“Fraidy cat,” Rydell said, standing up. “That’s what I’m going to call you from now. Fraidy Kate. I was picking up something I dropped. What are you doing?”
“Sweeping the bus,” Kate’s heart was still pounding. “Harrison wants me to sweep the bus.”
“Of course he does,” Rydell advanced. “And, like a good little girl you’re doing it. Tell me something, are you always such a good little girl, Fraidy Kate? Even late at night, when you’re by yourself alone with your secrets, are you such a good girl then?”
Kate was taken aback by his anger. His dark eyes glittered and his thick red lips were wet with spittle.
“Do you ever do the things you really want to do or do you just dream about them? Do you even know what you are capable of? I bet you don’t. I bet you’ve never been challenged in your whole life to do something extraordinary, something powerful. All you’ve done is say yes to the men in your life. What have you ever done that’s your own?”
“Why are you attacking me like this?” Kate edged towards the door, feeling trapped by the tight seats and the mountainous piles of backpacks, magazines, food and water bottles. “What have I ever done to you except be nice to you? I just came to clean the bus.”
“I’ll do it,” Rydell snatched the broom out of her hand. “Go for a walk, Fraidy Kate, and think about your obedient little life, how you’re a puppet, an ordinary, boring little puppet.”
Kate did not need to be told twice. She shot out of the bus and ran up to Marika and Jono. “Rydell just attacked me for no reason, he really scared me. He’s not normal, Jono, he’s not, and you don’t know the whole story.”
She told Jono what Rydell had said to her about wanting Treasure to be his wife and how he was going to hunt her down.
“Kate, my dear,” Jono said, “calm down. Rydell is angry right now because Harrison and Treasure are friends, and that is why he attacked you. I have been with Treasure on many trips and men always get crushes on her and then the fights start, although mostly it is the wives who get cross. Please, do not worry about Treasure, she can take care of herself. Rydell is a strange man, but he is not a dangerous one, I know the difference. Believe me, I will take very good care of you, nothing bad will ever happen to you.” He blushed.
Kate looked doubtful in response to his rationale. “I don’t know. I agree with you about why he vented on me but I don’t think you are right, Jono, I think he is dangerous.”
“I agree that he has the potential for violence but he wouldn’t be so stupid as to attack you with all of us around,” Marika said. “And why would he attack you anyway? I mean think about it, what would he gain from that? Out of all of us, he likes you the best, he was just upset, that’s all.”
“Hmmm,” Kate considered what Marika had said. “Maybe you’re right. I hope so.” But she was still doubtful.
“I will sit next to my wife now, thank you very much,” Stepfan said to Harrison when they got back on the bus. Harrison nodded but looked questioningly at Lena who gave a hint of a smile and nodded back.
“Fine, no problem. Sofie, I’ll sit next to you.”
“No, you won’t,” Sofie replied quickly with unmistakable firmness. “We’ve already been seatmates, so you sit next to Charisse and I will go next to Brianna because we haven’t had the chance to talk. Is that alright, Charisse and Bree?” She gave them a pleading look.
“Sure, why not?” Charisse agreed.
Sofie gave a sigh of relief. “He talks nonstop,” she whispered to Brianna. “I couldn’t do it again.”
Brianna nodded and smiled. Despite her run-ins with Jasmine and the tensions about Charisse and Stepfan, she was looking more relaxed than she had at the start of the trip; she was tanned, her dark hair was shiny, and her worry lines had eased.
“This bus is full of all kinds of stuff,” Sofie commented. “Not helped by the fact that Helen hangs her running gear everywhere. It’s like we are inside a travelling laundry. And whose bananas are those, perched over the big water bottles at the front?”
Brianna looked up. “I hadn’t noticed them. I know the avocados are Richard’s, he’s trying to ripen them. You’re right, the bus is very lived-in; it’s like we’re the circus.”
Eva, listening, leaned forward. “A travelling circus,” she said, with delight. “Hah! I feel the start of a poem.” She scrambled to find a piece of paper.
True to form, Harrison chatted to Charisse at high speed, covering a hundred different topics a minute. Charisse seemed interested and even laughed now and then.
Enrique climbed back up into the luggage rack nest he had made for himself, while Ellie threw a mat on the floor of the bus, near the water bottles, close to Rydell’s feet and lay on her back, reading.
Kate glanced around and saw Rydell staring daggers at Harrison and she sighed. She turned to tell Marika but her seatmate had her eyes closed and was either napping or listening to music.
Several long hours later, the bus came to a shuddering halt amid a cloud of red dust that whirled around the hot, ticking vehicle. They had arrived at Siesriem.
The road had been a true test of the adventurers’ stamina. Even the most avid readers had given up on their books and had resigned themselves to being jolted instead. It was impossible to concentrate over the noise of grinding steel on the corrugated weather-beaten road. There was no point in trying to listen to music or talk. Harrison was the only one who continued to chat, forging a conversation with a flung-about Charisse who had long since stopped listening.
The bus had passed through terrain both remarkable and unworldly and the heat was devastating. Every window was open but this merely circulated a relentless gale of scorching dust-infused air that scalded eyeballs and leached already parched throats. The group held onto one another or clutched the seats in front of them and watched rocks become veldt scrub which in turn became black and orange canyons that eased out into flat, pale blonde dust as far as the eye could see. Then the landscape changed back to talon-gouged red canyons while skyscraper dust-devils wove across the land with chimeras dancing alongside in the searing heat.
They finally came to a stop and no one moved until Treasure forced the door open. She took one look at the wild-eyed, wind-burnt travellers and burst out laughing. “Yes,” she said. “That is the road here. Overlanders must be tough. There is ice-cream in that shop there. You should all go and get one. I promise it will make you feel better.”
But not even the lure of an ice-cream oasis could get the group moving at more than a snail’s pace. They unfolded their shocked bodies, and got slowly to their feet, grunting.
“Good Lord,” Richard groaned. “Feels like I’ve been locked in a barrel and sent over a cliff or two. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m suffering from internal bruising.”
“Arrrggh…” Enrique let out a wail. “Sorry,” he apologized, “I had to do that.”
“We must do a stretch class tonight,” Helen said to Sofie who nodded in agreement.
One by one they staggered off the bus.
Kate noticed Charisse leaning against the side of the bus, her complexion an unhealthy green. “Are you okay?” Kate went over to her. “You don’t look so good.”
Charisse groaned. “I’ll be fine. That road was worse than I expected. I thought I was getting dehydrated so I drank water the whole way but it didn’t help, my stomach is worse than ever.”
“Can I get you an ice-cream?” Kate enquired.
“God no, but thank you anyway. Brianna’s getting me more water and I’ll lie down for a bit once we get our tents up. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I gotta tell you, that Harrison can talk. Even when it got so noisy, he carried on. No wonder Sofie palmed him off on me. Maybe that’s why I feel sick, it’s the aftermath of being held captive by a talk-aholic,” Charisse hugged her stomach.
“Yep, he’s special. We’re really in the desert now,�
�� Kate said, taking in the scenery. “It’s sort of like a prairie except that the sand’s a foot or two deep.” She held her arms out to the sky and took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of veldt grass baking under the hot sun and mixing with the spicy dust. The sky stretched a vast deep cerulean above the golden grassy plains and the air was so hot it seemed solid, with the horizon a distant shimmer.
Marika returned from the store and handed Kate a raspberry-flavoured jelly-filled water-ice. “I got you a Frogz Eggz ice cream.” They got back on the bus, eating quickly, with the ice cream melting down their hands.
The wheels of the bus spun and the big old white truck fishtailed as they slowly ground through the soft deep sand to their campsite, a small circle under the umbrellaed shade of a giant Camel Thorn tree thick with large, grey, boomerang-shaped seedpods, a majestic green canopy in the middle of the vast veldt.
“Everybody!” Jono shouted as soon as they arrived. “Please, pay attention for a moment! You have got two hours to put up your tents and do whatever you like, but please be back at the bus at 5:30 p.m. for the Siesriem canyon walk. Treasure will stay here to make supper. I would like to suggest an early night because our wake-up call tomorrow morning is 4:00 a.m.”
Shrieks of horror greeted his announcement and Jono laughed. “There is a very good reason for it. You will watch the sunrise from a place of great beauty.”
Jono had decided he needed to be more proactive when it came to Kate because time was passing and, with it, opportunity. He made his way over to Kate and Marika and said, “I’ve come to help you two.”
“That’s fantastic of you, Jono. My eyeballs feel like someone’s held a hairdryer on them for the past three hours, so all in all, I’m not feeling too strong,” Marika said.
“Don’t put us anywhere near Rydell,” Kate said. “Jono, did you ever get a calling card for your cellphone? Although you probably wouldn’t get a signal out here anyway. What if something bad happens? We are so far from everywhere.”
“You worry too much, Katie,” Jono said. “Nothing bad will happen.”
“You might want to check on Charisse,” Kate said. “She looked quite nauseous.”
“A guilty conscience will do that to you,” Marika muttered in an undertone. “I must go and do some laundry. I should have bought more clothes in Springbok.”
Later they were all gathered under the huge tree. Sofie was doing yoga, her concentration fierce. Helen was frowning and clipping her toenails. Brianna was standing outside her tent, focusing on the dunes in the distance and shading her eyes with one hand.
Harrison and Treasure’s happy chatter and the clanging of their pots and pans were the only sounds floating over the campsite. Richard and Mia were reclining on camp stools, drinking beer and Gisela and Lena had just returned from a stroll.
“I’m too knackered to go on a walk later,” Mia announced. She was stretched out, with her toe ring sparkling in the sunshine and her toenails sporting the remains of chipped purple polish.
“It’ll be good for us,” Helen filed her nails vigorously.
“Bollocks to things that are good for me.” Mia matched Helen’s firm tone of voice. “And I wish this place had a bleedin’ swimming pool. It’s the hottest place ever, why doesn’t it have a pool? And it’s bleedin’ miles to the ice cream shop. I’m not walking through all that sand, though I’d kill for a Toffee Magnum. Just getting to the toilet’s a bleedin’ trek through the Sahara.”
“I’d get you a Magnum,” Richard offered idly, “but it’d melt before I got back.” Richard had foregone shaving and he had a sunglasses tan. He was the Lone Ranger around the camp fire at night, only his was a sickly pale mask.
“I’m going to stay here this afternoon,” Enrique announced, appearing with Eva at his side. “It’s absolutely incredible. I could shoot for days.” They were odd companions. He was tanned and boyish in his shorts and a faded T-shirt while Eva was gothic glam in designer sunglasses, a black midriff tee and black shorts.
“Can one stay?” Kate asked. “Is that an option? I thought we had to go on the walk?”
The others were amused by her earnestness.
“This isn’t school, Kate,” Richard said, his face to the sun. “You can do whatever you like.”
“Then I’d like to walk around all by myself with my camera,” Kate declared.
The moment was shattered by an angry shout.
“Where’s Charisse?” Harrison ran up to them. “Where is she? She drank all my water. That is not right.”
“How do you know it was Charisse who drank it?” Sofie asked from the Lotus pose, her hands in a prayer pose.
“Because she was sitting next to me and she said she’d drunk all of hers and she asked if she could have some of mine. Of course I said yes but I never said she could have all of it. Where is she?”
“Sssh, Harrison, she’s feeling really sick,” Brianna walked up to him quickly. “She probably drank it because she wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t thinking straight. She said was feeling dehydrated and now she’s very nauseous. Please don’t shout at her. We can buy you more at the store in the morning and in the meantime, you can share ours, I got some when we stopped for ice cream.”
“Come on, Harrison,” Sofie got up and shook her mat. “Mistakes happen. Don’t make a big thing of it, let it go.”
“All right,” Harrison grumbled. “For the sake of international goodwill, I will let it go.”
“Is everybody ready for the walk?” Jono called from the bus.
“I’m staying here,” Kate said. “This area is absolutely magical.”
“The canyon is magical too,” Jono said. He had been hoping to take Kate aside and finally have a real conversation with her.
“I am sure it is, but I’m going to explore by myself.”
“I’m going to stay here to help Treasure,” Harrison said.
“I’m going to stay here and do bugger all,” Mia said. “Oh hang on … I’m going to drink beer and work on my a suntan, that counts as something.”
“You do that, my love, have fun and enjoy,” Richard pulled on his T-shirt.
“Let us be off then,” Jono said, “we will see everybody for dinner in two hours.”
Out in the middle of the field of blonde grass, Kate dusted the sand from her shorts. She walked towards a small red sand dune and lay down on her stomach, studying the tiny remains of a bleached white beetle. Then she sat up and looked around, digging her bottom deep in the soft, almost oily, cinnamon-coloured sand.
“Hey Cam,” she said out loud to her ex-boyfriend. “If you hadn’t been such a jerk, I’d never have seen this. Thank you for being such a jerk.”
The Fifth Night
THAT NIGHT THE SKY WAS THICK with stars and the hazy band of the Milky Way spread a broad crystal swathe across the darkness while Mars glowed like a pinprick ruby among the diamond delights.
“Supper’s ready,” Treasure sang out.
“This is the plan, everybody,” Jono said. “We get up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and then we drive like the wind to sand Dune 45, the second highest dune in the world. From there you will watch a spectacular sunrise. Then you will come down off the dune and enjoy a hot breakfast which Treasure, and most probably Harrison, will be preparing for us.”
“No, I’m going up the dune.” Harrison said. “I’m very excited. I will be the first at the top.”
“No, that will be me,” Sofie said.
“No, me,” Helen insisted.
“I’ll give gold stars to the winners,” Mia said.
“I’m more excited about getting a hot breakfast,” Stepfan said. “The morning offerings have hardly been adequate. It should be more like a traditional Continental breakfast with slices of assorted cold meats, different kinds of cheese with different breads and pastries and pots of freshly brewed coffee…”
&n
bsp; The others stared at him.
“Stepfan,” Sofie said, “let me ask you a question. Where are we? As in where in the world are we? We are in the middle of nowhere in Africa. And you want assorted cheeses and pastries. Sometimes the things you say blow my mind.”
“If certain things have not been as I thought they would be, so what?” Stepfan retorted. “I’m allowed my dreams. I imagined a desert safari, with buffet tables covered in white cloths. I thought there would be lions strolling in front of us. I thought we would be riding through large herds of big game, and at night sleeping in big tents with draped mosquito netting. I thought our bus would be air-conditioned and comfortable, so you would be able to hear yourself think. I thought ‘participatory tent assembly’ meant that somebody would put up my tent for me and I would participate by sleeping in it.”
“Haw! Sleeping in a tent does not count as participatory assembly,” Jono finished his hamburger and wiped his fingers on a napkin. “With regards to your other comments, there is a questionnaire you can fill out at the end of the trip and you are most welcome to write all of that down. We would not wish to believe we have misled you.”
“Ignore him,” Lena put her empty plate down on the sand. “He’s just being difficult. He knew exactly what it would be like. There was nothing misleading in the brochure. Despite all of this being new to me, I’m having a wonderful time.”
The group was surprised. It was true, she looked good. Relaxed, tanned and happy.
Treasure walked up with her hands on her hips, concerned.
“Where’s Charisse? She didn’t come and get any supper.”
“She’s still feeling very sick,” Brianna replied, “she’s sleeping. She didn’t even come on the walk to the canyon.”
“She drank all my water as well as hers,” Harrison said.
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