Author: Thomas Kelly

Tea was served every afternoon at four-thirty. This was when the Gezira Club garden never seemed to be crowded and the tables free as members drifted into the bar. The bul-bul birds with their black purple feathers skirmished through the palm leaves, snapping and twirling in the warm air. Cats, thin and skinny, exhausted by…

  Play this sound track with the story.   July 10th 1888 Dearest Lady Julia, I am not sure that I can stand much more of this country. You wouldn’t recogonise me at all. I am as brown as the mahogany trees that encircle this small landing and my clothes, well, they are worn thin…

Jacob pressed himself into the space deep hewn into the granite cliffs beneath the castle walls, he was panting and heavy with tiredness. The stone corridor was clammy, loose sharp stones unbalanced his step. Dank moss hung onto life in every crevice breathing in the damp winds that blew in from the moor. He ducked…

  Diana let herself in by the front door, picked up the letters and without a care skipped down to the kitchen where Miss Simms was clucking and fussing as she normally did. The chopping board was red with chicken blood and feathers were strewn around the floor. Aga Jhan had become useful in the…

Diana was agitated and confused. Her plans for teaching had been abandoned. Coming home from India, she had returned empty handed as it was described for those of the fishing fleet looking for husbands. She had spent a few months in dull company, in hill stations with ruddy faced planters with grabbing hands. Some had…

  This follows from The Colonel (part 5) Diana 1944 Henry awoke feeling stiff and cold. The fire was just grey embers and there was a red heart of a dying log that waited for a kick that would spread sparks into a life of flame again. He was thinking of India, the early mist…

  The follows from The Colonel (part 4). ‘I really must be off,’ said Diana in a low voice rather hoping that she would not be heard. She shuffled her feet nervously, her shoes making patterns in the gravel drawing with precision. ‘Please don’t Diana. Wait a minute,’ the Colonel said and there was a…

This follows from (The Colonel part 3) Henry spent a few days in London, he had to speak to his bank in Pall Mall. the n transferred his late Aunt’s money and was pleased to hear that his application for membership at the Planter’s Club had been accepted. He wrote a telegram to the station …

This follows from The Colonel (part 2) The steamer was slinking into Aden past the Tribal Cliffs. Aga Jhan was on the deck. He had never seen a coast line and since leaving Bombay had spent his time breathing in the cool air, washing the salt spray into his beard, savouring each move the ship made…

  This follows from The Colonel (part 1). The house that Colonel Henry inherited was just north of Harrogate in the village of Killinghall. A rather apt name he thought. The lawyer had sent instructions on who should arrange handover, the bank balances and information about the decision to employ a Miss Simms who had…