It was not the holiday travel either of them expected. Thurston Klotz, owner of Klotz Holdings and Investments Limited, and his business manager, Delumi Vido, decide to drive the company limousine to its meeting at the mine instead of taking the mundane trip by air. While crossing the Nullabour Plains in Western Australia, Klotz turns sharply to miss a kangaroo jumping in the road; the car swerves, crashes, and bursts into flames. Klotz perishes instantly, but Delumi survives. Delumi wanders for days without food and water, only to be found by an Aborigine youth, who brings her to his home of the Ballagalla Tribe. The gracious people help her recover, and she eventually returns home. Delumi is grateful to Wally (short for Wallaballagalla) and the tribe for helping her to survive the ordeal in the desert. As she returns to work at KHII, she must overcome many challenges to make sure the company survives, but she does not forget the kindness of the tribe in the desert.

Delumi

By Howard Reede-Pelling

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2011 Howard Reede-Pelling
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-5223-4

Contents

1 Ordeal......................................12 Re-Organizing...............................93 The Corroboree..............................174 A Change Of Format..........................255 The Movie Star..............................346 A Door Opens................................437 Enlightenment...............................528 The Wrap Up.................................609 The Ballagalla Children.....................6810 Uluru......................................7811 Jacinta....................................8612 Catching Up................................9313 Leadership Spill...........................10114 Consolidation..............................10915 An Old Friend..............................12116 Sapphires!.................................12917 All Systems Go!............................13918 The Week Off...............................148

Chapter One

ORDEAL

Delumi Vido raised a weary arm to wipe the globules of perspiration from her dripping brow, hoping to ease the stinging of the rivulets affecting her vision. With shaded eyes the young lady earnestly scanned the arid, far horizon. Nothing! No movement stirred within the wide vista of her roving gaze. One or two stunted trees every kilometre or so for as far as she could distinguish through her tear-streaked, glazed red eyes, irritated by hours of plodding through this inhospitable, dry and dusty sand blown land-scape; was all that could be discerned. A stark, dying tree afforded scant shade from the fierce burning rays of the merciless sun. Delumi collapsed as a discarded sack of potatoes into the meagre shade. Despair and hopelessness etched deep into her worried face; a face which glistened with beauty and grace albeit though tear-stained and grimy. The clothes she wore, once elegant and neat, now were as a dishevelled bunch of torn and dirty rags. The ravages of time, distance and the fight for survival had transformed the once clean and trim young executive into a quite pitiful, ragged tramp. Delumi heaved a weary sigh and fell asleep. Again in sleep, she re-lived the most frightening prelude to her present dilemma. With her wealthy industrialist employer, Thurston Klotz, they had been driving across the Nullabour Plains of Western Australia to settle the terms of a lucrative contract at an isolated mining lease. They opted for the overland drive in preference to the company twin-engines jet by way of a diversion from the monotony of the continual flying business trips. As Thurston had quoted "A change is as good as a holiday!" This was not the holiday either of the travellers had in mind. Whilst Delumi shuffled through papers and re-checked the wording of contracts, Thurston drove the company limousine; the usual driver having been offered a week off. It was while Thurston's attention was diverted to a particular paragraph queried by Delumi, that a kangaroo resting in the shade of some scrub became agitated by the fast approaching vehicle and suddenly bounded out in front of it. Thurston valiantly attempted to avoid the marsupial and in doing so, caused the long limousine to slew sideways. A large boulder by the roadside straightened the careening limo' with a severe jolt and Thurston's head crashed against the door upright, sharply snapping his neck. He died instantly; a foot jammed the accelerator to the floor. The ungainly limousine sped out of control pitching and tossing across the Nullabour; Delumi unconscious in her seatbelt, having also bumped her head. The vehicle sped uncontrolled for many kilometres across the rough and rocky terrain, miraculously missing trees but occasionally grubbing saltbushes as it bolted aimlessly. Eventually a ditch rolled the limousine; Delumi was jolted awake by the exploding gas tanks. Otherwise unhurt, the very bewildered young lady released her restraining seat-belt and hurriedly, frantically, quit the blazing wreck to scurry in terrified bounds for the safety of a large rocky outcrop. In awe, she watched the remains of the vehicle and her employer, as they burned! For three days Delumi searched in vain for the road over which the two had been travelling, but city-bred, she had no idea of bush craft or direction and had stumbled in abject terror in any but the right direction. Without food or water the young body was beginning to dehydrate. Mirages began flashing with scintillating realism before her tired and flickering vision; her spirit and strength, fast declining. In sleep she twitched and rolled from the blessed shade into the hot sand and searing sunlight. Delumi roused and forced her tired being back into the meagre shade. After an hour of rest another effort was made and the hopeless young lady struggled to her feet. She scanned the horizons again and finding no comfort in that effort, boldly plodded forth. Two more kilometres of trudging found her beside a larger shrub of the desert than hitherto had come her way. As Delumi tried to crawl under it into the comfort of the shade, her head swam dizzily and she fainted; falling prone into the welcome safety of the darker shadows of the shrub. Warm liquid trickling over her lips woke Delumi. She opened her eyes to the spectacle of a grinning black face, which displayed huge white teeth. A comical yet strangely cultured voice addressed her. "Ay, Missus! You a long way from somewhere, I reckon!" Delumi opened her mouth to speak but no sound came forth; more water was squeezed into it. The aborigine broke another small branch from the shrub and began pounding it with a rock. The girl watched in awe as this stupid man wasted his energy trying to kill a dead stick. She mentally apologised as the 'stupid man' squeezed the pulp to let more droplets of water into her parched mouth. Delumi fervently swallowed and licked the while she attempted to smile her thanks. Having recovered slightly and with a not so parched throat, Delumi struggled to a sitting position. "Thank you!" She croaked. The huge grin again engulfed the handsome black features. "Ay Missus. Reckon you can walk a little bit over there?" He pointed to the West but Delumi did not know that. "Plenty water in the rocks. Come Missus, try!" The youth gently raised the weak girl to her feet. She marvelled at his strength for such a slightly built lad. Together they made their way in the direction indicated, the aborigine bearing the brunt of the burden at first. As they progressed, Delumi found her strength returning slightly and was able to carry her own weight a little better. A rocky outcropping came into sight. It was little more than a small wall and no creek or billabong could be discerned. Delumi began to fear that the intended water supply which they were seeking may very well have dried up; her face fell. Her guide led the frail girl to a ledge and bade her sit. He then reached into a crevice with both hands cupped and withdrew them brimming with water — the water of life! Delumi fairly charged at the precious liquid spilling a little in her frenzied fervour. "Easy Missus!" Her host chided. "Plenty more — ay?" The girl nudged him away and helped herself. After six or seven cupped hands full of water were dispatched, the aborigine pulled Delumi away with a caution. "No more yet — wait — waste not good!" He took a few hands full himself, then filled a small leather pouch from his waist-string, to tide them over the next stage of their journey. Feeling more refreshed and with renewed hope, Delumi studied her...