I had been in the jungle for five days after escaping from the prison camp and was living on rainwater and fruits that I recognised

My grey prison uniform was in tatters and I had been bitten a number of times and the poisons along with my malnutrition were weakening me

Late in the afternoon of this fifth day I occasioned a beach right on the edge of the steaming jungle

The sand was white and the sea was uncontaminated

Tears began to well in my sunken eyes as I walked in the shallows

A crab ran in front of me but I was too weak to catch it

Would you like a cigarette you look like that you could use one

I turned and was faced by a native girl in a loin cloth carrying a short spear

Two dead fish hung from its point

I do not smoke but thanks all the same

I have Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut in my boat would you like a bar as I am trying to cut my sugar intake down?

Yes the chocolate would be most welcome

The girl handed me her spear and ran into the sea

I looked at the dead fish

One winked at me

I am faking it and waiting until madam has her back turned then I am going to make a dash for it

You have been run through by a spear

Yes that is a problem

We are a beach some metres from the sea

Another problem but they are not insurmountable

The girl returned from the sea and handed me a bar of Fruit and Nut chocolate

See I have kept it dry I hate salt in my chocolate

I ate the confectionary with greed whilst the native girl touched my chest

Why do you have a butterfly on your chest?

Because my nickname is Papillion

It that why they locked you up

No it was political

What is your real name?

Henri

Mine is Rima

The native girl stayed with me for a further two days tending my wounds and feeding me

The talking fish was our first meal

It is far, far better thing I do than I have ever done; it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known

These were the last worlds of the fish as I placed it on the grill

They still brings tears to my eyes

The day after Rima left two guards found me and ordered me back to the camp at gunpoint

I killed them both with Rima’s spear and for the next week ate both of them dipped in lemon

I was stronger

My diseases faded as did my sores

Rima never returned and I have lived on this beach for the last twenty-five years surviving on a diet of talking fish and prison guards

One day in a distant land someone will write a book about me and perhaps an adventurer will come searching for me

But until that day arrives I will continue to write short stories of how I escaped from that dreadful prison camp and have made this wonderful beach my home