Listen or Read? The African Queen

I can still recall the first audio book I listened to, probably 25 years ago.

We were traveling between Vancouver, BC and Edmonton Alberta, on a snowy November night. We had just been to a very special family gathering - Grandpa Wilson's 100th birthday celebration - and were on our way home. I was driving, the kids were sleeping in the back of the van, and my spouse rode shotgun.

We'd found a tape version of "The African Queen", and had it plugged into the tape player. We drove through darkness, snow and ice on the roads, but our minds were far away, in the wilds of Africa, going down the Ulanga river with Rose and Charlie. What an adventure!

Charlie has found Rose and her dead missionary brother in a burned out village. He takes her on board, and Rose tries to convince him to sink the German gunboat, the Louisa in retaliation for the havoc the Germans have wrought on the natives and her brother.

The 'Queen' is on her last legs, held together with love and curses from her gin-soaked captain. Rose dumps his alcohol supply overboard, much to his despair. Finally he agrees to help her, and they proceed downriver through white water rapids, guerillas shooting at them, and much more. Through all this, they find each other, and these two unlikely people fall in love.

Blood sucking leaches, mosquitoes, and dangerous animals torment the couples efforts. The African Queen comes to a complete stop, stuck dead in mucky swamp water and high weeds covering any sight of land or water ways. They are lost in the weeds and can't see anything. Disheartened and beaten, they accept their doomed fate as they hold each other in exhaustion waiting to die.

When it begins to rain and the river rises, the African Queen becomes unstuck and floats down the river only a few hundred feet from high water and the mouth of the Ulanga River. The Ulanga River is pouring into the ocean and they see the Louisa Gunship for the first time as it makes patrol routine. The two lovers are now alive again! With new hope and determination they are convinced they can now sink the Louisa...

Since then, I've seen the wonderful movie with Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart and read the book. But I still recall first of all listening to that story as we drove through the night.

So - read it first or hear it first, The choice is yours, but remember... the storyteller has been part of our culture for a long time.

The spoken work has such power, and the mind can provide the pictures!