One From The Hart by Stefanie Powers

Author:Stefanie Powers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2010-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

WITHOUT THE TURTLES to keep us in place, we decided to move on to our next destination. We were to cross the highlands of Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, turn north to Ipo and Butterworth, where we would catch the ferry across the Strait of Malacca to the island of Penang. Our hotel in Quantan had kindly packed us a delicious picnic lunch, which we happily consumed at a lovely spot just off the main road crossing the north-south mountain range that runs the length of the Malaysian peninsula. As we sat on the grass enjoying the view, we were serenaded by the calls of gibbon apes ringing across the forest of the valley below. Suddenly the gibbons’ song was interrupted by the sound of automatic weapons, reverberating against the mountains, from which direction we could not tell.

Bill knew very well what that sound meant. In the early 1960s, Bill made a film in Malaysia called The Seventh Dawn, inspired by a book Bill had read. It told the story of the guerilla war fought by Communist-backed insurgents, which began after World War II ended and was still going on, the same guerilla movement that was suspected to have kidnapped Jim Thompson.

We jumped into the car and headed for the main road. Miraculously, coming up the road was a military-escorted convoy accompanying a line of private cars attempting to make the journey across the highlands to Kuala Lumpur. Gratefully we joined the fleet, and in Kuala Lumpur we picked up our route by following the signs indicating north. Somewhere along the way, our rental car had lost its air-conditioning, but with the windows down it was not too bad, as long as we kept moving. Finally we arrived at the ferry dock, luckily just in time to be the first car on the ferry.

Behind us the ferry filled up with commuters traveling home at rush hour. We shut the engine off and got out of the car to enjoy the spectacle of the golden sun setting into the waters of the Strait of Malacca. It was like a postcard. As we came close to the dock, we returned to the car. Bill put the key in the ignition and turned it over. Nothing. Not even the sound of the starter attempting to ignite the engine. Behind us was the entire population of Butterworth on their way home from work and not at all happy for the delay.

After many tries it was apparent that the car was frozen and the only thing we could do was to try and push it up the ramp and out on to the dock so that the horde of passengers could disembark. As we pushed, me still with my stiff neck, it was obvious we were not going to make it. Coming to our rescue was a carload of Malays, one of whom had a few words of English. They took over pushing the car up the ramp and onto the side of the dock so the impatient commuters could speed home.

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