Billy Brite: Africa and Beyond

By J.J.True

Billy Brite is a young boy with a high IQ, which has caused him to be ostracised by family and peers. It is his story of his escape from reality, into a world of imagination and solitude, with his two dogs, Ben and Scruffy, and his parrot, Anthony, as his constant companions. He lives on a farm in Southern Africa with his parents, teenage sister, and grandmother. He has an obsession
with the wild life on the farm and he is convinced they have an unspoken language. It is his passion to prove his theory, and to gain credibility with all those who shun and mock him. It is this very obsession that leads him into an unknown world; a world he would not dare to explain and no one would ever believe him , even if he tried. His trusted pets take on a whole new role; a role which makes him wonder if they are friend or foe. His ordinary hum drum life takes a turn into fear, and the unknown,and that is just the beginning. The first three chapters deal with the 'normality' but then Billy makes the first of many discoveries that leaves him for once to be dumbfouded. There is the terrible storm that adds to the confusion of the pets disappearance which in turn leads to his own disappearance. Billy's chance discovery of a world he never new existed, begins a journey into the UNKNOWN. He uncovers the SECRET MISSION of the animals against the 'ENEMY' (HUMANS), the power of the HORNS, and the SECRET KINGDOM opens up shocking revelations, [UFO's and ALIENS] but also commences in the UNEXPLAINED being EXPLAINED. BUT! WHO WOULD BELIEVE HIM?........

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456776053

J.J.True

My father was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force and he was sent to Africa to train pilots during the war where he met and married my mother who was a Nursing Sister. I was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia (Harare, Zimbabwe) and I have an elder sister. I was educated in Salisbury , Rhodesia and in Livingstone, Zambia. As a child my school reports usually stated I was a bit of a 'day dreamer' so maybe that was the start of my vivid imagination. I intended going to University to study to become a Librarian, but after being offerred a job in the Bank , it became my chosen career path for 18 years in Salisbury, Rhodesia and in Durban and Cape Town, South Africa and subsequently, I worked in a Cash Office in England. I have always felt the neccessity to accomplish something in life, and as a result, I wrote and illustrated the two children's books and I have also had patents granted for two inventions which I wrote and illustrated without the help of a Patent Attorney. The stories become alive to me as I can visualize the characters and the events that are taking place on paper. I already have ideas for the sequels, and an added bonus is that as I lived in Africa and as I have travelled to numerous countries ; I can, therefore, draw on life's experiences. My father was an unpublished short story writer, so, perhaps the yearning to be an Author runs in the blood. I now live in England, I am a widow, I have one daughter and I work two jobs It appears that I have a tendancy to do most things in two's!

Book preview

Other Books By J.J. True

'The Animal's Secret Kingdom- Unidom and the Earld'

Introduction

Africa is an amazing place. It is huge and has so many countries in it, that no one, or virtually, no one, would be able to name them all off from the top of their head. Billy Brite is one of those few. He is BRITE by name and BRIGHT by nature. Billy has, what some people call, a photographic memory as he only has to look at something once, (or sometime twice, that’s if he is having an off day, but, that is a rare occurrence) and it is lodged /logged into his well - stocked memory.

Billy’s family and teachers at school think he is brilliant. Unfortunately, as with most clever children, he does get bored quickly, and has been known to have a very vivid imagination. This is one of his downfalls, as people his own age find him strange, as a result, he is a bit of a loner, and he hasn’t even got anyone he can really call a true friend.

Billy’s parents find him to be a handful; they put it all down to his high IQ. They shrug off his day dreaming, and storytelling, and they have learnt to just humour him, as they know it won’t be too long before he comes up with something else. That is apart from the one story, which quite honestly beats them all; it all started a couple of years ago

Contents

Other Books By J.J. True

Introduction

Chapter 1

BILLY - THE ‘BOY’

CHAPTER 2

BILLY'S

LITTLE WORLD

Chapter 3

THE BREAK OF DAY

Chapter 4

MY IMAGINATION AND

MY REFLECTIONS

Chapter 5

THE FEARFUL ENCOUNTERS

CHAPTER 6

MY PETS - MY HEROES

CHAPTER 7

MY HIDE-OUT

CHAPTER 8

THE PLUNGE

CHAPTER 9

OUR SECRET REVELATION

CHAPTER 10

THE STORM

CHAPTER 11

THE VISITORS

CHAPTER 12

THE BETRAYAL

CHAPTER 13

THE U.F.O.

Chapter 1

BILLY BRITE.jpg

BILLY - THE ‘BOY’

My name is Billy Brite, I am 12 years old. I have blonde, spiky hair, blue eyes (one slightly larger than the other); I am average height and looks. I think I look all right, but I have no admirers and no real friends, no one bothers to get to know me, as they think I’m a geek.

I suppose I am quite clever, as, I don’t have to study hard like the rest of my class mates, I have been gifted with a fantastic memory, which makes learning easy. I suppose too, I can’t understand my ‘friends’ and I don’t understand myself either. I hope they are really my friends, or maybe one day someone will be a true friend. I wouldn’t like anything more than that, in the whole wide world. It’s hard from both sides. It is part jealously, part envy, and unfortunately, this has turned them all against me. On the other hand, I find them all dull and dim, and they aren’t very interesting, but let’s face it, it’s better than being on your own. Like me.

My life has been rather lonely, maybe that’s why I’ve made up imaginary friends, so people don’t think I’m such a loner. But that was a couple of years ago, when I made up those imaginary friends. I used to day dream about how clever and intelligent these ‘friends’ were, and that we were on the same wave length and how I was compared to them. It’s strange I know, but it’s true. Maybe, I have a screw loose; they say there is a fine line between genius and madness. I don’t know how long I’ve been like this, all I know is it’s been a very long time, perhaps, I was born like this, and I did not develop into my ‘odd’ character.

It has been a time spent on my own in the company of my animals. I suppose they are my true friends. They are always there for me and they are my constant companions.

Yes, my four-legged friends, which is a well-known saying, and I have just realised, how true. So, YES, I DO have true friends.

I live on a big farm in Southern Africa, I had better not tell you exactly where it is, as even though I know one ever believes me, I wouldn’t like to pin point my whereabouts, just in case! Just in case, someone actually did believe me. Hardly likely I know but, all the same, my lips are sealed.

My Mum and Dad are hardworking farmers. They both get up at the crack of dawn and work like Trojans, until long past sunset. I suppose that is why I have always woken up at day break, at the crack of dawn, it just seemed the thing to do, ‘the norm’.

My older sister Jane, is the complete opposite of me, wait a minute, everyone is the opposite of me. Anyway, she is fifteen, which in her words ‘She knows it all and no one else understands anything’ makes her supposedly superior in every way to everyone else. She would sleep all day, given the chance, or just lie around, listening to music, or chatting to her friends, as I said the opposite of me. She is ‘Miss Popular’. She is everyone’s friend, she is ‘Miss Normal’ not ‘Ab’ like me, that’s what she calls me; it’s short for abnormal, pretty appropriate or maybe not. We rarely talk; rarely see each other, apart from meal times. I would like to be a friend of her, a friend of everyone, a friend of anyone, for that matter, but no one would be seen dead with me.

There is one exception to the rule, which is my Gran, she also lives with us, and she is actually my best friend, (so, come to think of it, I do have a human one) as she is always there for me. She is always wise, and she knows how to console me with her words of wisdom. She makes me feel special. I always go to her, and she always has time for me and my ‘stories’. I think she actually enjoys them, perhaps we are alike. I know it’s a bit daggy, but she is the only one who believes in me.

My Mum and Dad are special to me, as well, don’t get me wrong, but they are always busy. They are both fed up with hearing my stories and they just want me to be a ‘normal’ boy. All I hear them say is why can’t you be a ‘normal’ five year old boy, a ‘normal’ six year old, and so on. Until now, why aren’t you a ‘normal’ twelve year old? I would have thought they would be proud of me, any other family would have been. I wanted to be appreciated, and not ignored.

Dad wants a son to take over the farm; he wants a down-to-earth boy, with his feet on the ground, with the smell of earth in his nostrils. What a disappointment I am to this family. It was decided from year dot that I would be a farmer, when I grew up and nothing else but a farmer. It was decided.

Don’t get me wrong — (I must stop saying that) I do love the farm, and everything about it, but I don’t honestly know that I could knuckle down to a hum drum life, and that hard slog life as a farmer. To me it spells BORING with a capital B. Anyway, time will tell.

CHAPTER 2

BEN2.jpg

BILLY'S

LITTLE WORLD

I have always liked to get up early, and wander off to my little secret hide-outs, which I have made over the years. They are my own ‘space’, is the better way of putting it. I even go there before school and after school, at the weekends and on public and school holidays. Actually, putting it that way, any window of opportunity, will do. Parents’ permitting it, of course!!! This is if I can get my own way, in which case the family hardly see me. At times they might welcome it. They always say ‘Where is that boy?’

‘We are going to have to do something about that boys’ behaviour.’ Is a phrase that always springs to mind?

I used to think ‘that boy’ was my name, not ‘Billy’ no one ever calls me ‘Billy’, that is apart from Gran, of course. My teachers do, but they would have to, but most of them refer to me as ‘Billy Brite’ or just ‘Brite’. Or ‘Mr Know It All’. I think my teachers find me a bit intimidating, as they can’t match my memory and, a few of my, ‘Don’t you remember—?’ hasn’t gone down too well at all, and has even resulted in detention, for being cheeky, and insolent. It was, in fact, a cover up for their embarrassment. I was always actually innocent, not insolent, but a remark like that would only spell trouble with a capital ‘T’. I must have written thousands of lines stating that I must stop trying to be clever, I must stop showing off in class, I must stop interrupting, I must stop— .The list is endless. So you can see my life is dull, in one sense, but, there is never a dull moment, in another, if you know what I mean.

I can only say that I love the farm. It is more I would say, ‘The wild’ I love, because on the farm are all the wild animals, which are a part of Africa. Not that it is normal to have wild animals, like we do, ours is more like a mini safari park. Perhaps that’s what I could open up, in years to come. I had better keep that one under my hat, as, that would set off a few sparks, to say the least. The wild animals are in a separate uncultivated part of the farm, and, not where the crops and livestock are, and naturally, you guessed it, that is where my hideouts, or dens, are located.

Ever since I can remember I have wandered off with my dogs, I have Ben, he is a brindle bull terrier, I am positive that he would fight to the death for me and, he has protected me from danger on numerous occasions. Then, there is Scruffy; he is a little wire - haired terrier cross (mongrel) and he also, is my ‘body guard’. Another of my companions is my African Grey parrot called ‘Anthony,’ he I know, thinks he is human. This is mainly because he was taken from the nest, when he was newly hatched by poachers, so he never actually got to know his bird mother. The poachers were heading back to the city to sell Anthony on the market (they could have made a lot of money out of him) There must have been other birds, as; a number of eggs would have hatched. We assume that Anthony was the youngest, weakest chick, and looked near death, so, the poachers dumped him, on the edge of one of the trails through the farm. Dad was out, on one of the horses, with his dogs, when one of them Labrador/Retriever called ‘Jed’ found him; he is trained to bring whatever he finds back to Dad. He is amazing as he is so gentle when he carries them in his mouth. Anyway, fortunately, it was Jed who found Anthony who was nearly dead, but he carried him gently in his mouth. Dad brought him home and Mum reared him, by chewing up sunflower seeds and peanuts, and then Anthony would take the chewed up seeds and nuts from her mouth, as he would have done from his own mother. So really, the only ‘mother’ he really knew was my own ‘mother’, he is, therefore, really tame, and quite a character, and always seems to say everything virtually in context. So most times I will go off on my bike and he will sit on my shoulder or, sit on the handle bars or, he sits in the little square, wicker basket on the front of the bike. I found a little square, wicker basket with a lid attached which