To quote a Latin phrase “Fundamentum In Re”, possibly describes my writing best. Meaning a “foundation in reality”, real life can be stranger than fiction. Here’s an example of how the fear factor my protagonists face in my novel THE REBEL SON, came close to home.
I have had the displeasure to on the run from so-called Freedom Fighters, Guerillas, or Terrorists, or however one cares to name them. I came to experience the ugly side of an AK47 when I was buying cattle in the Zambezi Valley for our cattle selling contract with the Anglo-American Corporation in Zambia, Africa, where my wife and I owned a forty-thousand-acre cattle ranch. One of my African’s whispered to me to “Buca Yenazonke Ngow”, (look at their feet). Unlike the barefooted-African villagers, four males were wearing Russian army boots. They were after the cash in my truck.
I made a quick break for lunch and once there I ordered everyone on board, and I took off like a rabid dog down a dusty track to a gravel road some four miles away. Their pickup pursued, with them firing a bevy rounds in the air. My guys in the truck bed were howling. My Headman in the cab turned from black to slightly grey with sheer terror. I recall laughingly telling him he was starting to look like a “Mlungu”. (Whiteman) He wasn’t amused.
The chase continued with the AK47 airbursts until we reached the gravel road, then like in a bad movie we skidded out sideways with spinning wheels and gathered speed. They were not deterred, but the firing slightly decreased as we were now on a secondary road and civilization was looming in the distance. Maybe they were hoping we would have a tire blowout and roll my Peugeot pick-up into the bush. The chase continued some fifteen miles until we reached the blacktop part of the road. There they turned around and retreated back to the Zambezi valley. After the second one of these experiences, I gave up cattle buying in the Zambezi valley. Good call!