Home Is Not a Country by David Blackie

Author:David Blackie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical fiction; Literary Fiction; family tree; Australia; emigration
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Published: 2022-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

*

When the two deck hands found him, he was still sitting, both hands gripping the guard rail. It couldn’t have been long after the man went overboard; a few minutes at most, he reckoned, but he wasn’t sure. Archie told the hands what happened, and he saw one of the men rush up the stairs towards the boat deck. The other man helped him to his feet and guided him along the swaying deck to the main lounge. The place was deserted, it looked like there wouldn’t be many takers for bingo or dancing this evening. It can’t have been much longer before the First Officer arrived. Archie was drinking hot, sweet tea which made him want to gag. But the sugar rush worked and he told the officer he was fine. He wanted no fuss. A few minutes later he was sitting opposite the First Officer in a cramped room in the deck house; they had been there ever since.

As Archie recounted events, Walmsley made notes. He interrupted Archie frequently. ‘Let me just get this straight’, he said, or ‘So, what you’re telling me is…’ It occurred to Archie that things would be easier if he said it was an accident; that the man was thrown hard against the rail and tumbled overboard as the ship pitched downwards. That he tried to grab him, but he was gone in an instant. But Archie was thinking on his feet. There would be other questions. Did you recognise the man? Did you know him? If he denied it, he thought it would look worse later on, when the lost man was identified through a process of elimination. Other people would come forward and say they’d seen them together; that it may well have been an accident but wasn’t there more to this story than Archie was letting on? Better to play it straight and tell the truth. Face up to the consequences although his conscience was clear – he had done nothing wrong.

Archie placed the tenth sheet of foolscap neatly on top of the others. The account was accurate enough so far. He could have asked for minor changes but decided against it; they weren’t important. No, he needed to concentrate on the last two sheets, the ones that attempted to provide a reason for the attack, as Archie described it. Or rather, a motive for the attack, because that’s how Archie viewed it. He finished reading the First Officer’s transcript. There were a few things Archie wanted to be changed.

‘All good?’

Walmsley was a little too cheerful for Archie’s liking. ‘Good’s not a word I would use. And anyway, there are a few things you’ve got wrong.’

‘Such as?’

Archie spent several minutes explaining again that he didn’t know the man. He went over, once more, the incident in the souk at Port Said and the drink in the Fairsea’s bar that followed. How he had never spoken to the man since that meeting, over a week ago.

The officer stared at Archie. ‘Of

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.