This is the truth. I'm Jonathan Mitchell. Today's episode is something that we

adapted from a short story by Diane Cook. We found it in her collection, Man vs. Nature.

And just a quick warning, there is some swearing in this episode and also some

sexual contents. So if they're children around, you might want to save us for

later. This is called Man vs. Nature.

It had been days since the boat ran out of gas, stranding us in the middle of our

annual fishing trip. Days since we'd seen another boat or tanker, which was

strange on a lake that was usually full of commercial traffic and sports boats.

Days since we'd placed bets on a timetable for rescue, gotten bored with

spitting contests, swapping sex stories, imaginary card games. It'll let up soon.

Yeah, thanks so. You okay? Yeah, I'm fine.

Days since we'd finished the beer, brats and buns, the sweet potatoes, the

eggs, the butter, the three bloody steaks we bought for the last night when we

figured we'd be tired of fish. Hey, remember how is the star of our high school

team? Of track and field.

And field boat. Days since Dan claimed the water was safe to drink, even though we were

shitting and pissing into it, saying, it dilutes as he swished a turret away.

Looking back, it was clear that we were feverish and drunk when we decided to abandon the

30-foot pleasure craft, the one thing I'd held onto in the divorce, with its comfortable

sleeping cabins in many fridges, still stocked with two dozen beers, to jump into that cramped,

rubber lifeboat. I remember Ross saying, we'll be walking on the beach in an hour. But

that was days ago. When I woke up, I was only holding one or.

...