Post Cards From The East

By Matt Sorensen

Three stories of Borneo and India.

In BANSING, an Iban girl nurses a British agent and becomes a catalyst to bring about Iban involvement in WW-II.

In RITE OF PASSAGE A young Iban must choose between life in his longhouse or the larger world of a Communist takeover.

NIRVANA: In this erotic tale with a surprise twist, an Indian chela finds Nirvana is not quite what he expected

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matt Sorensen
• Release date: Dec 21, 2010
• ISBN: 9781458147349

Matt Sorensen

Matt Sorensen is a pseudonym. It's taken from my Danish grandfather's first name (Matthias) and my grandmother's maiden name (Sorensen). They were proud, hardworking immigrants like the ones talked about in chapter 5 of my book "In the Bowl of Night." I was born in 1933 and served in the Navy during the Korean War. I write technical articles under my real name, Paul Honore', and fiction under my pseudonym. People ask me. "Why?" It's explained in my Smashwords interview.

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Post Cards From The East

3 - Short Stories by Matt Sorensen

*Bansing

*Rite of Passage

*Nirvana

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2010 Matt Sorensen

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Bansing

by Matt Sorensen

For my friend Bansing anak Usah

January, 1942. Japanese naval forces have control of the South China Sea and The Imperial Japanese Army under the command of General Yamashita is rapidly advancing throughout Malaya and has begun the occupation of Borneo.

15 January, Marut longhouse, Sarawak Borneo.

Bansing awoke with a start. He sat up and stared into emptiness, listening. There was only the sound of rain on the thatched roof of the longhouse, The headman’s daughter, Mayang, lay beside him, her naked body dimly outlined against the glow of embers from an all but extinct fire. her firm young breasts rising and falling to the rhythm of her breathing. Bansing ran his hand over her thigh and whispered some words to her but she turned away. He lay back and closed his eyes. He could feel the warmth of her beside him and the ache of longing,

They had grown up together in the cloistered longhouse community, playing as children under the watchful eyes of the tua-emok. As teenagers, they swam in the river, walked together in the forest, and enjoyed the company of their peers. Lately, a subtle change had come to alter their relationship. Mayang had grown distant; less familiar; mysterious. She had metamorphosed from an awkward girl into a graceful young woman. Bansing found the change exciting and he mustered the courage to propose the pre-marital game of nyap. Her response was non-committal but he took it for encouragement.

He made his way in the dark to where she lay, creeping past elders and siblings so as not to awaken them. According to the ancient and unwritten rules of the game, they feigned sleep and he imagined himself silent as he moved clumsily past in lustful anticipation. At first, Mayang welcomed his advances but after a brief attempt at intercourse, her passion cooled. She seemed to lose interest and pushed him away.

Rejected, Bansing wanted to run from the longhouse; to bathe in the cool river and purge himself of the fever that was burning within, but if he were to leave too soon, his failure to consummate would be joked among the men of the village to complete his humiliation. The hours passed slowly as he waited; Mayang so near; so distant.

A cock crowed and then another.