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Brian went bike riding with his friend Terry. On the way home he saw his mom sitting in the car with a man. His mom kissed the man and it wasn't his dad. The man had short blond hair and was wearning a white pullover shirt. This was the secret that Brain never told his dad about.
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Brian thought about his parents divorce and the secret he was keeping from his dad. After the divorce Brian lived with his mom during the school year anbd with his dad during the summer.
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Brian's mom gave him the hatchet. He attached it to his belt just before getting on the plane. He would later use the hatchet in many ways to survive.
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Brian's father was a mechanical engineer who designed new drill bits for drilling oil. Brain was sad when he thought about telling the secret to his dad.
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The pilot's name was jim or Jake. He asked Brian to sit in the copilot's seat. Brian felt this was an interesting and exciting opportunity.
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The pilot told Brian about the surival pack before the crash. The survival pack had emergency supplies for an emergency landing. It was underwater when the plane crashed.
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Brain tried to use the transmiitter 221 to radio for help after the crash. He lost the signal.
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Brian and the pilot were flying to the Canadian oil fields to visit his dad.The Pilot had a heart attack and died. Brain tried to radio for help, but losted the radio signal. He thought he was going to die. Then he saw a channel of fallen trees. The wings caught the pine trees and dirt and dust flew into his face which blinded him. He surged forward in his seat, hitting his head on the wheel.The plane bounced once on the water and then it sanked.
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Brain left the dead pilot in the plane. This body was still strapped to the seat and the plane was submerged in water.
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Brian thought about the flight plan. It was a detailed plan for where they were going to fly with all of the courses shown. He believed the rescue team could use the flight plan to find him.
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When Brian awoke from the crash and left the plane a thick swarm of mosquitos and small black flies attacked his exposed skin. The insects clogged his nostrils when he inhaled and entered his mouth when he opened it to take a breath.
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Brian was very thirsty and hungry after the crash. He knelt down on a log to drink water from the lake.
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Brian was still very hungry after drinking water from the lake. He thought about his english teacher Mr. Perpich. He realized he needed a plan to survive.
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The first food he found to eat was big cherries. Brian ate the cherries and they caused vomitting and diarrhea. He called them gut cherries because they were huge and made him sick. The gut cherries are also known as choke cherries.
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After Brian was done jamming raspberries into his mouth,he started putting some in his windbreaker. Then he heard a slight noise to his rear. He turned around and saw a bear. Brian and the berar stared at one another. The bear was black and had an cinnamon colored nose. It stood and studied him.The bear left and continued to eat raspberries.
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Brian woke,thinking he heard a growl.But it was just the wind,then he smelled something.Then he heard slithering.That's when he threw the hatchet and kicked wildly.The hatchet missed and hit the wall.Suddenly pain erupted in his leg. He screamed as the porcupine left. the shelter. The porcupine slapped his tail of quills against Brians leg. His leg was very painful and he had to jerk the quills out of his leg.
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Brian found 17 snapping turtle eggs buried in the sand near the lake. He ate some of them and buried the rest in his shelter to eat later.
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Brian had watched his uncle Carter put a raw egg in a glass of milk and dranked it in the morning.
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Brian had been trying to make a fire,it wasn't going welll.
He realized the hatchtet tcould be used to get sparks so he could start a fire. Brian used a ball of dry brichbark fluff and the hatchet to start a fire. -
Brian was so happy to start a fire that he called the fire "friend". The fire kept him warm and was used to cook food.
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When Brian remembered water refracts light,he got his first fish.It was a golden fish. He took in his shelter and held it over the fire.When he took it off the skin peeled and the meat was flaky,moist,and tender. After he finished eating, he spent the rest of the day getting fish.
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Brian made a bow and arrow andused them to catch fish and cooked it over fire.
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Brian heard the motor of a plane in the distance. He ran to the camp to build a fire to signal the plane. As he hurried to build a bonfire the plane turned and left the area.
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Brian almost came between a mama bear and her cubs. He looked up at the ridge and saw a wolf looking down at him. .It had yellow eyes and it was big, not as big as the bear. For a moment Brian felt afriad.The fear soon disappeared. He then nodded and smiled at the wolf.
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The day the plane missed Brian he had let the fire die out, and forgot
to eat a turtle egg. Brian had let his brain take him to what he wanted done. Then to where he wanted to die. So he went up to the ridge and cut himself with the hatchet. -
A skunk came into his shelter and dug up the turtle eggs. When he yelled at the skunk, it sprayed him. The corosive spray seared into his lungs and eyes, that blinded him temporarily.
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It took Brian 3 days to built a new shelter to protect his food and to keep him safe.
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Brian got tired of eating fish and berries. He started having cravings for heavier meats such as turkey, roast and pork chops.
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As Brian was getting tired of fish and berries he wanted bigger meals of food. He wanted the foolbirds. They were every
where. But they were so well camoflauged he couldn't see them. Sometimes they' would be 2 feet in front of him. He used the bow and spear to kill a foolbird. This was his first meat. -
As he heard the plane,Brian threw down the tree limb and his spear.
He ran towards camp while holding his hatchet.The plane motor got louder.He started to picture how it was going to happen.He quickly grabbed a log to take outside.He took it to the ridge and made a flame.The sound of the motor was moving away.He added grass and chips.He now had a bonfire.The motor sound was now gone.He had missed his chance. -
Brian cooked the foolbird. He had never had anything as fine as that first bite of his first meat. He compared it to hamburgers, fries, meals at home, candy, pies, cakes, pizzas, steaks and submarine sandwiches.
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The winds from a tornado destroyed his bed, tools and the wall of his shelter. The tornado destroyed his fire and the insects and mosquito's returned.
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Brian was at the lake, washing bird blood off his hands., As he started to turn around, he thought he heard or smelled something. Then all of a sudden a moose came charging at him. Brian had seen pictures of a moose. He didn't know that they were so big.The big female moose flung him far into the lake.It followed him in to lake to finish him off.
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The strong winds from the tornado had caused the plane to change position in the water. The tail of the plane was now sticking out of the water.
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The Canadian Government went to the crash site and rescued the pilot's body.
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The fish in the lake had been eating the pilot's body for almost 2 months. All that was left was the not quite cleaned skull.
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Brian built a raft and called it the Brushpile. He used the raft to carry to the plane in the lake. He wanted to get the survivalpack from the plane.
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Brian got the survival pack from the plane. The contents were filled with unbelievable riches. He found a sleeping bag, a foam sleeping pad, aluminum cookset with 4 pots and frying pans, utensils, dry matches, butane lighters, a knife with a compass in the handle, a first aid kit, fishing equipment and a rifle and shells, food packets and a emergency transmitter.
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Brian was cooking food from the survival pack and his nose filled with scents from home. Then the plane appeared. It was float plane that roared over his shelter. It circled the lake.Then it lowered, cut the engine and landed. Brian was standing there with a orange drink in his hand, just staring at the plane. The pilot heard the emergency transmitter and saw the plane in the lake.
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Brian spent 54 days alone on the L-shaped lake in Northern Canada.
