Janeen – FEEDBACK ON STORY PLEASE

Janeen – FEEDBACK ON STORY & SUMMARY PLEASE

Diamond Fever Book cover summary

The fever finally broke. It took close to four decades for the quest to be extinguished. Be it the medical or the car accident, possibly the voodoo witch, we may well never know what ended the life of James Everett Herbison. The autopsy report states he died from a collapsed lung.

DIAMOND FEVER Chapter 1

Dusk approaches quickly as they round the corner of the front porch after covering up the parrot Avery for the night. They spot a strange dark woman in the drive way. She seems very tall as her scarf wraps her head of dread locks into spray of salt and pepper. Her skirt is black, long, layered with sachet-els, knife sheath; yet she seems to float around the pick-up truck parked in Captain’s driveway. She has a decapitated rooster by the feet upside down in her right hand and a knife in her left. Both are dripping with blood. As she mumbles to herself, she swings the rooster side to side. The last of the days light disappears. Captain knows who it is and what she is doing.

‘Be gone which you! Me house, me truck. Me land!’ He hollers, pounding his chest. He starts to vibrate in his jungle scandals. She pays no mind. Moving in a constant flow she passes the truck and vanishes in the damp air. There are no street lights. The air is humming with the singing bees that communicate at dusk in the jungle forest.

‘General, she no good. She Voodoo Witch’, Captain is well known in his hometown of Bartica, Guyana. ‘Too dark to follow her’.

Captain isn't very big in stature, but get him scared and he goes off like a Banti rooster defending his hen house.

‘Go in me house, go sleep now, General James.’ Trying to usher James in the house is like an penguin ushering a Brahma bull to to slaughter. Ain’t gonna happen.

‘Cap, let’s get the last of the supplies packed up so we’re not rushing in the morning. I wanna be on the first water taxi to Georgetown so we can go to the Mining Commissionaires’ office to see what the hold up is with the Mining block claim registration.’

James carries on as usual, not a concern of the scene he just witnessed. Being a voodoo virgin he carried no prior biases. It’s all about the diamonds for James.

‘Yes boss something fishy going on with the new commissioner. He never look straight in me eye.’

Captain lowers his head, slowly shaking ‘no’ as if to be deeply worried.

‘The office will be open by six in the morning. I wanna be there by 7am. We have the plane chartered headed to Kijer Falls airstrip for 9am. If the crazy ass traffic in Georgetown doesn’t slow us down we should be able to make it, no sweat. Let’s head to bed early. I gotta get flat and give my back a break. Sometimes those eighteen steels bars holding my spine together get tired too. Enough for today.’

They finish stuffing mosquito nets into a duffle bag and headed in.

‘Ok, General James, big day tomorrow. Good night.’ ‘Good night Captain, I’m taking my hearing aids out now. Won’t hear the sun bees singing nor the howling monkeys predawn. Nothing going to disturb me tonight not even a crying baby.’

James heads to his own room. Captain and his entire family sleep in the only other room in the house. Including two young grandkids. The nearest neighbour is within ear shot. Right across the property line, close to Captain’s driveway. Jame’s had just purchased the older pick-up truck for the company. Captain had decked it out with the usual flare of the region. There is a lot of south Asian influence in the culture of Guyana, including vehicles with a personalized style. For Captain that meant ‘Cock of the Walk’ plumage glued on with testosterone. A loud speaker of Cassanova mixed with Rooster. Lacking in height his style turns many heads in Bartica, his home town. Under the waxing moon the neighbour, a local Doctor sits in his screen covered porch, finishing his days business. The air is thick with humidity. He notices a shadow lurking around Captain’s truck. The person has a tall head scarf and a long skirt. She is waving her arm in the air. She circles the pick-up. When she rounds to the back end he recognizes that she is waving a decapitated rooster around. She is laying a curse on the property of Captain. She heads to the four corners of the property. Splatting blood as she goes. The neighbor closes his front door.

Chapter 2

James wakes up before dawn. He slept in complete silence. No crying grand baby nor howling monkey was going to disturb his sleep, it was the noise in his own head that kept him from sleeping. The only moments he could quiet the inner monologue was when he meditated. As soon as he rises he heads to the truck with his personal gear. The business case goes in the front. It’s still dark.

He hollers, ‘Captain Joseph get your butt in gear. It’s going to be day light in ten minutes, boat leaves at dawn. CHAPTER 2 TO BE CONTINUED…

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