Stories of Adventure and Misadventure

By Shirley Burgess

Stories of Adventure and Misadventure is a collection of diverse narratives telling of unexpected perils that families or individuals have to deal with, such as: sheltering from a bushfire, a murder mystery that a postman discovers on his rounds, someone thrown into an unexpected divorce, brave rescues from dogs and a hazardous escape from high up in the north tower after the plane had struck it in 9/11. In this tale, our protagonist is blind!

There are several stories where the heroes are man’s best friend. Dogs have won this term by giving us unstinting love, their only reward being a pat or perhaps best of all, a boisterous play with them. In other words, to show some love back, and yet they are capable of saving our lives. How’s that for a friend? As Josh Billings put it, ‘A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than himself.’

Among the stories is an account showing how Sir Nicholas Winton rescued over six hundred children in Czechoslovakia before the advance of the cruel Nazi regime, told through the eyes of two fictitious children’s characters.

All the stories are designed to be full of action from the first sentence to the last. These sixteen are taken from a collection of 89 stories by the author when she was in her mid-eighties and she enjoyed writing them very much.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Sep 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781925666540

Shirley Burgess

Shirley Burgess grew up in Strathfield, NSW. She attended Burwood High School and completed a Business College course in Melbourne; hence all her jobs were secretarial except for an interruption for two years as a Wireless Telegraphist in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) - quite the most fascinating job she ever had.At Burwood High Shirley had a dedicated English teacher who automatically gave all her students a mini-writing-course. That eventually fired Shirley up to write a series of short stories - long after she entered her eighties! With no incentive other than 'to become a published author' she joined a writing group then entered a competition and won it.Since then she has published eighty short stories and poems, plus a story that wouldn't fit into the constraints of short story word counts - It's a Long Way to Aunty May - which became her first book.Shirley has found the world of writing a place of help and friendship, support and encouragement from day one, and enjoys all the fun it produces.

Book preview

Stories of

ADVENTURE &

MISADVENTURE

SHIRLEY BURGESS

This is an IndieMosh book

brought to you by MoshPit Publishing

an imprint of Mosher’s Business Support Pty Ltd

PO BOX 147

Hazelbrook NSW 2779

indiemosh.com.au

Copyright 2017 © Shirley Burgess

All rights reserved

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ALSO BY SHIRLEY BURGESS

It’s a Long Way to Aunty May

A novel

~ * FICTION * ~

1: ANDY’S BEST MATE

What atrocious weather, Andy thought, as he drove away from his brother Bill’s funeral in Sydney, made all the worse for reminding him of his wife, Bonnie, and her funeral, only three months earlier. Bill had given him good support then, and Andy was depressed with his memories.

After about two hours driving slowly through cold heavy rain and a headwind, he was nearly home to his potato farm in the Southern NSW Highlands, when he bumped over a railway crossing, automatically looking each way up and down the line.

‘What’s that?’ he said, pulling up sharply. He walked back to the crossing, and about five metres down the line he saw a bundle of fur. At first he thought something must have been run over, but then noticed a little movement. It was a small dog, caught in the points that directed the cargo trucks to a siding at the nearby station. Probably sniffing around when the points were changed, he thought. As he approached, the dog started to move, frantically trying to lift his front paw from its imprisonment.

‘No, no mate,’ said Andy, ‘you’ll only make it worse pulling it up like that. Let me slide it down here where the other rail finishes. We’ll release it that way, but it’ll probably hurt.’

The dog yelped in pain but Andy, frowning with the effort, was able to free the leg. ‘There you are; now off you go. Look – the light’s just changed to green, so we’d both better get out of here pronto. We don’t want to argue with a train mate. Shoo!’

The dog didn’t move, standing there in shock, shivering in the cutting wind with its sore leg held suspended from the ground.

‘Hmm. You won’t walk far on that. What can I do with you? You can’t stay here, that’s for sure.’ There was only one thing he could do; he picked up the cold, wet dog carefully, put him inside his coat and walked back towards his car.

The dog snuggled into this warm spot, and Andy felt as though he had a cold compress seeping through the layers of his warm clothing. As Andy reached the car, the crossing signals went crazy. Mesmerised, he stopped to watch an engine, towing several trucks, rattle right over the spot where the dog had been held captive and he gave an involuntary shudder.

Settled on the front seat with a couple of old towels tucked round him, the dog went straight to sleep. He was still asleep when they arrived home, and only stirred to make a better position for himself when Andy placed him in front of a big fire inside. Andy checked the leg again. No, not broken, but this was one exhausted dog.

After a good hot meal and shower, Andy was ready for bed himself. He put a big bowl of milk and one of water near the dog, stoked the fire, and fell into bed at last.

~ * ~

Something woke him early in the morning. It was the dog licking his hand. ‘Hi dog. Better this morning?’ He went into his lounge room to stoke up the fire for the day. ‘I see you’ve polished off the milk, and even had some water. Try some of my leftover stew, I can recommend it.’

He watched that disappear in record time, and, patting the dog, asked what he would call him. ‘How about Bill, my brother’s name? Does that suit?’

The dog stood on his three legs looking at him with slowly wagging tail, anxious to be part of Andy’s conversation. ‘I’ll take that as a yes. Hello Bill. You’re pretty cute, aren’t you?’

Andy showed him to his nearest neighbours, his friends Meg and Tod Mathews, telling them the whole story. ‘He can come along next market day when I take my stuff. Someone there is bound to take him home.’

‘Why don’t you keep him, Andy? I love his white, black and tan colouring.’

‘No, too much to look after, Meg, he’ll be better off with someone else.’

~ * ~

Market day was always the first Saturday of the month, and, leg now mended completely, Bill was happy to come along. ‘Anyone want him?’ he asked the other stallholders.

Betsy, a pretty hefty stall owner, ambled over. She patted Bill but he backed away from her. ‘How much do you want for him?’

Andy looked down at Bill and saw the dog’s eyes full of anxiety, staring steadily at him. Andy was sure Bill knew exactly what was happening. Without understanding why, Andy changed his mind. ‘Well, p’raps I do need a guard dog after all, Betsy,’ he grinned.

‘That little tyke – a guard dog? You must be joking.’ Everyone, including Andy, had a good laugh but Andy rubbed Bill’s furry ears, glad of his decision.

At home he said to Bill, ‘My wife, Bonnie, would have approved, I know she would. She’d have had fun with you around,’ and promptly gave himself a lump in his throat at the memories.

~ * ~

Time passed, and Bill was always nearby when Andy worked, sniffing at everything importantly, treating the chooks with indifference. Somehow Bill always knew when market day came around and Andy realised he couldn’t do without his company now.

~ * ~

One day Meg Matthews was washing up the lunch dishes when she heard Bill barking non-stop outside. She called back to Tod. ‘Something’s got into Bill. He’s barking to beat the band out there.’ She and Tod went to investigate and when they appeared, Bill stopped barking and moved away towards the gate watching them all the time, then paused. It was as though he were beckoning them to follow.

‘Something’s happened to Andy,’ they said together. Bill led the way to where Andy lay sprawled on the ground tangled in a long wooden ladder. Both legs seemed broken and it took the ambulance paramedics some time to extricate him.

~ * ~

Andy faced a slow and painful recovery in hospital, but no matter how much Meg and Tod cajoled Bill with treats and titbits to stay with them, he wouldn’t budge from his home, waiting for Andy’s return.

In the end, the kindly neighbours settled for ensuring there was a comfortable bed, water and food for the devoted little dog.

‘You know, Bill saved Andy’s life, Meg. We wouldn’t have missed him until next market day in two weeks’ time, and Andy would never have survived that long,’ said Tod with a shiver. ‘What a pal to have.’

They looked at the dog in awe. ‘No, there’s no argument – you’re Andy’s best mate.’

2: MR GREEDY

‘My dear, I thought you knew. I’ve gone back to my wife.’

The two parties were lined up opposite each other at the long, polished mediation room table. Until that moment Beth had believed there might be a chance of reconciliation. She really hadn’t accepted what her solicitor had been telling her. Now the truth hit her with a thud and she was able to see cold calculation in Jed’s cruel eyes.

It had been good to have her solicitor, Paul, at her side through this horrible business. There was always an aura of calmness about him, or was it just confidence? Always ready to help, and one step ahead of the opposition’s legal counsel. Beth had to admit she could never have coped without him. She also noticed that when he shook her hand these days, he held it a little longer than was usual and his smile was very soft. He’d suggested a meal out together after the court decision to ‘wind down’, and she found she was looking forward to it.

‘No hard feelings, Beth?’ asked Jed.

Beth didn’t answer. It seemed that, because of the three years he’d been with her, and the type of relationship they’d enjoyed, Jed could claim half of everything she possessed as his own, even her house. She’d worked very hard for many years at her business of restoring wonderful old houses to their former glory and selling them for huge profits, but it hadn’t ever been easy going, with little time for holidays. Yes, she’d reaped the rewards, only to see that the courts would award half of the result of all that effort over to Jed.

I