A recent memory: For several years, probably between the ages of 11 and 14, I used to keep a shoebox full of emergency supplies stashed in my closet in case I suddenly needed to run away. Among other things, it contained the following:
- a can of sardines
- a can of condensed milk
- a film canister containing wrapped bouillon cubes
- a field guide of edible wild plants (for after I'd finished the sardines, milk & bouillon)
- a jack-knife
- a piece of gum
- a quantity of string
- safety pins (to use as fishing hooks at the end of the string)
- waterproof matches in a plastic bag
- a candle stub and small Dickensian candle holder
- a set of 4 plastic cards with basic survival instructions printed on them, such as what to do if bitten by a brown recluse spider or struck with hypothermia
- a mirror (for signalling to planes, as described on survival cards)
- a "stove" made in Girl Scouts--a tuna can in which you coil a strip of cardboard, then cover the cardboard with wax
Just like everyone else, I was a strange child. I was obviously planning to live in the woods (rather than going to the city and living in a box, seeking a job as a ho) much like the main character in Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain. Obviously a book that influenced me plenty. To this day I am prepared to live in a hollow tree and eat squirrels and nettles... as long as I had a really really good reason. Maybe as a form of political protest.
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