Henry The Honey Badger (eBook)

Back from the Dead

Themistocles Jacks (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
326 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-8396-0 (ISBN)

Infos

It's the end of the rainy season in the tiny African republic of Malinda. Henry has spent most of the season with his people creature friends at Elspeth Christiaan's remote shamba, but he's getting antsy. Henry feels that he's losing his edge, so he heads out to the wild bush for a dose of danger... and he finds it! As so often happens in Malinda, there is a healthy dose of courage, honesty, repentance, mercy, and romance.

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It's the end of the season of rain in the tiny African republic of Malinda. Henry has spent most of the season with his people creature friends at Elspeth Christiaan's remote shamba in the wild bush country of the Northern District. But Henry is getting antsy. And as everyone knows, it's not good when a honey badger gets antsy. Henry feels that he's losing his edge and heads out to the wild bush for a dose of danger. And he finds it. The land is flooded, and the widespread presence of crocodiles makes travel a problem - especially to the Reserve of the Ancients where only the naked Forest People may go. Of course, not being subject to people creature laws and treaties, elephants may go there, too. Technically, poachers may not, but they pay no attention to laws. However, they don't count on being discovered by a Long Range Reconnaissance Honey Badger, and Henry catches them in the act. Things get violent and Henry gets shot by a poacher with a heavy rifle. But Henry has friends who go after the poachers, and things get very violent. Henry isn't the only one on the move. Patti the Stewardess returns to Malinda. A remarkable eccentric, an engineer and physician, Patti arrives just in time to operate on Henry and save his life. Meanwhile, the megayacht Sun King, on a spy mission to track Australian submarines is another setting for treachery and mayhem and murder. But all is not lost, and as so often happens in Malinda, there is a healthy dose of courage, honesty, repentance, mercy and romance.

Textauszug

Chapter 8

 

Henry was enjoying every minute of being a honey badger living wild and free. He had come across several receptive female honey badgers, and being what female honey badgers call a “studmuffin,” had made the girls quite happy. He had dined on fish and crabs and other seasonal delicacies, and had even managed to kill and eat a young crocodile. But now he set his sights even higher. On birds in flight.

 

Henry had climbed a tree to do some of what his Uncle Apollo had called “pondering.” Henry remembered his uncle teaching him about it.”

 

“Henry, pondering is very different from mentalizing. Mentalizing is when you’re concentrating on figuring out something. It’s hard work and will tire you. Pondering is not working at all. It’s restful. It’s when you empty your mind and let thoughts come on their own. You wait for the thoughts like you wait for rain. They’ll come, but you can’t hurry them up.”

 

Uncle Apollo, probably the wisest honey badger ever to bite the head off a mamba, also told Henry that pondering was impossible for him. “You young idiots are far too fidgety. You won’t be able to ponder for a couple of years.”

 

Uncle Apollo had been correct. It was several years before Henry learned the secret of pondering: stillness of mind and body.

 

Pondering was best done in the relative safety of the top of a tree. While pondering, Henry emptied his mind and filtered out all sensory input except what indicated danger or food. The food indication this day was a steady flight of green pigeons between the tree he was in and another tree ten yards away. Henry had witnessed Cecil and Loku shoot birds on the wing with their shotguns. Cecil never missed. Henry decided to try hunting birds in flight. He perched on a high limb and waited. When a pigeon flew past, he leapt at it. And missed it by ten feet. As everyone knows, honey badgers are persistent. He climbed back up and waited for another pigeon. One came. He leapt. And missed by ten feet. Again, he leapt. Again, he missed. Henry was persistent, but he wasn’t stupid. Or insane. He thought, According to Einstein, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Unable to mentalize the flaw in his technique, Henry climbed back up the tree to do some more pondering.

 

*****

Patti the Stewardess was doing some pondering, as well. What to do next? What to do next? She stood on the porch of her Airstream and looked up at the stars in the clear Texas sky. She opened her hands and said aloud, “How can I be useful? Got any ideas, Lord?” Then, she went inside to sleep on it.

 

 

*****

 

Elspeth and Marea watched Cassandra and Major Riley walk away from the house.

 

Elspeth said, “She’s an extraordinary young woman.”

 

Marea said, “Major Riley seems to think so.”

 

Elspeth said, “Don’t you?”

 

Marea patted the old woman’s hand. “Oh, I do! I think she is wonderful. So smart, so helpful, so fearless!”

 

Elspeth laughed. “Yes, fearless. I noticed you were happy to let her climb up onto the roof to fix leaks.”

 

Marea smiled. “I did it before she came, but I’ve never liked heights.”

 

They heard a gunshot.

 

Elspeth said, “Sighting in the new rifle Riley bought her before they go hunting. Isn’t that romantic?”

 

Marea said, “I think it is. Riley didn’t like seeing her get a black eye from the scope on your rifle, so he bought her one with a stock that fits her. It was very sweet of him.”

 

They heard another gunshot.

 

Elspeth said, “Major Riley is a fine young man with a fine future ahead of him.”

 

Marea said, “Yes, if he doesn’t get killed.”

 

Elspeth nodded. “He’s the tip of the spear. And we need men like him.”

 

Marea said, “Yes, we do.”

 

They heard a third gunshot.

 

Elspeth said, “That’s the last one. The major believes it shouldn’t take more than three shots to zero a rifle scope. The next shot will be for meat.”

 

Marea said, “They do make a striking couple, don’t they?”

 

Elspeth said, “Yes, they do. So tall. He is handsome, and she is… I can’t say she’s pretty, but she is dignified and has a fiercely honest and intelligent face.”

 

Marea said, “She is statuesque, with the lean body of a cheetah. I think she’s beautiful.” She chuckled. “And so does Riley.”

 

The old woman said, “I believe the word Riley used was ‘magnificent.’”

 

Marea said, “I agree with him.”

 

Elspeth said, “When she came to live with us, I wasn’t sure if she would adjust to life here. But she did, and did it so quickly, learning to hunt and cook on a wood fire.”

 

Marea said, “She never complains about her losses. She was a lawyer in America, and she is studying Malindan law. She insisted I speak Malindo with her, and she is now, if not fluent, quite proficient. She dresses in the traditional manner.”

 

Elspeth said, “Her fluency in Arabic was a surprise to everyone. Her ability to translate Henry’s recordings of Orzo the Abyssinian’s terrorist cell led to its destruction.”

 

Marea said, “She saved hundreds of lives.”

 

Elspeth said, “She is so pleasant. She cooks, she cleans, she plays beautiful music for us on her viola. I have grown to love her. You love her, too, don’t you?”

 

Marea said, “I do love her. She’s like the daughter I never had. And a good friend, too. She’s been a tremendous help with my book, proof reading and suggesting edits.”

 

Elspeth said, “And a comrade-in-arms in Ghost Force.”

 

Marea laughed. “Yes, can you imagine us in Ghost Force? She grew up in a city and says she much prefers living here and crawling through the bush after kidnappers than her old desk job at the FBI in Washington.”

 

Elspeth said, “You, Cassandra and Danger Dan are heroes for rescuing Mercy Botshelo from the kidnappers.”

 

Marea said, “We did what we had to do, but we mustn’t forget that Henry was the real hero there.”

 

*****

 

Henry was deep in pondering when the answer drifted into his mind. He recalled Cecil explaining that the trick to hitting a flying bird is not to shoot where the bird is, but rather to lead the target and shoot where the bird will be when the shot gets there. Henry thought, It’s just a time, speed, distance problem. So, if I’m always ten feet behind the bird, I’ll just aim ten feet in front of him.

 

He took his position and waited. Two pigeons came whizzing through. He launched himself toward a space ten feet in front of the first bird and caught it in his jaws. It was a small bird and Henry swallowed it whole before landing in another nearby tree. Ahh! he thought, Inflight refueling!

 

He climbed to the top of that tree and waited for another flight of pigeons. Score! Over and over again, he leapt between trees, snagging a succulent pigeon every time. Then, a flight of more than a dozen pigeons sailed through. Henry caught one in his mouth and speared one with the claws on his left paw. He was elated. A double on pigeons my first day!

 

While he was busy feasting in one tree, a leopard silently climbed the other tree and waited.

 

*****

 

The naked man waited for the storm to pass. At first light, he left his cave to check on his boat. In the dim morning light, he could hardly believe his good fortune. The Mana’olana was untouched by the storm. And flotsam and jetsam had washed up on the beach, including a tangled fishing net with a long nylon line attached, an Igloo 165 quart cooler, and a battered paddleboard. With his newfound treasures, he estimated that he could get the Mana’olana ready to sail in a week or two.

 

*****

 

If she waited a week or two, the airfare would have been cheaper, but Patti the Stewardess was quite wealthy and saw no reason to put off the trip simply to save money, especially at her age. She had gone to sleep unsure of what to do next, and awakened at dawn with no doubt.

 

She made herself a cappuccino and walked to the second Airstream trailer where she did her sewing and kept special things. On one wall were pictures from her past, of her parents and brothers, all gone now except for Deke. There was a framed photo of her sister Mollie, a Down syndrome child, the baby of the family. Mollie loved animals. She was fearless and would pick up anything: insect, bird or mammal. She had been stung by scorpions so many times she would just walk in the kitchen, point to where she had been stung and say, “Scorpion bit Mollie again.” Mollie’s photo had been taken the day before Patti left on her post college graduation trip to Europe. The roll of Kodachrome was not developed until Patti returned home. And that was two weeks after Mollie had been buried.

 

There were several photos from her Air Force days. Most of them featured a handsome fighter pilot. Her favorite was of Steve and her in their flight suits and helmets standing next to a T-37 “Tweety Bird” primary jet trainer. Their callsigns were emblazoned on their...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.1.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-8396-8 / 1667883968
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-8396-0 / 9781667883960