Tropical Heat Wave

By Dean Alleyne

But Pam is caught between her husband with whom she is not in love, Dennis and Sidney a friend with whom she had a brief relationship before meeting Dennis. Pam is ready to break free of her horrible marriage but has to decide whether it will be Dennis or Sidney she settles for.
But, unknown to her, her very good friend June is also making a bid for Sidney with whom she claims she had something going before Pam. She now sees Pam not as a friend but as a serious competitor and sets out on revenge grail which sees her spilling the beans on Pam and doing all it takes to prevent her getting close to Sidney. This boiling cauldron of deceit, disappointment and intrigue comes to a head in a volcanic outburst at the airport in Barbados where Pam declares her hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dean Alleyne
• Release date: Apr 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476479811

Dean Alleyne

Dr Dean Alleyne was born in St Andrew, Barbados and educated at The Alleyne School, St Andrew and Harrison College, St Michael. After four years teaching, he moved to England where he completed a BA degree in Geography at Birkbeck College, London before resuming his career in teaching. He later completed an MEd at the University of Keele and after retiring as a head of a secondary school, successfully completed a Doctorate in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London.

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Tropical Heat Wave

by Dean Alleyne

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 Dean Alleyne

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Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements

• Shotgun Wedding

• Loveless Marriage

• Behold Venus

• The Square Mile

• Horizontal Intentions

• On The Wings Of Love

• Burning Desire

• Vortex of Passion

• Shattered Melody

• Devine Intervention

• June Unleashed

• Love Is In The Air

• Reignited Flame

• Secret Rendezvous

• Furious Aftermath

• Sharing The Moment

• Lover’s Masquerade

• Revenge Grail

• Distress Signal

• House Hunting

• Moving On

• Woman Of Courage

• Two Years Wait

• Together At Last

• Burying The Hatchet

• Garden of Love

• Seeds Of A Happy Marriage

• Blissful Couple

• Bittersweet Honeymoon

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank a few friends without whose support, encouragement and inspiration, this novel might not have come about. I am especially indebted to John Prince of London UK, a friend and fellow head teacher, for his inspiration and literary guidance; to Len and Marion Ray of Watford UK for their unfailing encouragement; to Maya Cochrane of London UK for providing the technical expertise in what has been my entry into self-publishing; to Carol McClary of Alberta, Canada for her objective opinion and advice as I wrote each chapter. Finally, a special thanks to Angela and Kathie and all the staff at Airdrie Public Library, Alberta, Canada for their unfailing support and assistance.

Shotgun Wedding

A cool afternoon breeze ruffled the curtains through the open windows in a house in suburban Bridgetown. Its presence brought welcome relief to those inside suffering under the intense heat of a mid-afternoon Caribbean sun. The grandfather’s clock in the corner struck four, as Dennis, dressed in a crisp, dark-grey suit, stiffly starched white shirt and mottled tie, supported with a shining pair of black shoes, emerged from one bedroom accompanied by a tall man wearing a dark suit and with an expression that bordered on a grin. Within five minutes Susan, wearing a modest white wedding dress with a shoulder length veil, emerged from another room also accompanied. They met in the sitting-room to be married by the head of the Pentecostal Church in Barbados: a short, burly character who found it difficult to break a smile across a face that seemed as rigid as if set in Plaster-of-Paris. He was the kind of man known to run the Pentecostal churches like a dictator and would usually be seen visiting a rural church whenever there was a dispute.

The sitting room was modestly furnished with two double cane-bottomed mahogany chairs and three singles all having white laced doilies. In the corner opposite the grandfather’s clock was an indoor palm which reflected the rays of the mid-afternoon sun falling softly on its green leaves wafting gently in the cooling breeze. In another corner was a small desk on which stood a small pile of books, while in the center was a mahogany table on which sat the book containing the marriage precepts.

Apart from Susan’s mother, a woman of about forty-six, bespectacled and neatly dressed as you would expect the mother of the bride to be, the only others present were these two men in dark suits - witnesses Dennis soon realized - whom he had never seen before. It was as though they were plucked from the air. This caused him some concern for he kept saying to himself, Who are these men? Where did they come from? He seemed more concerned about this than by the fact that he was about to be plunged into the unknown.

Susan was eighteen and Dennis twenty, but even at this stage, there was no inner voice whispering to them that they loved one another. Yet in less than thirty minutes, they were husband and wife. Within another hour, they were in a small self-catering beach house in Bathsheba on east coast Barbados to honeymoon. It was one of eight beach houses all painted grey and white and made of timber and each with its veranda looking out to sea. Only a narrow tarmac road separated the houses from the beach which formed part of the sprawling crescent-shaped bay of Bathsheba, washed by Atlantic breakers driven in by prevailing Trade Winds from the east.

But what should have been a happy moment was already beginning to cause Dennis much mental turmoil, for he seemed to have no control over what was going on or the pace at which it had all taken place. A pang of restless worry seized him forcing him to ask himself:

"Who bought my suit? How did they know my size? And who were those two men who were the witnesses? Where did they suddenly appear from? And who is it that arranged this honeymoon and beach house? There seemed no answers to these questions as Dennis found himself swept along in a current from which he had no escape.

It was mid-afternoon the next day. The azure blue of the sky was only momentarily broken by the occasional wisp of high cirrus cloud driven on by high altitude winds. Dennis sat in the veranda with his feet on the bannister and crossed at the ankles, looking out at the foam crested waves rolling to the shore as he tried desperately to bring some kind of meaning to what had happened.

Susan and Dennis had stumbled into each other less than a year before. The mid-morning tropical sunshine was already making its presence felt as he did his usual twice-weekly run on an almost deserted sandy beach, pausing momentarily to maximize his intake of sea air infused with the raw smell of seaweed. In the distance and approaching fast was another jogger: short, about 5ft 2ins. As the gap between them grew smaller, her slender body grew larger revealing a shape accentuated by a tight fitting swimsuit that responded colorfully in the sunshine falling gently on her wet ebony skin.

They crossed each other with a quick hello carried on an inviting look. Within twenty seconds, the splashing sound of jogging feet on damp sand suddenly ceased as Dennis pulled up, turned and gazed steadfastly at the moving figure disappearing in the distance. He gathered a few pebbles in his hand and commenced throwing them out to sea as he pondered.

"I wonder who is she and where is she from? I have never seen her on this beach before. Perhaps if I time it well I might see her here again tomorrow".

Next day, the beach was again almost deserted and Dennis was rewarded with a scene in which they were the only two players, for there she was on her run. Fired up with imagination, he asked and was allowed to join her.

I have not seen you here before, are you from around these parts? asked Dennis, his voice now jerking with every stride.

"No, I am from St George but I am here spending some time with my aunt.

As you know, St George is a parish without any sea, and I love the sea," she replied, now seeming as anxious as Dennis to strike up a conversation.

It soon became obvious that for conversation to run smoothly they would have to stop jogging. Lying on the sand facing each other, they allowed the ebb and flow of gentle waves to envelop them, conversation now flowing as smoothly as the waves lapping their bodies, as they made figures with their fingers in the soft sand only to be repeatedly washed away by receding ripples. It was an experience completely new to Dennis who, like Susan, seemed caught up with infatuation. Unknown to them, their lives were about to take a turn. A new chapter was about to be written.

They met several times after, but soon realized that, to allow themselves to fall in love, would do neither of them any good. Family background and deeply entrenched social traits and custom meant it would be better to end this episode as quickly as it had started. Dennis had had a first class education and had planned one day to enter the teaching profession. Susan on the other hand, had only managed to complete a primary school education. But, in the excitement generated by two young and inexperienced people, Susan became pregnant. They both knew they were not in love. But Susan’s mother saw Dennis as a good catch for her daughter, a catch not to be missed.

Dennis removed his feet slowly from the bannister and got himself another beer. He took three sips and tilted the chair on its hind legs allowing his head to rest on the wall. He was in pensive mood as he kept his eyes focused on the large rock standing majestically out of the water like a giant mushroom, less than 100 meters from the shore. Maybe he was fascinated by the white spray towering high into the air with every wave that crashed against it.

"What have I done? What am I doing here? What am I doing married? How did this all happen? Okay, I know she is pregnant, but how could I be so stupid as to get married even without the full knowledge of my parents? I am not even in love with her. My friends are still free to do what they like and here am I, a married man," he pondered.

While in this heated pensive mood, Susan joined him carrying a bottle of lemonade. She poured it into a glass with ice and propped up against the bannister in front of him. A quick glance at his expressionless face made hers tightened, for she felt his thoughts were not encouraging. Dennis allowed the two front legs of the chair to return firmly on the floor and took two more sips of beer.

Holding his head in his hands, he leaned forward allowing it to settle on the bannister. He closed his eyes for a moment to slow down the flow of emotions this hasty marriage had set in motion.

"I was just here thinking that we really don’t know much about each other and here we are married. Do you really think we ought to be married Susan?" he asked, looking somewhat baffled.

Susan drank half her lemonade and then looked at him with half a grin.

What? Are you scared? Are you suddenly thinking I am not good enough for you? Perhaps you are thinking you should have waited and married one of your girlfriends from school, you know, one of those educated ones. But it isn’t my fault I didn’t go to secondary school. I didn’t have a chance because my mother was often sick for long periods of time leaving me as the oldest to look after my three younger sisters. Not everybody is as lucky as you.

Dennis merely shrugged his shoulders as he kept his eyes focused on the large rock. Like other young men, he found pleasure in dating a variety of girls: all intelligent, all pretty. But this was truncated when Susan became pregnant. It was a situation to change the course of his life, for while he had no alternative but to accept fatherhood, he certainly did not feel quite ready to embrace marriage. He felt he had done a great injustice to Susan who was not unattractive for she had an amazing figure. Any man would desire her physically quite strongly, but she lacked confidence.

As a young man just entering the teaching profession, he was expected to marry Susan, for not to do so would mean sacrificing his job with no chances of entering any other division of the government service. This was particularly significant in Barbados where a narrow based economy meant limited job opportunities. Most young men, having completed secondary school successfully, would aspire to a job in one of the government services. But it was also a time when the Anglican Church had immense control over education and schools. The vicar could hire and fire.

The marriage was an event carried out without the prior knowledge of his parents until the very day of the wedding. Dennis did not love Susan. He saw themselves as mere pawns in a game played out by Susan’s mother and uncle - a game facilitated by a code of practice enforced by the church. But with or without any code of practice by the church, Dennis found it difficult to accept the overwhelming reality of marriage.

"Although I want to free myself from this seeming stranglehold, I would still like to see her move on from just being a village girl," he thought quietly to himself.

Loveless Marriage

The tide of emigration sweeping the Caribbean had reached Barbados from where many young man and women were leaving to start a new life in the UK or Canada. Dennis himself had plans to go to Canada to further his studies. All this triggered a number of thoughts in his mind.

"What if I could persuade her to join her sister in England where she could attend evening classes to obtain basic qualifications to improve her career chances? I could then join my brother in Canada and enter the University of Manitoba to do a first degree."

In his naivety, Dennis was hoping that the distance between them would eventually lead to a collapse of the marriage, but also that Susan would be free to pursue her own interests. He was wrong, for although Susan was eventually persuaded to go to England, his side of the plan to go to Canada fell through. He failed to satisfy all the requirements demanded by the country of destination, leaving him no alternative but to reluctantly join her in England less than a year later. It was here over the next four years that he completed a degree in Geography at the University of London on a part-time basis.

But the move to England had only widened the gap between them. Each had different values and expectations seemingly incompatible. She preferred the blue-collar sector of employment. Dennis was intent on asserting himself in the world of academia. Such was the gap that any attempt at sensible conversation often ended up in aggressive verbal confrontation. They were on divergent paths. Quietly they both wanted to break free.

The marriage, now destined to fail, was falling apart within four years of arriving in England. Dennis often felt that for Susan, it would have been better if she had been married to the kind of man prepared to do a day’s work, go home, eat and settle down to the TV until bedtime. He didn’t see himself that kind of man. Instead, he saw himself prepared to do literally anything to realize his dreams. They were now poles apart. Nothing short of a miracle could close that gap. Physical gratification in the bedroom had slumped to an almighty low. They were now together but without togetherness. Conversation, of which there was very little, had almost dried up, eventually giving way to the occasional grunt. There were times Dennis actually felt sorry for her, although he also sensed she was as frustrated as him. She wanted out as much as he did but neither of them had the courage to say so. Instead, Susan in her frustration thought,

"I must find a way of showing him he is no better than me." She was in search of an equalizer.

It was a hot summer day in July. Temperatures exceeded 25ºC. Dennis had just returned from Montreal where he had attended a one week course on ‘motivation and salesmanship.’ The late July afternoon sunshine was making its way forcefully through the west window into the small box room on the upper floor. Here was his study. On one side were shelves filled with books drawn from the world of education and a wide range of subjects. On another was a large map of the world. As he sat with his back to the door compiling a report on his trip, he would occasionally raise his head to glance at the elm on the pavement now reaching pass his window. He would spend much time gazing at its leaves displaying shades of green in the sunlight, and listening to the chatter and laughter of small children riding their bikes up and down on the pavement below. But, feeling she was approaching, he turned. There she was standing in the doorway, her hands extended upward against both posts. Their eyes met with a blank expression. There was no how did the trip go. Instead, she made her way with a sense of purpose across the room and parked herself on the corner of his desk. This prompted Dennis to quickly say to himself:

"That’s odd, she has never done this before!"

This was not the kind of thing she would normally do. It drew some concern from him but he remained quiet, knowing not what to anticipate. She took a deep breath and folded her arms.

I have something to say to you that you might not want to hear, she said in a kind of monotone.

Dennis pushed his chair from the table and positioned himself where he could see her face clearly.

Oh, that sounds ominous, anxiety beginning to creep in with every heartbeat.

I was picked up for shop-lifting. The words came out terse and dry and from a face that was expressionless. Dennis either pretended he didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear. He put his pen down and pushed the papers on which he was working toward the back of the desk.

What did you say? he asked calmly but in a state of total bewilderment.

You heard me. I said I was picked up for shoplifting, she said, this time slightly louder and with an expression as though she expected him to respond with a barrage of verbal abuse. Instead, he gritted his teeth although his blood began to boil. But with every sinew in his body, he remained perfectly calm. He looked at her firmly with a furrowed brow.

What made you do such a thing? he asked in a slow measured voice.

Susan got up from the corner of the table and made her way to the door. As she did so, she turned, and with a face now impregnated with an extra supply of blood, bellowed:

What made me do such a thing? What do you think? You are the educated one, can’t you work it out? her voice rising by an extra decibel.

Work out what? he asked in a state of total disbelief.

You never thought I was good enough for you. I don’t even know why we got married. I could have brought up my child on my own, she retorted.

You know as well as I do why we had to get married, he replied maintaining calm composure.

Why? Was it because if you didn’t, the vicar would not allow you to teach in any of his schools? What I know is that I will never forgive my uncle for this, because it was he who forced my parents to make you marry to me. Perhaps I felt something at first, but I always knew you didn’t love me. I always knew you preferred one of those more educated girls, or perhaps even my mother. Yes, don’t think I didn’t notice the way she looks at you and treats you. After all, she still looks attractive. Seems to me I got the ring but she probably wanted you for herself. Since we came to England things have got worse. To tell you the truth, I don’t even recognize you as my husband. What’s the use being married to you?

Dennis straightened himself in his chair and with narrowed eyes under a deep frown, shot an astonished look at her.

What? You mean that is what you were thinking all the while? How disgusting! Your mother would be appalled to hear this. So is that why you did such a stupid thing just to vent your frustration? remarked Dennis.

No, but because I want you to know how it feels to be just an ordinary person leading an ordinary life like me, yes, like me. Who knows, you might even get a job on the buses or on the trains. You will then know that not everything is in a book. You pay more attention to books than to me. Well, Mr. high and mighty book-man, what are you going to say to your friends now? One of us had to do something, but strange enough, you couldn’t find the answer. Could you?

She laughed. It was dry. It was an empty and menacing laugh.

"You see, it’s not in the