Scene #5 from the discarded files

I haven’t shared any of the deleted scenes from my novel in over a month. Since I started writing “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” nearly seven years ago, I have totally forgotten a lot of the scenes, such as this one. Here, Ole the boy has just arrived at the safari camp with Jenny and the others. He has much to learn about the ways of the white people.

“Boy,” the driver called to him. “As long as you are up there already, untie the bags and pass them down.”

The boy did as he was told. The canvas bags were relatively light considering their large size and he gently handed them down into waiting arms. Then he swung himself to the ground with one fluid movement.

The woman and one of the white men were talking to a different man, someone who looked like the driver and was wearing similar clothes, short sleeved shirt and long pants, all the color of chai. He was taller and heavier and stood with the authority of a tribal leader. The woman occasionally gestured to the boy and slowly he walked closer to them, waiting for their conversation to end. 

The black man finally turned to the boy. “I am Reuben. I run this camp.” This man didn’t seem to know his language as well as the man who drove the jeep. This man spoke slowly, his voice gruff and rumbly. Maybe he didn’t think that the boy would understand him. “These white people.  They want you to find lions tomorrow. They ask if your family worries about you.”

As he began to speak, the boy kept his eyes trained on the ground. “My mother will not expect me for many days, if at all. Many boys never return when they hunt the lion.”

The boy could feel Reuben staring at him, his eyes traveling up and down the boy’s thin frame. The boy tried to stand taller even as his eyes stayed glued to the man’s dusty shoes. Something about Rueben reminded him of someone else, someone who had caused him great pain.

“You must not hunt the lion now. You must keep these people happy. Do what they want. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.” 

My daughter Val took this picture on our first trip to Kenya in 2006. It is of two Maasai boys at the village of Mosiro, boys who could be Ole. Just like the above excerpt, I’ve forgotten ever seeing this picture.

If you want to read more about the boy Ole, you can order your copy of “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Or ask your local bookstore to order it for you. You can also send me a message if you want me to get you a personally signed copy.

If you have read the book already, don’t forgot to write a review for Amazon.com. The more reviews a book gets, even the negative ones (be honest – if you didn’t like the book, I’d like to know that too), the more people will see it and possibly buy their own copy. I need all the help I can get. Thanks. 

The Elusive Cat

           Here is yet another scene from the deleted files of “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”. I can’t believe how many of these passages I cut in my second edit of the book. Going back over them takes me right back to Kenya, and this scene especially reminds me of why I have to go back some day. On the two safaris I’ve been on, I’ve seen every animal I wanted to except for one. The one which the boy in this story falls in love with.  

 Far in the distance on the lowest branch of an acacia tree, a tan animal crouched. Ole thought it was the same leopard they had seen the week before. She was heavy with unborn cubs and had barely been able to get to this low branch.

               The Jeep took off in her direction. Even from his perch on the roof, Ole could hear the people inside. They chattered on as all of the guests seemed to, with no concern for the animals they stalked. Ole still could not picture what their lives were like. Lives where there are no wild animals. Lives where there are more buildings than grass.

               He took a sip from his water bottle as the Jeep lurched along. If there was anything he had learned here, it was how to drink without spilling as the vehicle tossed him about as James pursued the lions and elephants and warthogs.

               As James stopped the Jeep a short distance from the acacia tree, Ole was certain this was the same leopard. He figured that her den must be in the brush on the hillside behind the acacia. In his past life, he had never noticed the leopard much. She had been more elusive than the lion. The lion, knowing its great power and knowing that it was rarely without its pride, had nothing to hide. He knew he was king out here.

               The leopard though? Her beauty rivaled the lion’s. Her fascinating and varied spots, her patient eyes, her solitary life.  Her ability to climb trees, even when she was carrying a freshly killed antelope.

               Ole was surprised that he saw so many animals travelling on the roof of the camp’s Jeep. So many animals that he rarely saw while herding his goats. Had the animals always been there, watching him? And he hadn’t been watching back? Were the people from his village right when they told him that he never paid attention?

               The leopard hung her huge paws over the branch of the tree. Ole promised himself that he would always pay attention from now on, especially if it meant watching a beautiful creature like her.

Yup, I've seen lots of lions. 

Lots of cheetahs, too.

But the elusive leopard? Could she be hiding in that tree?
(No, she's not.)

 This may be the last of the "lost files" for a while. I have other things to write about, you know!

 

Let me introduce Rueben

Blog post #4 from the deleted files of “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”.

Today’s installment of the “lost files” occurs fairly late in the book, chapter 26. Rueben was the unsavory manager of the safari camp where the businesswoman befriended the lost boy. As I keep reading over all these deleted scenes, I start to wonder why I didn’t leave them in, make it work. Well, maybe it was so that I could share them all with you here.

I haven’t gotten my supply of books to sell yet, but you can order “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” from Amazon.com and you’ll probably get it in the mail around the same time that I get mine. Or download it now and start reading today. 

Oh, and the picture is from Narok when I road through there in October 2015.

Rueben crawled into his Jeep and took one last look up the street. People crowded the sidewalks, heading in every direction, a buzz of humanity. Where they were always going, he did not know.

He thought about the many times he had visited this dirty busy town. The tourists heading out on safari, the locals taking advantage of as many of them as they could. The women looking to do anything they could for any money they could.

He sighed. Even the thought of the brothel down the road did little for him. Maybe I really am sick. First no booze and now no women. He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts.

On the seat next to him were all of his possession, little though they were. A few changes of clothes and that was really all. He rubbed a hand across his rough hair. Where had his life gone? What had all the years of driving across the plains, showing the tourists a good time done to him? And why was he so alone after all of that?

He started the engine of the Jeep and shifted into gear. As he turned the first corner at the end of the street, his pile of clothes shifted and slid to the floor. Left behind on the seat was the book he had taken from the abandoned hut at Red Rock Camp.

Without looking where he was going, he pulled the jeep to the side of the road. That book. What was it even about and why now in the middle of Narok, in the middle of the street did he have to pick it up?

He tentatively opened the first page.

“This very day in David's town your Savior was born.”

Rueben looked around him. The street had suddenly gone quiet. People still scurried about and vehicles of every shape and size drove up and down the road. But all noise seemed to have stopped. The only sound Rueben heard was the sound of his own words in his head.

“You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

He studied the pictures on the page. A young woman, a tiny baby. He turned the page and beautiful men and women filled the page, dark-skinned men and women dressed in glistening white.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”

He continued reading the book, studying each page, each picture, saying the words out loud. All around him people kept walking by and cars and trucks rumbled by, but Rueben didn’t hear any of them.

Aren't the animals of Kenya absolutely beautiful. Probably more Americans, though, get to see them than the people who actually live in Kenya. Very few of the residents living in that country can afford to go on safari and there just aren't too many of these magnificent creatures who wander from the game parks and into places populated with people.

I wrote about some of these animals on my memoir today. I had a real writing marathon. Are you ready for this??? My word count for today was . . .

( a drum roll, please )

. . .

. . . 1509 words! I know, holy cow.