The Best Laid Plans

By Caroline Sofer

This is a fictional story about a frail young girl who witnessed her parents being killed at the hands of a rebellious group, causing chaos to make changes in their country. The young girl was encouraged by her mother to find a way to flee the country and to safety, giving her a pillowcase of silver to buy her way to freedom. The pillowcase contained some odd pieces of silver along with a silver tea set, which was her mother’s pride.

Claire sets off on a terrifying journey with the help of a manservant whom she had no trust in forcing her to go in a direction she had no intention of going. She eventually ended up being left after a few days to fend for herself in a strange country and fearing this was the end of her life—not being able to keep her promise to her mother to try and get to safety.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638851875

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The Best Laid Plans

Caroline Sofer

ISBN 978-1-63885-186-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63885-187-5 (Digital)

Copyright © 2021 Caroline Sofer

All rights reserved

First Edition

This is fiction, but with a great imagination. The silver tea set is still in my possession, along with the memory of a grandmother who told wonderful stories on our walks.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

The Best-Laid Plans

Truculence

Distaff

The Journey

Sepoy Mutiny

Love at First Sight

The Love of Her Life

A Christmas Eve Birthday

The Legacy

Preface

At the tender age of sixteen, Claire Glover, a petite five-foot, two-inch English girl weighing a frail seven stones, was thrown into a terrifying situation in a small remote village in Burma, where she had been residing for the past three years—painstakingly helping her parents, William (Bill) Glover, a doctor, and Ruth Glover, a teacher to educate and heal the local people.

The year is 1857 in the year of our Lord and the start of the Sepoy Mutiny. With rumors of violent fighting in the nearby villages and the servants buzzing with vague descriptions of villages burned to the ground and the inhabitants bludgeoned to death, her father, Doctor Glover, fearing for their lives, suggested to his wife, Ruth, that she gather up some belongings and head toward Rangoon to catch what could be the last clipper sailing out of Burma back to England and safety.

Claire Glover was born of English parents and, at the age of thirteen, traveled with them to Burma where the Glover family resided for the better part of three years. At that time, the Burmese government was in cooperation with the British High Commissioners office and were pleased to have educated people come to live among the natives and help the Burmese people. The Glover family was welcomed with open arms and spared no expense to excavate a large picturesque compound surrounded by a teakwood forest near a remote village which was several kilometers from the bustling town of Rangoon, Burma.

The compound housed a small hospital where Doctor William (Bill) Glover would spend much of his days and some very long nights, assisted on occasion by Ruth, his wife. Ruth was not always able to help her husband, as she was also supplied with her own little building which was used as a schoolhouse for the native children and some adults from the nearby village. Ruth taught school every day as the children only chose to come when they were forced or were in playful moods. Attending school seemed to be a game for them as well as their parents, who were interested on occasion to be better educated, when it suited their needs.

The adults would only come to the hospital or the school if they were in need of food and clothing, which Ruth would give them on occasion because she was aware that they were only tolerating the medical examinations and the hygiene classes in order to receive the food and clothing supplied to Ruth and Bill by the British High Commissioner’s Office in Rangoon for this purpose.

Claire helped both her parents in their jobs but preferred helping her mother because at least the natives became bearable to be around after they were made to take baths and change their cloths, whereas helping her father meant cleaning sores and bandaging infected wounds.

The main building in the compound was a large bungalow constructed of wood as wood was plentiful in this part of the world. There were not many rooms in the bungalow, but they were very large rooms and very comfortably furnished with the furniture Ruth and Bill brought with them from England. There were two large bedrooms and two bathrooms, which had large zinc tubs to bathe in; and the commodes had removable chamber pots, which were removed and cleaned by a servant girl when necessary.

There was a large dining room furnished with