As Chance would have it!

Wundowie — 2000-02-14

As chance would have it, we are visited today by the famous camel woman Jo White, now Jo Kitchner, and her husband Tom. They have been told about the camels here in the little village and come to have a look at them. Tanja introduces our five expedition partners to them, and when she mentions the name of Kadesch, Jo can hardly believe it. Kadesch used to be her baby, she sold him a few years ago. The topics of our conversation are nearly inexhaustible, and naturally we have a number of common acquaintances, people whose acquaintance we and they better would never have made. Jo tells us her life history, and we can hardly believe what we hear. The scales fall from our eyes as she confirms all our negative experience with the envy, greed, dishonesty and alcohol and drug abuse of other people. At the end of a day’s lively conversation, Tom who has worked with camels for decades, and Jo offer us their help to build the saddles for us. Tanja and I find our luck incredible and gladly accept the generous offer. Now we have an optimum support in the saddle construction in addition to Verne. In the course of the interesting conversation we mention that Kadesch refused to sit down for his vaccination. Jo and Tom jump up immediately to have another look at Kadesch. Again Tanja and I try, without success, to make Kadesch sit down. Then Jo shows us how exactly to tie a rope to Kadesch’s front foot. Tanja repeats her command “usch” to sit down while I pull at the rope attached to his right front foot. I am now in a position to bend his foot, and that is no sooner done than Kadesch sinks to the ground like a feather.