The Dilemma

By Lois Tennant

Andrea Caldwell is spending some time at her late uncles cottage, beqeathed to her, on the banks of the Umzimvubu River that flows past the Eastern Cape town of Port St Johns in South Africa.  There are heavy rains up country which cause the river to flood.  She meets Harry, a total stranger, who has managed to save himself from being washed out to sea.  Does she trust him?  And who are the solidiers who have landed on the airstrip on the flat mountain behind her house?  There are a number of dilemmas to face. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lois Tennant
• Release date: Sep 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215052716

Book preview

Description

Andrea Caldwell is spending some time at her late uncle’s cottage, bequeathed to her, on the banks of the Umzimvubu River that flows past the Eastern Cape town of Port St John’s in South Africa.  There are heavy rains up-country which cause the river to flood.  She meets Harry, a total stranger, who has managed to save himself from being washed out to sea.  Does she trust him?  And who are the soldiers who landed on the airstrip on the flat mountain behind her house?  There are a number of dilemmas to face!

Contents

Chapter1

Chapter2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

Andrea traced her finger lazily down the large windowpane which trickled with rain.  In the distance was the white-flecked angry ocean.  Rain had been pouring down for the last few hours.  This was very unusual for the East Coast at this time of year.  And apparently there was even stronger rain up-country and had been since the day before.

She turned to the other window in her comfortable sitting room.  It opened onto her back garden, now fairly water-logged, where water lay in puddles on the lawn and around the shrubs.  Beyond that was the once mild Umzimvubu river – now a raging torrent as it swept into the ocean, carrying with it branches and no doubt even small animals!  The river was overflowing its banks and rushing down the gorge that led it past Port St John’s and into the Indian Ocean.

Then she shifted her gaze from the river to her own garden.  How fortunate that her uncle had built his cottage against one of the sandstone peaks just across the river from Port St John’s.  It was a delightful and rather picturesque village of about 6 500 people.  It had sufficient shopping facilities and many interesting residents! In normal weather, there were keen fishermen in boats or along the river banks.

The river mouth was once a port, but was too shallow for large boats.  What happened now is that bigger ships would anchor further out and smaller boats would navigate to them for supplies or to sell things for export.  It was usually a sparkling spectacle, but today, in particular, it was leaping with foam-flecked waves.

The mountain on the side of the river where Andrea lived, Mount Thesiger, had a flat top on which small planes landed now and then. She never felt disturbed by the sound of a plane as she knew it might mean more trade for the residents.  Hopefully none would try to land in this weather!

Andrea had spent a month at the cottage this year, completing editing work in which she was often involved.  She also owned an apartment in Durban (thanks to her father’s generosity), but did not really enjoy city life.  Her parents were affluent, due to her father being a financial consultant who was trusted by many, and they often set off on trips, especially to London, where her grandparents resided in a delightful village.

Her casual gaze suddenly focused!  The tall figure of a man was edging itself over her garden wall.  The wall was at least six foot tall, but so was the man.  He staggered a few steps further in the pouring rain and then headed straight for her back door.

The kitchen door was locked but there was a small landing that lead to the laundry.  Andrea held her breath as she tiptoed towards the door and tried to peer out the window.  Then she heard a fairly hard thud!  The man must have fallen!  What should she do?  It was pointless trying to call the two-person police station and the firemen would probably be engaged in rescuing farm animals upriver.  There had been a short snippet on television about farms being flooded. And it was possible the man needed