FROM the cat who loved Kentucky Fried Chicken to the beloved daughter killed in an accident, the range of writings presented at the first session of the Writers’ Forum of 2014 was wide and interesting.
In the first story, the cat, Socks, climbed unnoticed into the police van and helped himself to the police officers’ takeaways.
The ‘daughter’ story related five episodes of the daughter’s life. The first was the breaking of her beloved doll at the age of four and the last one was about the accident, after which she was buried with the shards of the doll that had been kept for all 32 years of her life. It was a poignant story.
When writing a testament, you must be sure to check the details, or the bequest may go to the wrong person. This happened to someone who forgot to include a ‘simultaneous death’ clause in his testament and the millions went to the wrong person.
At the end of the 20th century, Trooper Thomas, (BSAP Police Force) was sent to Bulawayo and after completing his training in December, was ordered to deliver the Christmas fare, mail and dispatches to a small police post ‘out in the bush’. A trooper riding a donkey guided him on horseback, but on the return journey he was alone. Or so he thought, until, having lost his way, he met up with an old, hungry lioness who was after prey and thought she had found it. Thomas remembered his training and quickly shinned up a tree where he lodged himself in its fork … and there he had to stay. Fortunately, his non-arrival at base camp caused a rescue party to be sent out, so all ended well.
‘Bad girl turned good’ might easily have been the title of the next story, as it told the story of a young girl who vowed to be a nun when she grew up, but life caught up with her and she was led up the wrong path. However, whilst in a hospital after being beaten up by her former lover and being nursed by nuns, she finally had the opportunity to follow her childhood wish. Forgiveness and redemption are available to all.
The good and the not-so-good points of travel were seen in the last story, a travelogue of a trip to America and Canada. There were certainly many of the former, as the places visited and the glorious scenery were more than memorable, but missed flights and investing in real Canadian goose jackets, that shed their feathers everywhere, were not in that category.
Writers’ Forum meets monthly at the Uvongo library and all are welcome. For further information phone Beryl Lakin at 039 315 0464.
