The Night Shift

  • Reading time:13 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

When the phone rang again, Mark picked up and handed it to me with obvious relief on his face. “Hi, is this a good time?” Naz asked. “Sure. Just uuh, hang on a minute,” I said and held the phone away from me while I exhaled. Mark gestured that he was going out as he grabbed his coat off the…

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The Solitary Animal

  • Reading time:13 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

On the road to Nakuru, I kept my ears pricked up for a message from Nazir. I'd sent the money for the spare part along with a thoughtful thank you note which made a tidy conclusion to our brief encounter. Therefore I had no reason to think that he would be writing anything back yet every few hours I compulsively…

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The Strays

  • Reading time:13 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

After the initial jitters, I found it exceedingly easy to tell what kind of person Nazir was. Whilst living out in the wilderness, he had somehow attracted a stray cat, a bipolar wanderer and a straying wife. Once I saw my place in that cast of characters, I knew exactly who he was and more alarmingly, who I had become. He…

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The Ones Who Don’t Look Away

  • Reading time:12 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

I stood outside the trailer with my eyes closed, the sun warming my forehead delightfully. There was no hint of smoke, fumes or odours in the air; it smelled of dried leaves, soil, and wet bark. It smelled like nature thriving. I listened to the birds calling in the trees and tried to identify them in my mind. It was…

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The Day I Went to His Place

  • Reading time:19 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

Dried leaves crumbled under my feet as I paced back and forth in the parking lot. Nazir was some distance away conversing at length with the mechanic, leaving me with nothing to do besides watching slats of sunlight pour through a yellow fever tree. It had taken them twenty minutes to work out that the crankshaft sensor was faulty. Once…

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The Day the Cruiser Broke Down

  • Reading time:12 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

It was late September when Nazir and I met. I was touring with an American group from Idaho when my cruiser lurched and stalled. We were on the tail end of a tour to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, or what we fondly call the Kifaru leg, because the last northern white rhinos in the world are the main attractions in that…

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The Day of the Storm

  • Reading time:13 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

The air had been thick with heat that morning. It was the week after Easter Sunday and I had just returned from a trip to Tsavo. I had just three days to rest before heading out on the next safari. That weekend, I would be guiding a Canadian tour group around Mt. Longonot and Lake Naivasha. The roads had been…

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The Crown Prince’s Bath: Part VII

  • Reading time:10 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

A Wedding in Wartime In the royal chambers, Hyun Joon sat at the head of the table while the Royal Council gave him their update. As the Crown Prince and the Commander of Archers, he had sat at the same table countless times. His father sat at the head, Lim Min-su sat to his right, while Hyun Joon sat to…

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The Crown Prince’s Bath: Part VI

  • Reading time:14 mins read
  • Post category:Fiction

A Queen Without a Kingdom When the young king had calmed himself, Ahn Yeo-bin drew him a hot bath and brought him honeyed chamomile tea. It was long past his bath time, and Im Ha-na was already serving his dinner in the resting chamber. He did not have the chance to finish his tea before his manservant darted in with…

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