everyone’s spine. The “it” turns out to be an echimyidae or a spiny rat. The group that has formed due to the scream looks in on and the rat runs away. Samuel is white as a ghost and Jake is laughing intensely.

Samuel has decided on a course of action of his own. He knows that all of the things happening is due to Jake’s practical jokes. Little does Jake know that Samuel has a few things up his sleeve. Samuel spends the better part of the day in their hut, he concocts a little sleeping remedy and inserts it into a candy bar that he retrieved from Jakes belongings.  He puts the candy bar on Jake’s pillow and leaves in search of a little help.

Samuel recruits a couple of friends to help him carry out his little plot on Jake. Amused by what Samuel has in store, they are in. After dinner Jake returns to the huts to gather some things to go have a shower when he spies the candy bar. He decides that it’s not a bad idea and sits down and eats the candy bar then heads out to his shower. Samuel is reading a book then looks at his watch and waits. 

The next morning feeling cold, Jake wakes up and screams because he is naked and alone in the jungle with a red round water balloon. Jake and Samuel have a new respect for one another.