“I thought you were going to let that go, Harrison,” Helen said.
“I’m trying to show Treasure how thirsty she was,” Harrison objected. “Although she was most talkative. I would not have said she was not feeling well.”
“Let us know how she is,” Jono said to Treasure and he returned to his introduction of the area but he was clearly distracted, reciting facts in a monotone.
“We are in the Namib Desert and the word Namib comes from the Nama word which means desert or large plain. Siesriem, which is where we are now, is the gateway to Sossuvlei, one of the prime tourist attractions in Namibia. The word ‘Sossusvlei’ means ‘dead-end marsh’ and the area is made up of giant red-coloured sand dunes as well as large salt and clay pans, which are dried-up shallow pools baked dry by the desert sun. The pan never sees water unless the Tsauchab river floods, which happens very seldom. The red colour of the dunes comes from the iron oxide in the sand and the colour of dunes changes, depending on the time of day and the light. Tomorrow you will climb a dune and take a walk with Thaalu. Are there any questions?”
“That’s it?” Richard asked. “That was an awfully short story for an area this big.”
“And it will have to suffice, my friend,” Jono said. “I am going to check on Charisse.”
“I’m going to bed to look through my images,” Kate said. “See you all tomorrow.”
“You never stay and sit around the fire after supper,” Rydell said, appearing suddenly at her shoulder.
Kate was startled. “There’s plenty of great company here already,” she said shortly. “No need for me to stay.”
She hurried off, suspicious of his creepy version of friendly after attacking her earlier on the bus. She stopped at Charisse’s tent just as Jono and Treasure emerged. “How is she?”
“Not good,” Jono’s expression was worried. “This does not feel right. If she had a stomach flu, it would be one thing but this is another. We shall see tomorrow.”
“What if she’s not better?”
“I will get a car to drive her fast to the hospital in Walvis Bay. But I’m hoping she will be better.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Kate asked.
“No, but thank you,” Jono said. “She even tried to take her emergency antibiotics but couldn’t keep them down.”
“I tried to give her some Gravol but she could not keep that down either.” Brianna was miserable.
“Sounds like she’s a lot worse,” Kate commented. “When we arrived she was just a bit green in the face. Call me any time, if I can help.”
Kate crawled into her tent and lay staring at the small domed canvas roof with her hands behind her head. Marika returned, her hair wet from the shower and Kate updated her about Charisse.
“I’m beginning to wonder if this trip is cursed,” Marika said. “If all that talk about African magic sparked off something bad, like that bag of bones I bought that time. I lost my luggage, it seems like there’s so much arguing, that monkey business between Stepfan and Charisse, all the talk of little children being murdered, Rydell being so odd…”
Kate looked thoughtful. “But Charisse said her stomach was sore right when we started the trip, remember? I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for everything.”
They heard the campfire party breaking up for the night and they tried to fall sleep but Rydell, who fell asleep immediately, seemed to have added nightmares to his four-snore symphony and although their tent was furthest from him, they could still hear every nuance of his moans as he thrashed around.
They were not alone in their sleeplessness. No one, apart from Rydell, Mia and Jasmine, was getting any sleep. Helen lay awake, gritting her teeth and furious with Rydell for keeping her awake at a time when she had nothing to do but contemplate the cracked fragments of her hopes and dreams.
Stepfan, seething with rage at the snoring, tossed, grunting loudly, fuming at Lena’s unexplained absence.
Brianna flicked on her flashlight and whispered words of encouragement to Charisse who groaned softly, her face slick with cold sweat. Brianna wondered if she should call Jono but figured there was not much he could do. She poured some water onto a cloth and and gently wiped Charisse’s face.
Eva lay awake, alone in her tent, wondering if they should suggest to Rydell that he sleep on the bus at night, with all the windows tightly closed.
Enrique and Harrison, snug in their sleeping bags, struck up a conversation about the architecture and beauty of the natural wonders of the world, while in the tent next to them, Jono sat upright, his legs crossed. He was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding.
While the others called it a night, Gisela and Lena remained at the fire pit. “It’s so nice,” Lena whispered to Gisela, their camp chairs touching, “to be sitting here in the silence of bush with nothing but the desert around us and the amazing starry sky above.”
Gisela laughed softly in agreement and lit a cigarette. “I’m glad to see you’re happier.”
Lena hesitated before replying. “Yes, I am but Gili, can I tell you something?”
“You know you can tell me anything,” Gisela flicked ash into the dying fire.
“I nearly did a very bad thing.” Lena stopped.
Gisela made no effort to interrupt her or encourage her; she simply waited.
“I wanted to save my marriage so badly that I nearly destroyed myself and everything I stand for. I contemplated the unthinkable — hurting another person.”
“She would have deserved it,” Gisela cried out quietly. “That tramp.”
“That’s what I thought too. But Stepfan’s much more to blame than she is. I mean sure, she got involved with him but it’s odd — when the worst thing in the world happened to me — when everyone saw them together that night, that was my worst fear ever. It’s what I’ve dreaded my whole married life; public disgrace. But once the initial shock wore off, it was almost a relief, like the worst has happened and now I can get on with my life. Does that make any sense at all?”
“Yes, it does.”
“And I realize that I have few feelings left for Stepfan. My love for him was almost an obsession, tempered by my constant fear of losing him. Now, stripped of that fear, I look at him and see an arrogant man who’s really quite terrible. The things he says! And to think I once thought he was so funny, so intelligent and so incredibly charming.”
She looked down. “But here’s the thing,” she said, her voice low. “What if last night at the swimming pool hadn’t happened and I had gone through with it? Because I was going to, I kept looking for her water bottle and I was going to do it, Gili, I was going to poison her water. I’m a terrible person.”
Gisela threw her cigarette in the fire and hugged her.
“You’re not a terrible person at all, Leni, and it’s going to be fine.” She stroked Lena’s hair.
Lena sighed and her breath was soft against Gisela’s neck. “I won’t contemplate doing something like that again, but now I know we all have a breaking point and I reached mine. Not because my husband was naked in a swimming pool with a girl young enough to be his daughter but because of me, because of what I was prepared to do. But you know the biggest gift at all? I don’t care about Stepfan any more. I don’t even like him. I’m free, for the first time in my life. Free.”
Then, her heart pounding with her own daring, she cupped her hand behind Gisela’s neck and pulled her in close.
Sossusvlei, Walvis Bay
and Solitaire
FIVE A.M. THE BUS WAITED at the gateway to the park. Several cars were lined up in front of the bus and it was still dark outside.
“Why does the man not open the gate?” Stepfan called out loudly, and the rest of the group ignored him. Everyone was pensive and the mood was dislocated; concerned looks were cast at Charisse who was dozing, her skin grey and clay-like. Various degrees of
loathing over the sleepless night were directed at an oblivious Rydell who was distracted and tormented for his own reasons. He twitched and rubbed his legs, unable to stop fidgeting.
“Where did those cars come from?” Richard said. “We were the only ones at the campsite last night.” No one answered him and he shrugged.
“You could cut the tension with a knife in here,” Enrique commented. “It feels we’re waiting to go to war or something.”
“Ah! I see the man, the gate opens,” Stepfan craned his neck and reported. “Jono, the man is there.”
“Yes, I see him, Stepfan,” Jono replied from the front cab, “but there are cars in front of us. I have to wait until they move before I can.”
“That’s highly unreasonable of you, old chap,” Richard said. “Stepfan’s thinking along the lines of you barreling through, take no prisoners and all that.”
“Very funny,” Stepfan said sourly.
Because the gatekeeper had been late, Jono wanted to make up time. He pushed the bus at such a rate that Marika grew quite nervous.
“Speed is one thing,” she said to Kate who grinned, “but this is a bit much. If we hit something, like a deer, or if we have to swerve, we’re all dead.”
Her concerns were not shared.
“Bleedin’ great!” Mia shouted at the top of her lungs. “Full throttle, yeah, baby, yeah.”
“Extra X-treme.” Jasmine yelled.
They roared into a lay-by an hour later, coming to an abrupt stop. The old bus creaked and moaned and shuddered.
“Old Mandoza sounds like a horse that’s been run too hard.” Sofie patted the bus as she climbed down. “Good bus, good job.”
“That is your dune there,” Jono pointed, “up you go.”
With a cry of delight, the group rushed at it.
Kate high-tailed it a quarter of the way up and stopped to take a breather, her thighs burning. Then she looked down and nearly screamed. It was if she was standing on a narrow ledge twenty-stories high. She quickly planted her bottom in the sand and decided to watch the sunrise from where she was.
“Kate? Are you alright?” Marika asked.
“Fine,” Kate said, hating to acknowledge her fear of heights. “You go on, I’ll wait here.”
Sofie, Harrison and Helen ran upwards with the rest following. Stepfan, bringing up the rear, tried to persuade Kate to continue with him.
“I’ll hold your hand the entire way,” he offered, looking enthused at the prospect.
“No thank you, I’m happy right here.”
She watched her fellow compatriots as they climbed the dune, with the hardiest becoming tiny specks on the high ridge above.
She looked at the tiny bus far below and thought about Charisse resting inside. Charisse had been able to talk in small bursts, insisting she was able to do the walk, that she would be fine, that she had to meet the real Bushman. But Kate had her doubts. Charisse’s face was pale as a ghost’s, her eyes circled with bruises.
Kate wondered why Jono had not her taken to the hospital in Walvis Bay as he had said he would. She wanted to ask him but had not managed to get him alone.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Rydell, Ellie and Jasmine coming back down.
“Too cold up there. We’re going down to walk the perimeter instead,” Rydell said. “Come with us,” he offered but he sounded forced and Ellie glared at Kate.
“Thanks but I’m happy here.”
“Do you need any help going down?” It was Brianna. “I’m going back. I don’t want to leave Charisse alone for too long.”
“Yes, thank you, I’m a bit nervous.”
“Hold your arms out to the side, like this,” Brianna showed her, “it feels safer this way.”
Kate did as she suggested and found it worked.
“Kate, I’m sick with worry about Charisse. We’ve been best friends since we were kids and I’ve never seen her like this. I don’t know what to do. I suddenly feel so far from anything civilized or safe. Of course Jono’s civilized but the place, you know what I mean? We’re so far from home. I don’t know what to do here whereas at home I’d know exactly.”
“I don’t even know what to suggest, Bree. What about getting her to Walvis Bay like Jono suggested?”
“I asked him and she said she felt better and that the Bushman would know what to do. But I don’t think she looked better.”
They walked the rest of the way down in silence and back on the bus, the sight of Charisse was not reassuring although she tried to insist she was on the mend.
“I think I feel bit better,” she said, though her voice was not its usual sexy contralto but a cracked, broken rasp. She tried to smile but the effort exhausted her. “Can’t wait to do the walk.” But she could not raise her head from the window ledge and Kate thought there was no way Charisse could even get off the bus, never mind do a walk. Her lips were dark, bruised and oddly dusky.
“Must see the dunes and do the walk, I’ll be fine,” Charisse said, and then fell back into a doze. The spittle around her mouth had formed a fine foam and Kate went to get hot water from the breakfast kettle.
“What shall we do, Jono?” she asked outside of Charisse’s hearing. “She needs serious medical attention, which is more important than a walk.”
Jono was deep in thought. “We will have a quick breakfast when the others get down and go onto Sossuvlei as fast as we can. Thaalu will know what to do.”
The others began to tumble off the dune in high spirits.
“I was first to the top.” Harrison declared.
“By three seconds.” Sofie said. “What’s three seconds?”
“It’s a win! I am the dune climbing champion of the desert.” Harrison held his arms aloft in triumph and strutted around in a circle. “A round of applause please.”
“I was a close third,” Helen said. “That was the best thing ever, I loved it. Can we climb another one this afternoon?”
“Yes, maybe.” Jono was distracted.
Stepfan, the last to return, limped to the bus. Lena, chatting to Ellie and Jasmine did not seem to notice or care.
“Lena’s definitely her own woman now,” Richard said to Mia, mopping up his runny eggs with a piece of toast and enjoying every bite. “I wonder how Stepfan the wonder-man hurt his leg. He won’t like that, the stupid wanker.”
“Let’s go, please,” Brianna called out. “I know you haven’t finished breakfast but I’m very worried about Charisse. Come on, please, let’s go now.”
Kate went in search of Mia and found her under an acacia tree where she and Richard were deciding what sort of animals the dead trees resembled.
“Definitely a dog,” Mia said, “a dog shagging another dog.”
“I don’t see that. It’s a deer with big antlers and things, a reindeer. Father Christmas was flying across Namibia and one of his reindeer fell out of the sky and became a tree.”
“Mia,” Kate said quietly, “can’t you help Charisse? What with you being a nurse?”
“Nah, sorry luv, I can’t,” Mia said in an undertone, exchanging a quick glance with Richard. “I don’t know nuffing about sick bodies. It’s probably a stomach bug, or something she ate, who knows.”
“And I’m afraid I can’t be of much help either,” Richard was apologetic. “I’m into sales insurance which is pretty hopeless in situations like this.”
Kate went over to Jasmine and Ellie who were finishing their coffee.
“Disgusting stuff,” Ellie declared and threw the dregs on the ground, “I can’t wait to have a nice big strong flat white when I get back. I’m craving an iced coffee and a cappuccino.”
“Yeah! I want a sausage roll or three and toasted Turkish bread with thick Vegemite.”
“And a meat pie and a big vanilla slice…,”
Kate interrupted them. “You two
work in labs, that’s medicine and science, so can you help Charisse? She’s so much worse.”
Jasmine shrugged unhelpfully. “Negatory Scotty. All we do is process samples. It’s not like on TV where lab people solve crimes and detect things. You’ve got as much chance of helping her as we do.” She walked off to rinse their coffee cups.
“I’ll look in on her,” Enrique said, having overheard, “I wish we had cellphones that worked,” he whispered to Kate, “but I’ve got no idea who we’d phone anyway. This area of things really should be better organized.”
“Come on everybody, let us go,” Jono called.
Jono drove as fast as he could but the thick sand only got deeper, causing the unwieldy bus to swerve from side to side and it was another hour before they arrived at Sossuvlei. Jono pulled the bus to a quick stop, jumped out and ran over to a tall man leaning against a small white utilitarian van with an open back.
The others climbed off the bus and Richard and Enrique carried Charisse out of the bus and laid her on a mat, thinking the fresh air might do her some good but she flopped down like a rag doll with her eyes closed.
“She’s gone into a coma,” Brianna shrieked.
“Jono! Come quickly!” Kate cried and Jono and the tall man ran over to them.
“Praat hierdie mense Afrikaans?” Thaalu asked Jono who shook head. Do these people speak Afrikaans?
“Nee, hulle verstaan nie,” Jono said in that language. They don’t understand. He had forgotten that Marika understood every word.
“She’s been poisoned,” Thaalu said, in Afrikaans. “There is no cure; she will die very soon.”
Charisse suddenly arched her back as if she had been hit by a bolt of lightning and retched a fountain of blood. Some of the circle took an involuntary a step back.
“Do something!” Sofie and Brianna screamed at Jono. “Why don’t you do something?”
Thaalu knelt down and held Charisse’s head. Her body writhed as if she was having a seizure which did not sit well with Gisela who doubled over and threw up her breakfast with Ellie following suit.
“Charisse! Stop it! Charisse! Somebody do something!” Brianna shouted and tried to grab hold of Charisse’s hand and it seemed as if the thrashing continued for an endless time while Thaalu held Charisse’s head. He was soon covered in blood, as was Brianna.
The Witchdoctor's Bones Page 17
