A Collection of Short Stories and Poems

By William “Bill” Pratt

I was splashing in the swampy water, with the rain coming down in bucket fulls, I was trying to locate which was north or south , but the tall trees blocked out the what light there might have been, and with the rain pouring down over me , getting down my neck of my jacket, and no hat on, I was totally wet through. I tried to keep to the narrow pathway, but it twisted and turned so much that I stepped into the swampy water a few times .
I was lost, unfortunately.
I had been in the swamp , it seemed like for hours, I had no idea how I had got here, the last time my memory remembered anything was driving across the bridge , oh my goodness, it is coming back to me, the middle of the bridge was washed away!, and we plunged down into the swamp!. No wonder I am floundering around in the swamp in the middle of the night.
Where is the car, Is a question? I can not see it. How did I get out of the car, is another question?
Where the hell am I, is the third question? No one is going to miss me, until I dont turn up for the meeting at Tamauranui, Then they wont have any idea where I might even be, what a predicament.
I try to look at my watch as the luminous hands should tell me what time it is, but I find the face is all broken, not much help there. I flounder along and come across a giant of a tree, I look up and see the trunk disappearing into the murky gloom, but I am so tired, I sit down and lean against the trunk , I feel like going to sleep, as my head falls down on to my chest , my mind says, wake up, dont go to sleep, stay focused, have a small rest , but get up and keep working things out. My head aches and when I feel my head I find a large lump on my forehead, no wonder I am in lala land. After what seems like a few hour the rain slows down to a steady drizzle and finally it stops, It becomes lighter , as though the clouds are slowly going away, hopefully I may be able to see something soon, It must be nearly morning. I see a line of fence posts , but when I look closely, the tops of the posts disappear under the water, I wont be following them thats for sure. On the other side of the fence in the distance I can see what looks like an old barn, it looks quite run down, I dont think it will be any good to me. anyway how do I even get over to it. I have run out of time to finish this story, just as well it is fiction!.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Apr 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781493193059

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by William Bill Pratt.

ISBN:      Softcover         978-1-4931-9304-2

                eBook              978-1-4931-9305-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/29/2015

Xlibris

0-800-443-678

www.Xlibris.co.nz

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Contents

SHORT STORIES

A Dare

A Birth In The Family

A Near Death Experience

Cruising On The Mighty Waikato River

Digging For Treasure

Elephant Hunting

Everything Is Going To The Dogs

Hidden Treasure

High Tide

If Only I Could Remember

It’s Time You Got A Life

Needing Peace

The Haunted House

On My Way To Do The Shopping

Out Of A Clear Sky

Something What We Did Over The Holiday Period

Looking Out The Window

The Letter

The Swamp Story

A Short Story About Telling Tales

The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side Of The Fence

Time

Tornado

What If……

Wine, Women, And Song

POEMS OF LIFE

An Introduction Of William [Bill] Pratt

Call Of Your Voice

A Day To Remember

Haywire

Help Love And Cherish

Home

My Princess

The Hand Of Fellowship And Love

Salvation

Thoughts

The Flowers Of Spring

Moonshine

Peace And Contentment

A Long Day

Today – Tomorrow

Hope And Love

Valentine

Pure And Strong

Measure

Belonging

The End Of The Day

A Day In May

Eternity

Doing His Will

Attainment

Rewarding

Every Minute Of The Day

Whispering

Thoughts And Memories

So Finely Made

Unity

Enriched

My Heart Moves

Joy And Contentment

Grand Company

A Special Friend

Prayers And Dreams

Everything That I Need

To Remembering

Waiting For Me

Dry And Moist

When Tomorrow Starts Without Me

Charisma

Sentimental

Clicked

Briefly Touched

Sweet Nana

Stand Tall

Otaki

Our Best Shot

Hunger

SHORT STORIES

A DARE

It all started with a Dare to go camping.

There were three of us camping out of Hastings up in the hills.

The horses were ground hoppled, so they could eat, but not able to wander away.

The camp fire was burning brightly, and Tim was washing up the dishes, Dick had put the billy on the fire to make a cuppa. I was sitting back on one of the logs, contemplating, how long the rain was going to stay away.

We had pitched our tent, and our sleeping bags had a warm stone in them, to make things a little bit warmer. Our saddles were under cover, thank goodness, as the rain was threatening.

Just then the horses nickered, and lifted their heads, Instantly, we knew someone was approaching our camp. We were all conscious of where we were, 40 km from a town. So who should be out here in the same area as us. As we heard the horse approach, a voice called. Hullo the camp, may I come in?

Tim called out. Please enter.

Approaching the camp was a sorry looking bay mare, with a sorry looking man riding her. They looked as though they had travelled a long way.

Dick looks up and says. We are just having a cup of coffee, would you like one? Come and sit by the fire and tell us who you are.

Thank you so much. The man calls out.

Dick passes the mugs around and the sorry looking man says.

This coffee tastes better than the one I had this morning. My name is Walter Ramsbottom, and I come from Whangarei originally. But yesterday and today, I have come from Waipawa.

We all finish our coffee and we decide to retire to our sleeping bags in our tent. Dick has a final look around and checks our three horses, when he arrives back he says everything is good. The stranger called Walter attends to his horse and makes up a bed of ferns and then lays down to go to sleep.

We all have had a good nights rest, and Dick decide to check up on our horses, while Tim starts to prepare breakfast over the fire, consisting of beans on toast and coffee.

Dick comes rushing back to camp shouting. Our horses are gone, Walter is not around but his old bay mare is still there, the bugger has swapped horses.

We pack up quickly after a hurried breakfast and follow the trail that he has left, the trail he is on, is heading towards Otane