Cornell Charles

In Pursuit of Running Water Cornell Charles

An American tourist/investor while on holiday sees an opportunity of a viable investment on an island. He tackles the scheme with such clandestine approaches and haste that he fails to learn all facets of the land and its peculiarities. The American investor's dream to comprehensively own a mountain with an abundant source of spring water is frustrated initially by one owner who is not a resident of the mountain. The American Jim Gallegos is convinced that he can negotiate directly with the other farmer residents who together occupy the larger acreage and whose lives are seen as an existence close to subsistence level. He is cautioned about the likelihood of restrictive measures by the Government's Tourism and Physical Planning departments and also legal bottlenecks in settling with the farmers. This does not deter him from embarking on an incident riddled exploratory one day trip to the mountain top which resulted in the death of his guide, a broken leg injury to his wife and his near fatal mishap which left him marooned from the rest in a primal environment. They went missing for a thirty-six to forty-eight hour period before they were found. The island authorities rushed to format a separate search party on each of three days to rescue the stranded and traumatized American couple at different locations. The local confidence men, savvy enough to see beneath the covertness, were intent on building an enterprise around the American investor in anticipation of the spinoffs from his disguised prospective venture. This set off an internecine war between local factions, namely, a consulting accountant, a taxi driver/helper and a disco bar owner. Plans along grand dinners and socially impacting weddings were being organized to woo the American couple hoping to engender favoritism . . However all plans and stratagems were rescinded by the American investor as a result of the calamitous events on the mountain. He sought