Adventure

The rain was coming down in sheets as David drove at a crawl, almost having to feel his way, south. The wipers on double speed did little to give him visibility for more than just a few yards each third of a second.’  The wind and the rain, lashed at the heavy station-wagon, its gusts threatening at times to sweep car and occupant to the roadside ditch in spite of its weight and robust skid-proof tyres. ‘˜Please God let me get there in one piece!’™’  The man was numb with anxiety but greater was his dogged determination to beat the storm. Only his level-headedness enabled him to keep his speed down to ten mph in spite of his urge to …

‘œYou know, Walter, It took a remarkable incident to teach me that car- hire in Greece is far from what you’™d expect in, say, European countries.’ ‘œAnton’™s out of the blue statement surprised me somewhat.’  We were standing in front of a travel agent’™s window looking at enticing places in the world to visit, my imagination making wonders out of the forests and beaches of Mauritius.’  I turned to my friend,’  who was eyeing a poster in the corner of the display window of the glory of Athens: the Acropolis and Greek islands – all very colourful and attractive. ‘œSo what’™s all this about car- hire in Greece, Anton?’ Knowing my friend well, I was certain that’  he was on …

Seated at a bar in Buffalo, New York, two men were in heated discussion. ‘œHare-brained, that’™s what the idea is, Bill! You’™ve gone off your rocker! Sure we’™ve done crazy things but challenging a tornado beats the lot. No, Bill. I won’™t help you. We’™re more than friends and that’™s exactly why I can’™t go along with such a wild cat scheme – see you get yourself killed. Forget it!’ ‘œBut, Jack, see the possibility of success too! It’™s a great challenge. If you’™ll consider my plan in more detail, you’™ll see it’™s no more hare-brained than the climb up the frozen water-fall in Alaska; no crazier than the hundred foot cliff scale and dive into the river. No one …

An accountant by profession, Milton Bookman felt sure that his love of books had much to do with his name. In his mid fifties, he concluded years back that a meaningful name influences its bearer. This was confirmed when he came across a Hebrew expression that roughly translated means’  ‘œa man becomes as he is named’. Be it as it may, Milton Bookman had a special love for books. His family name had been anglicised from Buchbinder, some two generations back; his first name from the Hebrew, Menachem meaning, to console. He not only had a strong love of reading, he also enjoyed the feel of a good book in his hand.’  Like so many who enjoy a good read, …

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  All I know of my birth is that it was cataclysmic in its power. Powerful forces spewed me steaming and writhing into a boiling sea of foam and steam.’  For thousands of neap and spring tides I stood, a great bare rock in a seemingly endless ocean, waiting for what – I was not able to know. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  It was aeons of time until out of all the flotsam a jetsam to be washed up upon my shore, the first coconut was fortunate enough to find a pocket of soft ash and sand. I learned of its approach’  from an albatross’  seeking a rest while crossing an endless sea.’  It came from the east and was thrown by …

‘  ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  My name is Felix. I’™m a a cat who, by an extraordinary stroke of good fortune was rescued from a life of hardship and of poverty; of harsh smells and constant struggle. Not only am I now in comfort but able uniquely also to speak out for other strays and appeal to certain humans wherever they maybe. How this came about I shall relate later but first and foremost I feel I must bring to public attention the’  sorry plight of so many of my kind. I speak out primarily on behalf of my town and city namesakes upon whom fortune did not smile as it did upon me. The thousands of homeless cat vagabonds who eke out …

‘ ‘ ‘  Lillian Coleman, a young, caring home-maker was In her kitchen baking and preparing dishes her family would remember their lives long. The aroma of baking bread in her oven spread far. As practical a mother as Lillian was, she was also responsive to spiritual needs. ‘œJust as the body requires care,’ she would say, ‘œthe spirit can know hunger and thirst, too and longs for expression and understanding.’ ‘ ‘ ‘  The house was now quiet from those loud and happy noises that seemed to follow her eldest son, Richard, aged seven wherever he went. He and his two sisters had been taken to school by her husband, Raymond who worked in Nairobi. ‘ ‘ ‘  Lillian, suddenly startled by a knocking at …

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  The thought often saddens me that my father did not live to enjoy his grand children. Living close to mine, being with them, watching them grow, is a great joy.’  I’™m just that lucky. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  My wife and I live in the still small city of Ra’™anana. I do most of my local running around by bike and when Assaf, my youngest grandchild’  – I have four, two girls, two boys ‘“ turned eleven he found himself with a grand gift – his first ‘œbig-boy’™s bike’. What could have been more natural then for me to say, ‘œCome winter, my dear boy, we are going to have a whale of a time. We’™ll ride through the rough; through orange …