SO LITTLE TIME

SO LITTLE TIME 

by  Dr. Ruth Benjamin

“This case needs a couple of private detectives and their fees are exorbitant. They would have to go beyond American borders into  highly dangerous situations.”

“Why can’t we go, ourselves” asked Petra?

 “Yes,” said John “I can go with a heroic flash instead of lying there till they stopped all the machines.”….

 “OK,” said Paul, as he saw both sets of eyes gleam with excitement.

 “You are dying and yet you are still a couple of kids,” he whispered. “If I was dying, I don’t know how I would be.”

Two young people, both diagnosed with terminal cancer, meet in the Oncology Treatment Center waiting room and decide to marry. They become involved in investigating a brutal murder where the young woman's brother is the suspect and is in prison. They travel across the globe, going into dangerous situations and unearthing a ghastly destructive plot. It is an exciting, tension filled and deeply moving story which unfolds into an unexpected conclusion.

We meet Zeek, a prison cat who always appears when needed. “He is here because he wants to be here not because he has been caught peddling catnip”.

We go to a small picturesque English Hotel where one can hear chanting far below.

We meet the leader of a sinister religious group whose powerful and dynamic personality and unusual knowledge of drugs binds his followers to him in complete devotion and hero worship

We meet the mysterious Mr.Ho who seems to be in charge of a secret powerful society, working mainly for good.

We go to the Slave Castles of Ghana and find Petra’s family connections.

We go to a human ritual slaughterhouse and a midnight chase through the streets of London.

We see the mysterious red-gold medallion with a sign neither human nor animal .

This book, among other sites is available on:

All Amazon Sites

                                                                 

Kalahari Books, South Africa

CreateSpace.com

Completelynovel.com

e-book on Amazon Kindle

Besides being a fast moving detective and adventure novel, it covers many aspects of Psycho Oncology.

Dr. Ruth Benjamin

AS A ‘TASTE’ OF THE BOOK, I WILL GIVE, HERE,

THE INTRODUCTION

It was the night of the concert. There had been so many bookings that the venue had to be changed and moved to the large State Opera House.

The audience was listening spellbound and he felt that his soul would burst with the sheer beauty of the music and the fact that he could be part of it all.

He looked up to one of the balconies and found it had several Chinese gentlemen They were all dressed in formal opera clothing consistent with the luxury of their seating. One of them waved just slightly.

As he went further into the aria he saw an unusual light in the balcony where the men were sitting,

He could see them, (though the audience couldn’t) clearly see that one of the men had stood up and was waving at him; waving?

No the man was frantically gesticulating, telling him wordlessly to move aside at least a meter from where he was standing.

He moved, and almost immediately two shots rang out hitting the stage floor behind where he had been standing only a few seconds before.

There was dead silence and the lights of the opera house were switched on and he saw a man surrounded by what must have been plain clothes policemen.

He wiped away the perspiration which had collected on his brow, ice cold perspiration. It had almost have been his last moment.

Looking at the audience he could see shocked, panicked expressions. In that moment he decided to take an action that was to seal him and his singing forever into the hearts of the people.

He continued to sing the aria going to the beginning of the bar which had been so forcibly interrupted.

The orchestra seemed to come out of its shocked state and individual moments of shock to continue with the music, and the theater lights once more dimmed as a man was led away.

When he had finished the aria the audience rose, cheering and clapping. The sound was almost deafening.

Antonio came up to him. “You are OK to carry on” he asked, himself obviously shaken?

“We have a program, don’t we? Next is Tosca, my favorite. How could I miss that?”

The concert continued, the audience thrilled by the singer’s courage.

But the story does not begin here. Our story begins in a doctor’s office in Upper Manhattan, a surgeon’s office.

With the predictions of the oncologist this might truly seem to be close to the end of the road.  

                                                                                                  

Instead it is only the beginning.

                                                                                             

Chapter 1.

The doctor was looking very serious as John arrived for his appointment and was treating him with a gentleness that made him feel uneasy. He found his mind latching onto various things in the consultation room, things, which he had not noticed on the previous visit. There was a picture on the wall of the sea, a large picture, with the waves sweeping the shore.  The sun was shining; lighting up the spray that was brought up by the movement of the waves. What a beautiful calming picture. He stared out of the window. The blossoms were beginning to come out as the trees gently burst their way into bloom; magnificent truly magnificent. The world was beautiful, more beautiful than he had noticed for many days. But why was he noticing it now? Was it a six sense? Was it awareness that his hold on the world would be loosened?

His mind snapped back to the present, to the consultation room, to the doctor in front of him who was still looking very serious and still speaking to him in that gentle way.  There was something wrong, there had to be. He had had a biopsy of a lump on his knee that looked perfectly innocent, that he would not even have thought to consult a doctor about.  The lump had been there for months, maybe even a year, and he had waited for it to go away. He had become aware that it was growing but had somehow told himself it wasn't really doing that, that it was his own imagination.  It had been his girlfriend, Fiona who had finally got him to go to the doctor. He had been jogging with her and he suddenly felt weak and faint and they had sat down beside the road. The way he had his knee placed made the lump very obvious and she had stared at it dubiously until she had plucked up enough courage to ask him about it. Had he hurt himself? Was it painful? Had it always been there? He had felt decidedly uncomfortable and she had not let-up until he had made a promise and eventually a doctor’s appointment on his cell phone..... 

............ continued in the book.

 

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