Borne to Die

By Larry Jukofsky

Though the story is fiction, the author has taken a similar trip to what is related here so powerful. In the succinctly written narrative, he accurately describes much of the scenery of the African continent, as well as the social conditions frequently encountered by travelers. The story itself is a tense, intriguing tale of revenge and murder among a group of touring physicians and their spouses as they journey from from Belgium to Kenya.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Indigo Sea Press
• Release date: Jan 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781630660772

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Borne to Die

By

Larry Jukofsky

Cut Above Books

Published by Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Kernersville

Cut Above Books

Second Wind Publishing, LLC

931-B South Main Street, Box 145

Kernersville, NC 27284

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations and events are either a product of the author’s imagination, fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any event, locale or person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2014 by Larry Jukofsky

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any format.

First Cut Above Books edition published

December, 2014.

Cut Above Books, Running Angel, and all production design are trademarks of Second Wind Publishing, used under license.

For information regarding bulk purchases of this book, digital purchase and special discounts, please contact the publisher at www.secondwindpublishing.com

Cover design by Stacy Castanedo

Manufactured in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-63066-077-2

Chapter One

This should have been one of the greatest events of my lifetime. What happened has left a scar on memories of a trip I had looked forward to all my life. The few pleasures of that experience are neutralized by the upset that occurred during the events I am about to describe. Some of this you are going to enjoy, and some will be upsetting.

Thanks to Ronald Reagan's tax program, which was the stimulus for us, being as favorable as it was, Sabena Airlines was carrying us to Brussels. We'd left New York at 11 p.m. in the evening. As you'll see, it was anything but a boring trip. I find it difficult to stay awake on long flights, much to my wife's consternation. She finds it quite impossible to sleep on plane rides. She thinks it necessary to keep me awake as well due to the fact that I snore loudly when asleep. This annoys her, particularly in public sites. As we came over land, I had no idea of the time, but it was dawning.

Fortunately we'd been assigned to two seats on the side of our section of the huge plane. There were two on one side and then six across and then two more on the other side. As you can tell, with rows of ten passengers and sections of eight or nine such rows, it was a very huge plane. I tried to count the number of rows, intending to multiply by eight to get the total number of passengers, but the rows went too far in front and to the rear. I gave up my attempted census count of passengers.

I would be quite happy to come to the end of this trip. We'd been flying for two days now. The flight from South Carolina to New York had been quite a bumpy one due to what seemed to be endless rain storms.

The idea for this trip was given us by an advertisement that was sent to U.S. physicians announcing a teaching seminar in East Africa. We'd join Kenyan physicians for lectures and visits to medical facilities. It included, as the main attraction, a photographic safari. It was the answer to a lifelong desire for such a trip on my part.

I am a semi-retired pediatrician. I use the term semi because I also work part-time in a clinic that caters to those who have no medical insurance. It's all volunteer stuff and I spend most of my time playing. My interests are fishing, golfing, and writing. My wife, Polly, also writes and gardens. In fact, she writes a column for the local paper on the subject. It all sounds utopian, doesn't it? It is, in fact!

Most of those who know me call me Doc. The reason for this is that my given name is Claudius. I have no idea what my parents were thinking when they bestowed that name upon me. The public does seem to like saying, Hello there, Claudius! Polly calls me Clo and other words of endearment. What makes things even worse is that our last name is Nutt! That exposes us to what people think are original puns, such as Nutt house, hard Nutts to crack, roasted Nutts, and so forth. Polly and I politely laugh and allow perpetrators to think how original they are.

I am five feet seven and overweight at age sixty-five. The hair is graying but still there for the most part. Presbyopia forces me to use glasses to read. Folks have told me I resemble Calvin Coolidge but with a deep cleft chin. Polly, to me at least, hasn't changed a bit since we married forty plus years ago. A few lines in her face indicate that she is older than she looks. She's tiny, about five feet tall, and weighs somewhere between ninety-five and a hundred at the most. She still exhibits the greatest figure and legs I've ever seen and is the best listener alive. It's her best social asset. She manages to learn more about everybody and everything without ever asking a question and just allowing the other person to talk. Casting agents would call her a Natalie Woods type.

Our home is on Hilton Head Island in a gated community. The island is a major tourist mecca on the eastern coast in the Sun Belt. I'd call it a Republican island in a Democratic sea caused by an influx of Northern settlers which has done away with the old solid South.

When the brochure about the trip arrived, we assessed our finances and decided to see Africa before we got too old to make the trip. Three martinis for me and two vodkas on the rocks for Polly decided the issue, and we signed up for the adventure.

The only knowledge we had about attire for this sort of outing was obtained from Tarzan movies we'd seen. Instructions along those lines arrived after we made our commitment to the organizing company with a deposit. Folders and all sorts of instructions arrived, and we outfitted ourselves accordingly. Catalogue prices were astronomical so we did the best we could locally. In those days the weight allowance on planes was somewhere in the vicinity of fifty pounds per person. That's not a lot of allowance, but at the time we took this trip that was the limit. The agency organizing this trip finally sent us suggestions in a list of what to bring. This caused us to eliminate a lot of what we had intended to pack. But we repacked and got our passports and visas in order. A leather-bound folder arrived with all the essential documents including tickets, maps, itinerary, times, dates, and even weather predictions. Carry-on bags had the tour company name printed on both sides. The flight from South Carolina to New York was uneventful except for a bouncy ride. After landing there, we discovered that we had a seven-hour wait before the Sabena flight across the Atlantic. Fortunately I was a member, and we were able to spend the time in the Delta Crown Room. We made ourselves comfortable in that sybaritic atmosphere, which is better than wandering around a terminal for seven hours. Unfortunately over that period of time we finished most of the reading material we'd brought for the flight to Europe.

At 9:30 a.m. the front desk alerted us that it was time to go to our assigned gate. We had the girl at the desk summon a driver of those carts that go up and down terminal halls, thinning the density of pedestrians by diverting them to the sides. He loaded our luggage for us and drove us to our gate. There we met our tour director, Stella Cortland. She was a short girl and very attractive. I guessed she was about in her late twenties or early thirties. She was directing her charges, standing in front of the Sabena counter.

Check your bags through to Nairobi. We'll be spending the night in Brussels so be sure to pack your overnight necessities in your carry-ons.

Now why hadn't they told us that beforehand? We had to open our suitcases right there in the terminal lobby and pack the carry-ons with what we'd need for the overnight stay. We were given tags with our names printed in big letters, along with the tour company’s name. We wore these so the guide could easily spot us in crowds. I was reminded of the ankle bracelets put on the newborns in hospital nurseries except that ours were worn on collars. Stella informed us that we'd be boarding in less an hour. I spotted a bar across from where we were assembled and informed Stella we'd be in there. Our luggage was put in a large pile with the others that were apparently in our group for the trip to Africa.

Another couple, wearing tags such as we had put on, was seated at the bar.

Hi there! We' re the Browns. I'm Ralph and she's Louella!

I'm Claudius and this is Polly. Last name is Nutt!

Risky name for introductions! Brown's nice and common.

No problem. We've heard all the cliches about Nutt as a name. Everybody thinks they're original. I went to medical school with a guy whose name was the same as yours. We used to call him ‘Old Do It Up.’

Touche, if one is needed. We're from Cairo. That's the one in Illinois.

We figured to confuse the natives in Africa, said Louella Brown.

She was not overly attractive and had a habit of looking furtively elsewhere while speaking, as if seeking a different audience. She gave me the impression that she thought someone was following her. Her husband, Ralph, was thin with a small penciled mustache and thinning brown hair. He wore two hearing aids as well. Later Polly whispered to me that Louella must have dressed herself out of a Sears’ catalogue. Both seemed to be about our ages.

How many in this group, Doc? I asked.

Far as I know, about eight couples. Plus a guide! That makes seventeen in all. I'm in pediatrics in Cairo, by the way.

Me too in South Carolina. Probably not as active as you are, though.

I gotta stay active if we're gonna do this sort of thing.

More I get into it, the more expensive it's turning out to be!

You don't sound too Southern!

Carpet bagging Yankee originally.

Polly spoke for the first time since meeting the Browns.

I hope the weather is as good as it says in the brochure. I never seem to pack correctly for any trip we take.

We were lucky. We knew a couple who'd done this before, and they told us exactly what to bring. You're supposed to pack as if you were going on a cross-country bus tour in the U.S., said Louella.

Polly laughed at that. We're probably going to look like a high school group in uniforms on a class trip.

Other arrivals appeared at the bar wearing the same collar tags. Apparently we were all pediatricians. Two of the new arrivals wore tags with names that did not end the same and obviously were not married, at least not to each other. I shuddered to think that the others in