Takes place on a lake in Africa and may have been the scene of a crime. |
NO EVIDENCE He was sitting on a rock gazing intently toward the middle of the lake at the overturned dinghy. His suntanned body was glistening wet and the heat of the sun could not calm his shivering. His face normally impassive displayed varying emotions from from fear to elation and there was no distraction to tear his gaze away from that focal point. The lake miles away from Durban, was not a popular spot for the public as the waters were purported to contain Crocodiles and the Bilharzia snail that would find it's way into open orifices in humans. He was glad to have missed the crocs although he had never seen one on this lake. Perhaps they were only rumours, maybe the poachers had killed them all. His thoughts went back in time to England, his life as a Toolmaker with British Layland and his subsequent marriage to that sadistic bitch and his stepson. He could see them now,oh! she looked great when they first met, a strong woman with a ten year old boy. That soon changed over the next eight years. he shivered when he thought of the passengers of the Windsor Castle staring at the fat ugly woman and an equally fat enormous son waddling at his side. They both looked like pigs and he hated to be seen with them. The change in their attitude took place as soon as they landed from the ship as immigrants in South Africa, ordering Blacks and Afrikaaners as if they were an inferior race. He bought them a house with a pool in Amanzimtoti and hired servants to keep them happy, but oh no! They abused them until they left him to cook and clean for them after a hard days work. They lounged all day in their pajamas whining and complaning about leaving England. Finally the last straw! The pair of them attacked him, beating and kicking him until he pleaded for mercy. Christ! That pair of swine's took his manhood away. Even his boss Jan Coetzee thought he had been mugged by a bunch of Kaffirs. If he ever found out the truth he would fire him as there was no doubt the Afrikaner men were the bosses in their home. His glance never wavered at the upturned boat. He thought I'm glad I found this spot. He had found a route off the beaten track that did not display the warning signs of danger in the lake, the unwary would only see,the glorious vista of the placid waters, trees and long legged Herons plucking fish from the reed beds. The stillness and quiet was shattered by a warning shriek from a monkey and the herons, startled,flew in panic He stood up, the waters thrashed and heaved from the middle of the lake and a huge scaly tail broke the surface. Did he imagine the water around the dinghy was turning red or was it just the angle of the sun's reflection. He waited until the water turned placid, better get going now it will be dark soon. He walked back to the car, his thoughts turning to the future,next stop the police station. Those bourkis would be too lazy to investigate anything and he hoped they would recover the dinghy and give it back to him, he could sell it and get his money's worth from it. He smiled thinking about Jan Coatzee's pretty secretary, he was told these Afrikaner women were right ravers, give it time, maybe he could get a date from her. He put the car into gear. |