I had been in the jungle for five days after escaping from the prison camp and was living on rainwater and fruits that I recognised<\/p>\n
My grey prison uniform was in tatters and I had been bitten a number of times and the poisons along with my malnutrition were weakening me<\/p>\n
Late in the afternoon of this fifth day I occasioned a beach right on the edge of the steaming jungle<\/p>\n
The sand was white and the sea was uncontaminated<\/p>\n
Tears began to well in my sunken eyes as I walked in the shallows<\/p>\n
A crab ran in front of me but I was too weak to catch it<\/p>\n
Would you like a cigarette you look like that you could use one <\/i><\/p>\n
I turned and was faced by a native girl in a loin cloth carrying a short spear<\/p>\n
Two dead fish hung from its point<\/p>\n
I do not smoke but thanks all the same <\/i><\/p>\n
I have Cadbury\u2019s Fruit and Nut in my boat would you like a bar as I am trying to cut my sugar intake down? <\/i><\/p>\n
Yes the chocolate would be most welcome<\/i><\/p>\n
The girl handed me her spear and ran into the sea<\/p>\n
I looked at the dead fish<\/p>\n
One winked at me<\/p>\n
I am faking it and waiting until madam has her back turned then I am going to make a dash for it <\/i><\/p>\n
You have been run through by a spear <\/i><\/p>\n
Yes that is a problem <\/i><\/p>\n
We are a beach some metres from the sea<\/i><\/p>\n
Another problem but they are not insurmountable <\/i><\/p>\n
The girl returned from the sea and handed me a bar of Fruit and Nut chocolate<\/p>\n
See I have kept it dry I hate salt in my chocolate <\/i><\/p>\n
I ate the confectionary with greed whilst the native girl touched my chest<\/p>\n
Why do you have a butterfly on your chest? <\/i><\/p>\n
Because my nickname is Papillion <\/i><\/p>\n
It that why they locked you up <\/i><\/p>\n
No it was political <\/i><\/p>\n
What is your real name?<\/i><\/p>\n
Henri<\/i><\/p>\n
Mine is Rima <\/i><\/p>\n
The native girl stayed with me for a further two days tending my wounds and feeding me<\/p>\n
The talking fish was our first meal<\/p>\n
It is far, far better thing I do than I have ever done; it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known <\/i><\/p>\n
These were the last worlds of the fish as I placed it on the grill<\/p>\n
They still brings tears to my eyes<\/p>\n
The day after Rima left two guards found me and ordered me back to the camp at gunpoint<\/p>\n
I killed them both with Rima\u2019s spear and for the next week ate both of them dipped in lemon<\/p>\n
I was stronger<\/p>\n
My diseases faded as did my sores<\/p>\n
Rima never returned and I have lived on this beach for the last twenty-five years surviving on a diet of talking fish and prison guards<\/p>\n
One day in a distant land someone will write a book about me and perhaps an adventurer will come searching for me<\/p>\n
But until that day arrives I will continue to write short stories of how I escaped from that dreadful prison camp and have made this wonderful beach my home<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had been in the jungle for five days after escaping from the prison camp and was living on rainwater and fruits that I recognised My grey prison uniform was in tatters and I had been bitten a number of times and the poisons along with my malnutrition were weakening me Late in the afternoon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}