Tuesday Afternoon

14:15

“Okay, this is how the game works,” said Yasteer. “You see those two flightless birds. There are about five flags planted on each of them. We have to get them all and put them in the steel box in the corner. But first, there’s a cellphone that we have to get to that is plastered on the wall. We have to take a selfie with it before we can begin to take the flags. We’ll be competing with the four other teams in line. We have to be as fast as we can so we can get through to the next challenge.”

They were at Moses Mabhida Stadium. It was the Fear Factor MTV USA popular
challenge for a cash prize of ten thousand rand. Yasteer had entered the competition last month, and wasn’t even sure he’d be chosen as one of the contestants. When he received the call, he’d been told he had to have a partner. Last night, he could only think of Rosie.

“Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how dangerous ostriches can be?” said Rosie,
hesitant to participate.

“They’ll give us helmets.”

Yasteer realised she was a bit scared and used it to his advantage.

“I thought you liked doing anything risky?” he said.

“Of course I do,” Rosie defended.

“Then this shouldn’t be as risky as bungee jumping.” He smirked, knowing his bait had
worked.

Minutes later they were watching the first team beginning the first challenge. The team had a difficult time getting hold of the cellphone on the wall, as the ostriches weren’t moving away. They attempted to startle them by waving their hands but it wasn’t working. When they finally got their hands on the cellphone, they snapped a selfie with the ostriches.

They were afraid to go near the flightless birds to get the flags. Every time the ostriches
moved, the team stepped back in fear, wasting time. Rosie watched them nervously while Yasteer was giggling like a child. After the first team finally got all the flags, they had a time of five minutes and thirty-six seconds.

“We have to get all the flags in less than five minutes so we can go through to the next challenge,” said Yasteer, as they entered the field, dressed in protective gear
.

It was fun to begin with and Rosie took a selfie with the ostriches, but when they had to grab the yellow flags from them, it became difficult. They turned wild towards Yasteer. They attacked him continuously, pecking his helmet. Rosie stood at the corner as her fears of the ostriches attacking became a reality.
The mouth of one ostrich was doing damage to Yasteer’s helmet.

Yasteer wasn’t giving up without a fight, but he just wasn’t able to get those flags
. He tried to call out for Rosie, but she shook her head as she clasped her hands. The security team finally put a stop to the ostriches’ behaviour as the situation was getting out of hand.

“I have to apologise for this,” said one of the securities. “They usually behave like this when they smell another animal which is a threat to them.”

“What? So in other words you’re saying we’re bloody animals?”

Rosie became upset while Yasteer’s expression was a bit embarrassed.

After changing clothes, they left the stadium in a flash.

“I’m sorry about that. I thought it was going to be fun,” said Yasteer, as they walked to the parking lot.

“It’s not your fault.” Rosie smiled sympathetically. “Now you see bungee jumping is a better risk.” She winked at him as a chuckle escaped his mouth.

Tell us: Why do you think the ostriches attacked Yasteer?