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Preview from chapter one
Sighs Matter
Author’s Notes:
Herewith is the next installment of our story, as Roddy, Tess and the rest travel into deepest, darkest Africa. Reading the first installment, Chapters 1-4, is almost a necessity to understanding this next part. Remember, it’s all fun. No animals were harmed in the writing of this story.
Chapter 5-The Porter’s Loads
Thirty-six hours later found us groggily awakening from a soporific slumber. I’ll relate the adventures of the previous evening at some later part of the narrative, suffice it to say that it was an evening about 130 Congolese gentlemen will not soon forget.
After hosing the hide off down the hall at the shared bath, we pulled on clothing most suitable for the trek we were about to begin. I donned the trusty khaki trews, a stout pair of safari boots, and a rather jaunty looking pith helmet, if I may say. Of course, I couldn’t forget my trusty .450 Nitro Express, just in case we encountered a raging beast intent on devouring us for a light snack.
Tess, on the other hand, believed in traveling light – her safari kit would perhaps have been more appropriate for the center pole at Scores, but she insisted that she preferred freedom of movement and hated being restricted by the usually cumbersome expedition garb. It was little more than a short safari jacket that ended just below the lower slope of her buttocks, very short walking shorts, and a pair of fishnet stockings held up by garter straps that she’d sown into the lining of her shorts. Knee-high suede boots completed the outfit.
As the sun rose over the grimy pollution of Brazzaville, we made our way downstairs, and while I settled up with the innkeeper Tess and Mariana went out to gather up Mbuto and the porters. As I feared, when I got outside, the air was stifling already, and the humidity seemed to hang in the air. It had a particularly fetid order as I stood beneath the balcony and I remarked on its loathsomeness to no one in particular.
“Silly ass, no wonder – there’s a great big man on the second floor peeing out his window on you!” Tess laughed. I started, and began to look up to where her finger pointed, but instantly regretted that move. Wiping the visage with the back of my sleeve, I coughed and sputtered, “Well, you could have at least warned me!” I sought out a dryer section of sidewalk, and within a few moments old Mbuto showed up.