It was a very wonderful looking morning, with a quite lovely looking pink cloud slicing across the light blue sky. Magnificent! Romantic and good enough for a painting, or a photograph. But unfortunately for Jim that sky was the only good thing going for him that morning, because everything in his life at that moment utterly sucked at that moment.
He had had no sleep, was utterly knackered, as it were, and only by the chance of a whisker had managed to escape a sizeable prison sentence.
'We will obviously be keeping an eye on you from now on Jim,' said DC Peddler as Jim vacated the cell.
When Jim finally got outside he was approached by a tough looking man holding a gun.
It turned out that it was Huey the Belgium explorer. It had to be him of course! He was the only man in Fenwick who walked in public with a dangerous loaded weapon.
And so the two men stood beside the police station and talked for a few minutes.
Huey, with his rifle cocked over his arm, looked to be in a good mood and slapping Jim over the shoulder smiling he said, 'The police been giving you a rough time hey young lad?'
'They arrested me for no reason,' Jim replied.
'Ah well. You know how it is. I heard from my friends over a drink that the new person in town had been arrested, and thought I would help out. Lucky for you we are friends, Jim, and I am a respected citizen here in Fenwick. I have many accomplices in the police department who take my word seriously. I juggled a few dishes, if you will, and coloured a few hands with paper, and was able to talk them into letting you out! The story about us having drinks in the pub was a fabrication of course, but when a man has a reputation like mine in town people will listen and they will take action. So you have me to thank for your freedom, Jim.'
Jim told Heuy that he was very grateful and thanked him several times.
'I hear you had an altercation with Mrs Rits,' said Huey.
'O indeed! It was so scary. That woman is a beast! She belongs in a zoo!'
'I agree with you, my son,' said Huey. 'She rather reminds of an animal I once encountered while hitchhiking the Americas. It was called the manatee by the locals. You will find animals of their kind along the coasts of Florida and Brazil.'
'Indeed,' Jim returned. 'I agree with that description!'
'Be careful of that woman, Jim. She can be a handful.'
'Yes. I noticed,' Jim replied. 'I shall be keeping my head low from now on. And I shall be staying far away from the Rits hotel. I would rather sleep on the streets than spend another night in that misbegotten place.'
'Your a wise man,' said Huey. Huey then slapped his rifle together and took a celebratory shot into the sky. The nearby police patrol were so impressed by the gunshot that they gave Huey a round of applause and said that he was a fine man.
'You are in a good mood today Huey?' said Jim.
'There is a very good reason for this,' said Huey. 'I am returning to the Congo next week. This is a great thing. I look upon the Congo as a second home. It is my life. Whenever I am in the Congo I feel like an alcoholic picking up a bottle of whiskey - there is this feeling about it. It feels right.'
'I thought the Congo was supposed to be the heart of darkness,' said Jim.
'It is,' Huey replied. 'And that is why I love it so much. It is the one place on the Earth mankind cannot breach and whenever he has tried to set a foothold he has been cast out. The Congo cannot be conquered by man, not with all his technology and industry. There are houses there built in the colonial days back when man tried to claim the Congo, and now those houses have all been reclaimed by the jungle.'
'Well I guess if it is your kind of thing then that is great,' said Jim.
'Why don't you come with me Jim?'
Jim didn't want to upset Huey by telling him that the thought of going to the Congo frightened the absolute jibberjabbers out of him, so instead he politely declined the delightful offer of getting lost in a savage jungle with a man he barely knew.
'It's a pity you won't go with me Jim,' said Huey. 'There is much I could show you about the Congo. The animals that lurk in the dark jungles of that region of the earth are vast and terrible. Twenty foot crocodiles, forty foot anacondas and spiders the size of men!'
'Sounds positively charming,' Jim replied.
'But that's not all,' Huey continued. 'In the depths of the Congo, in the lake Tele, there is said to be a dinosaur! The local Pygmy people know it as the Mokele-mbembe, that is Lingala for "one who stops the flow of rivers." My goal in life to find this dinosaur, and kill it.'
Are you being serious or is this a joke?' said Jim
'I never joke about such things,' Huey returned. 'Especially in matters that concern dinosaurs. I am very serious about that kind of thing. The last time I entered the Congo I search for nine days and found no sign of the beast. I was almost gored to death by a hippo, but I didn't let that stop me. The next time I return to the Congo I am going to find that dinosaur, and put an end to its existence once and for all. I will hang its hide over my front door. It will be the jewel in my crown. I will be the most famous hunter to have ever lived.'
'I thought you already were,' said Jim.
'Well i shall be even more famous than that,' said Huey. 'It's been nice talking to you, Jim. But I must be off. The Congo is ahead of me, and that dinosaur waits for nobody! Tallyho young Jim! And go careful when you walk the streets of Fenwick. You never when a stranger might be ready to tackle you to the ground. This city ios a dodgy place. But you have figured that out already.'
Jim replied saying he had, and then waved his friend Huey goodbye wishing him all the best on his Congo adventure.
As he Huey stalked away a young man with a cap and crutches started to call Jim over.
'I need to speak to you there,' said the young man. He introduced himself as Tipsy Neat, because he liked to drink neat whiskey. 'And then I get tipsy and fall over hence these old crutches here,' he explained.
'Well nice to meet you Tipsy Neat,' said Jim. 'What do you need to speak to me about?'
'I have got a message for you. Well two messages actually. One second!'
Tipsy took off his left shoe and pulled a piece of paper out of it and handed it over to Jim. 'I keep messages like that inside my shoes. That way I know I am not going to lose them. I just don't think pockets are safe. You know what I mean? I find stuff keeps falling out of my pockets, especially after a drink or two. And when I am lying in the streets drunk looters always like to steal from me and the first place they go is my pockets. But they stay away from my shoes because my shoes are so old and rotten and stinking that not even a street bum wants anything to do with them! Haha!'
Jim laughed along with the man, he liked his sense of humour, and then proceeded to read the message:
Top my darling beloved Jim,
It is I, Madam Rits. I have not forgotten our love for one another. I will search for you in the streets. I will find you. I will look everywhere! I will never stop my quest. And when j find you we will make passionate love with one another, and run away into the hills and marry and have five hundred children. It will happen I promise you my love. I will never surrender this flame I carry for you in my heart.
Madam Rits.
The letter scared Jim so much he had to tear it up right away and throw the paper shards into the drain!
Would that accursed woman never give up?
'Right I've got another message,' said Tipsy. 'Hold on one second there Jim, I'll just pop me shoe off!'
Tipsy removed his right shoe this time and handed Jim another crumpled piece of paper.
The message read:
Meet me in the street behind the Short tailed Fox.
Signed anonymous.
It was a nice short message and got straight to the point. Wonderful stuff!
Jim thanked Tipsy for his help.
'I will be going home now,' said Tipsy. 'Until next time!'
Tipsy popped his shoes back on and then hobbled away back to the pub.
Jim on the other hand made his way over to the street behind the Short Tailed Fox.
There was a tall man standing there waiting for him.
He was wearing a white coat, like an old fashioned surgeon.
It was Ivan Gustav!
Finally, Jim thought, he had found the man. Now maybe it was time to get some more G-Juice?
He so desperately needed a swig of that lovely stuff - his hands were still shaking with withdrawal symptoms!
'See you have made a name for yourself in town. Well you done,' said Ivan. 'And if I you can't tell I am actually being sarcastic,' he continued. 'You have made a hash of everything! You nearly ruined my plans. You were supposed to keep things low key! We were supposed to be doing this business in secret! And now you have somehow got the police involved! You don't know DC Peddler. The man is ruthless as he is persistent. Once you have made an enemy out of him he never let's go. Now he is involved our business may possible be ruined forever!'
'Now hang on a minute there!' Jim spoke up. 'In my defence I have no idea what is going on!' Jim had been through a lot in the last few days and he didn't appreciate this dressing down treatment from Ivan Gustav. Ever since he entered Fenwick he had been a lamb among wolves. He had no idea where to go or what to do!
But Ivan wasn't interested in his excuses.
'From now on we will communicate with this!' Ivan handed Jim a phone. 'When I call you again we will meet here in this street. But we cannot talk now because you have just left the police station and DC Peddler might be shadowing you with one of his scouts.'
Jim asked Ivan what he was supposed to do in the meantime. Jim explained that he was in a very bad situation. He was homeless and lost and Ivan just didn't seem to care! 'I have been thrown out of the Rits,' said Jim. 'I have nowhere to stay. And the police are after me. They are watching me, they said so themselves.'
'Head to the train station. Somebody there is waiting for you. That is all I am going to tell you about it.'
'Head to the train station. Somebody there is waiting for you. That is all I am going to tell you about it.'
And after that Ivan was gone, vanishing behind a wall covering a dark alley, and leaving Jim standing all alone in the street.
'Well there is nothing else for it,' Jim said to himself. 'I am going to head to the train station.'
(All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)
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