This website aims to be about good writing, whatever the source, whoever the author. We publish columns, campaigns, criticism and news. Occasionally, given the success of BERNARD TRAFFORD’s Song For A Spy, (find the latest chapter HERE) we publish good fiction.

Therefore, I proudly present a short story written by an occasional and popular contributor who happens to be my son, TIMOTHY J BANKS. He lives in and writes about his new home and family in Ghana. What follows is a taste of his work for www.Kalaharireview.com.

Only the Bad Die Old

By Timothy J Banks

A million fruit bats coded the sky above the Military Hospital on Liberation Road. At the entrance Stephen McInnery clung to a bollard as his wife searched for a parking space. She left him again when they reached the Medical Emergency Unit, this time hurrying off to find the doctor rumoured to be their nephew’s best friend.

Here a young woman lay sprawled across three chairs in the waiting area. The remaining seats were occupied by a child staring at a phone and his fat, dispirited parents. Stephen swayed in the doorway, apparently unseen, hating everyone in the room. When his blood pressure was tested his wife was there again, holding one of his arms to prevent him sliding to the floor.

Moments later he was staring at the ceiling and was scarcely aware of the voices above him, as a military officer described his symptoms to a crowd of trainee nurses.

“Civilian case Stephen T. McInnery, suspected malaria…”

Gratefully, he sank into a deep, dark sleep, away from the traffic of faces. Here in the darkness, though, he wasn’t alone for long. . .

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