Digging Deeper: An Adventure Novel (Sam Harris Series Book 1) by PJ Skinner Page B

just listened and nodded.
    ‘Is something the matter, Jim?  Can I help?’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous, woman.  No one can play Black at his own game.’
    ‘Actually, I meant that you have been very pre-occupied lately, rude even.  I hope it wasn’t something that I said.’
    Jim looked embarrassed.  ‘No, no please forget it.  I was drunk.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I felt rejected.’
    ‘Rejected?  Oh, I had no idea you felt that way.’
    ‘I don’t.   I mean I was drunk and afterwards I was embarrassed.  You know how it is.’
    Sam, who had never used alcohol as an excuse for anything, did not know, but she agreed anyway.  There was a long silence broken by Jim who suddenly looked very sober.
    ‘Why did you take this job?’ he asked.
    Sam was loath to tell Jim about her humiliating circumstances. Taking the job in Tamazia had been an act of desperation on her part.  Despite being nearly forty, unemployment had forced her to move back in with her parents to protect her meagre savings.
    ‘I was swayed by the availability of cheap mangoes.’
    ‘You don’t get away that easily.  Why Sam?’
    ‘I work for money Jim.  The salary outweighed the danger.  I’d rather die than sit at home on the dole.’
    ‘I can understand that.’
    He left shortly afterwards, heading for the bar.
    ***
    There was no water in her house the next day and the water pipe in the utility room was leaking again.  The plumber arrived, this time with Bob, who ordered the pipe changed and a plate made for the pump.  Bob could hardly look Sam in the eye.  He was trying hard to find something to chat about.  He appeared determined to bridge the gap that loomed between them since the incident in the bar but Sam was not in the mood.
    Bob commented that the plumbing arrangements had been a bit Heath Robinson.  He wasn’t kidding. One of the water tanks was stagnant and acted as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, so they let the water out to kill the larvae.  No wonder the mosquitos came in squadrons every night; they had their own hatchery in the backyard to replace casualties.  It was like the battle of Britain but with the Luftwaffe carrying a deadly cargo of malaria.
    Dirk dropped by later for a drink and to collect some cigarettes that she had brought him from Mondongo.  He had been hovering around her before she went to Mondongo, without being pushy like Pedro.  They had established a great rapport and she felt very comfortable around him.
    Sam suffered a lot due to her perceived position as Black’s spy.  As predicted by the bar crowd, she needed someone to confide in.  She would have liked to be physically close to someone to distract her from the fear she felt at night.  She got the impression that Dirk might jump at the chance.  After all, they were both single, as far as she knew, and they would not be hurting anyone.  No one would be able to invent stories about her and Jim, or anyone else, if she was with Dirk, who made it obvious that he wanted to stay that night.
    ‘Come on, Sam,’ he pleaded. ‘What’s wrong with sex between two consenting adults?’
    But Sam was not sure and for once she was glad that she had an excuse.  For some strange reason she felt like she was being watched.  She did not want the whole camp knowing about her business.
    ‘Not tonight, Dirk.  I have my period.  I need you to go home now,’ she said.
    ‘But we could just share your bed and hang out together.  We don’t need to have sex, you know.’
    ‘I know but I'm several degrees hotter than usual due to my period and we'll be uncomfortable.  I promise to let you know when I’m ready.’
    ‘You’re just mean.  You know how much I want you.’
    She turned him out into the dark. He protested bitterly.

VII
    The rainy season had set in with a vengeance and the countryside was coated in thick red mud.  The river banks were turning green where they were not churned up into an impassable mud bath.  Even the