“You must be Vicious and your friends are Fang and Dagger... Nice to finally meet you,” Kate said with a sigh and a giggle.
“Well, I’m happy to see you’re not angry with me. Kate, I assume you thought I had Boerboels. I’m not sure why you came to that conclusion but I hope you truly are done with your childhood fears concerning the good but massive creatures... After all, it would be a shame if some future pet of yours would never receive the affection and love due him,” Roger said. He squatted down next to her and the other dogs came rushing over.
“Angry? No,” Kate said. There was no anger but only confusion. Roger had played along with her misconception using foresight and wisdom to take her to a new level of confidence in God. “I am confused about the misinformation I had... I spent a lot of energy worrying about...” Kate hesitated as she let her thoughts gel. She smiled across the dogs at him, saying, “Well, worrying about nothing as you so aptly revealed. Thank you.”
“These dogs aren’t ferocious but they are filthy. Let’s go wash up,” he said. Roger stood and pulled Kate up with him.
“Bye fellows!” Kate said as Roger closed the door on the dogs. Roger linked her with his, leading her across the gravel drive in the obscure light to the front steps.
“Hang on,” he said as he trotted over to the path and returned the Tiki torch to its spot. Inside, Kate went to the powder room in the front hall but Roger disappeared down a hallway to her left. Soaping up, Kate was drying her hands when she began examining her face and hair. She remembered how pale and unhealthy she had looked in the Jo’burg Airport the week before. A lot had happened since then and tonight a lifelong phobia had fled because of a man’s prayerful calculation. Less than 24 hours ago she had told her same reflection to beware of Roger and now... What could have been, had Roger and I met at another time, even as Mac had insinuated about himself yesterday evening at Val’s? She mused.
Bolstering her predetermined decision she said, “Keep your head, my girl! You’re leaving tomorrow and Mr. Cowels will find a Cape Town tease or Namibian babe to share his life with!” Kate turned from the mirror and a voice resembling her deceased father’s seemed to echo through the grey matter of her head, “And you? Who will you share your life with?” Kate shook the question from her mind but remembered the words with regret some days later.
When Kate entered into the big room where the game of Spades was still being pursued, Mac and Roger stood at a desk with a computer screen up. She went to see what held their interest.
“It was another earthquake,” Mac answered her.
“Kate, St Helena is part of the Ascension Island group, even though the actual Ascension Island is more than a thousand kilometers north and west of here. Anyway, they have had another earthquake. According to the news report, it was an 8 pointer... devastating. We’ve had a few minor ones in the last two years but not like this one,” Roger said as he scrolled the report. Mac wondered out loud about tsunami damage, reminding Roger that the Sumatra quake sent killer waves as far as the tip of Africa. Kate remembered the earthquake and its aftermath clearly as she was a child living in South Africa when the waves hit.
“There isn’t any warning posted but I’ll check the report again before we head back to the harbor,” Roger said.
They talked of earthquakes in diverse places over coffee and dessert and then Mac and Roger were herding the group to the four-wheel drive vehicle. Junior fell asleep on Kate’s shoulder. She fell asleep with her head resting against the open window frame as the men talked quietly of the dangerous times that were presently unfolding.
There was a light spritzing of rain as they climbed from Roger’s vehicle. Roger pulled the canvas flaps down over his vehicle’s open-air windows while the group sprinted for the boat. Mac waited on deck with Roger’s men and everyone else went below.
Mac, Roger and Tommie came below several minutes later. Junior had been complaining about Coco but he was shushed by Merry and Kate as the men came down the companionway. Zeff had been quiet all night, only watching and sometimes glowering. Now he sat on the counter in the galley, the hair of his head touching the low overhead. Kate and Merry put coffee on and prepared snacks to be placed before the men seated in the salon.
Junior took coffee up to Roger’s man above decks and to Tino. Tino was assigned to the first watch and he put on a rain jacket going above decks as the others came down. Merry handed a cup to Mac and returned to the galley for Tommie’s when Kate past her with a mug of island coffee and a plate of pastries bought by Mac on Saturday.
“Thank you, Kate,” Roger said taking his coffee from her. “You’ve been a breath of fresh air these last few days and of course, my dogs will never forget you.” He smiled and winked at her. “I’m dreadfully full after eating like a horse at my dinner table... Some host I was! But still, I will try one of this nutty cookies; my favorite from the local pastry shop, I see.”
Kate returned his smile but she said nothing. He took the cookie and she offered them to the others before setting the platter down within their reach. Turning back to the galley, she saw Zeff sitting with arms folded like a guardian troll or a church griffin. He’s jealous, Kate realized. She ignored him as there was nothing to it. Like Napoleon, Roger was exiled to St Helena in a self-imposed way and she was no Josephine.
Merry made up Tommie’s coffee and then offered Zeff a cup. Begrudgingly, he accepted and then took a few cookies too.
Kate said to Merry, “I think Coco will like it out there. There is plenty of room to romp and Roger loves dogs, he has three ferocious animals that will teach Coco the ins and outs of plantation life.” Roger must have heard her because he chuckled behind her in the salon.
Merry nodded but looked to Zeff and said, “It was for the best. I hope you don’t miss her, Zeff.” He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. Kate wondered if he felt guilty concerning his lying about Roger’s dogs. He didn’t look repentant in the least. Kate consoled herself with the thought that Zeff was not a Christian. He was what she would call an unregenerate soul or simply, “a sinner.”
As Kate stirred her own coffee, she reworked the knowledge she had learned long ago. While Christians are sinners who are saved by grace but working out their salvation as they push forward in their faith in Jesus, sinners merely sinned. That is what they did best.
Sinners sin... No new info there.
Kate sighed and looked up at Zeff but he was no longer watching her or anyone else. He seemed distracted with blowing on his coffee to cool it down. Merry was talking. Kate focused on her and they discussed the friendliness of the Saints, the exotic but tasty food and finally but extensively, the retail shops in the shopping district.
Zeff moved into the other room where the men had switched the conversation from the exchanging of goods and island exportation tags to the number of vessels anchored or docked in James Bay.
Roger was saying quietly, “Mac, keep your eyes peeled. There are two boats, almost identical that left this morning. If I was still a betting man, I would say that they are looking for easy prey on the high seas.”
Mac said, “Yes, we’ve had our eyes on them since we arrived. Your harbor master hasn’t spoken to you about them? Where do those boats hail from?”
Roger grinned at him, “I told you already... He has been tight lipped for some time. I haven’t gotten any of the regular squawk from him. He may have been threatened or he is on the take... I don’t know. He has been here for five, maybe six years but he was appointed from the UK and we’ve never been friendly.”
They talked for another ten minutes and then Roger stood to leave. “Thanks for the coffee, Merry... Kate,” Roger raised his voice to be heard by them in the other room.
Kate and Merry stopped talking. Roger asked Zeff if he would help his guys take the goods Mac had traded out to his vehicle. Zeff assented and followed Tommie above decks. Merry retrieved the coffee cups and Mac took up the tray of cream and sugar leaving Kate with Roger and the remaining cookies on th
e table.
Roger watched her as she picked up the plate, offering him one for the road.
He looked past her to the galley where Mac and Merry were. Suavely, he set a small white box on the cookie platter she held and then he over-laid her small soft hands with his larger tanned ones. Smiling into her face he said, “I’ll make a trade. I’ll take your cookie and you take my gift. It’s a little something of appreciation... for you.” He shook his head and said in a whisper, “No, no. There are no strings attached. Trust me if there were, I would pull them!” He grinned at her expression of alarm. He looked past her again to see what the other two were doing in the galley. Then he said just above a whisper, “Kate, you’re adorable and I wish I had weeks to win you to myself as I know neither of us would be disappointed.” His dark eyebrows went up as he sighed. “I don’t have weeks and I can see I’ve barely scratched the surface of that precious heart of yours. So take my gift and I’ll take a cookie,” he finished with a sad smile. Roger held firmly to her hands as she hesitated but when she gave a hardly noticeable nod, he let go to take the cookie.
Later, as Kate climbed into her bunk she wondered why she let Roger engrave upon her heart as he had suggested. She played back the last few days, scene by scene in her mind and there was no one moment divided from another that could be tagged as vulnerable. The wall around her heart had remained up. Kate knew when her wall was down, as she had let it down many a time. Thus, the reprimand from her younger sister about falling in and out of love. Perhaps, what Roger meant when he said he had barely scratched the surface of her heart was that he had not gotten past the emotional hedge she had erected. She wondered at his words about knowing she... they would not be disappointed if only he had had the time. In mere weeks, he had said.
Kate looked at the box. It wasn’t attractive but it was an expensive little encasement. When she and Roger had come in from the dogs, she washed up in the foyer powder room while he went to the back of the house. Had Roger decided then that he would give her the gift? Yes! Kate recognized the moment when the gate at the wall of her heart was breached. It was in the barn petting those dirty farm mutts!
It had been a long day and she was tired but she opened her journal to write.
Late night, August 19th
Lord, what is it about small children and puppies that brings my guard down and the next moment, some handsome dude is leaving graffiti on the surface of my heart? Roger! What a guy!
BTW, my fears are getting vanquished one by one! Yes, tonight I genuinely got over my terror of Boerboels... Next to conquer... My fear of heights!
Kate was exhausted. Putting her pen aside she picked up the tiny white box once more. Sleep overcame curiosity a she closed her eyes with the gift laying in her hand and the reading lamp on. The light remained on until 4am when she awoke with a start.
“Oh! It was only a nightmare! Forgotten, the box fell from her hand. She picked it up and set it on the small bookshelf above her bunk next to her diary. After turning out the lamp, Kate replayed her dream...
Kate was traveling and when she looked north, seeing a terrific whirlwind. A single column of dust and water and power reaching from the horizon to the sky. It was far away and she felt no fear until suddenly she was moved to the near vicinity... It was a dream and so she was not perplexed that she was viewing it in one scene and living it in the next. However, now she was afraid. Before her was destruction caused by the powerhouse tornado but her focus was on a large damaged silo of wheat. It had been split open. Both halves of the cylindrical barn were full of wheat but a smoky fire had begun among the abundant grain and the heat of the flame seemed to be germinating the wheat rather than destroying it. That is odd, thought Kate. She could see the wheat kernels springing up into living stalks and bearing heads of grain.
As she slept, Kate continued dreaming that the tornado had come to her house. Her bed was shaking and lifting by the force of the wind. In her sleep she saw Roger Cowels’ housekeeper, Lulu. Kate called out to God, “Help!” but when she received no answer, she called to Lulu. The bed quit shaking and lifting up as if it was going to take off like a magic carpet. Lulu stepped forward and handed Kate a small white box.
Just before she awoke, Kate saw herself opening the tiny box. Inside was a cookie.
Merry expected Roger to come and bid them farewell but Kate knew he wouldn’t. When they cast off after making one final supply run ashore around 10am, Roger had not come down to the pier.
Chapter 12 Pirates Take a Holiday
Mac planned to ride wide of the coast, stopping at Ascension Island 800 miles northwest but after the earthquake report, he decided against it. Still, he wanted no part of the action coming out of the Gulf of Guinea. Every other day, there was a warning on his sea radio of pirates and terrorism originating from the coast.
When Mac was at the watch, the others played Spades leaving Kate to herself. She was glad for the solitude as her mind and heart were in upheaval over their short leave on St Helena. Roger had gotten to her. The scratch as he called it, made on her heart by him had left splinters and they seemed to be alive working their way past her common sense, reminding her of lost opportunity and embedding foolish schoolgirl thoughts of love, fulfilled destiny and happy endings. She wondered if someone or something else could distract her from the residue Roger had left upon her being.
On the second day from St Helena, Kate decided to open the box. Going to her cabin, she was perplexed to see that it was not where she had left it. There were two narrow shelves above her bunk and it was on the top not the bottom shelf where she had placed it the other night. Merry? Junior? Her journal was untouched but someone had moved Roger Cowels’ gift.
Kate opened the white box. There was no cookie from the island pastry shop as she had dreamed... This cubed package was too small for that! Neither was it a ring as Kate initially suspected. Inside on white satin lay an ornate silver heart no bigger than a thumbnail and a white metal chain. Conceding that it was extraordinarily beautiful, she drew it from its nest and examined the elaborate paisley looking filigree that covered the heart. It was a locket. Although she attempted for some minutes, Kate couldn’t open it. The lever spring was camouflaged by the design.
Kate put it around her neck. It was old-fashioned in its length but it lay comfortably under her T-shirts. She was embarrassed to wear the charm, knowing it was a concession to her attraction to Roger Cowels but Kate decided to wear it while the piece was still novel. Soon I’ll tire of it and put it away with my other baubles, she rationalized.
They had seen quite a few ships and smaller boats from a distance and the Serendipity was making quick headway when the pirates came aboard.
The Spade players had a competition going and Kate after growing bored of reading and fiddling with her locket, decided it was time to overcome her fear of heights. The suggestion that she should climb to the crows nest two or three times to win over her fear came into her mind one evening just after dinner. Junior and Mac had been on watch but Mac had gone below when Kate came up the companionway and announced to Junior her idea to overcome her fear of heights. Junior didn’t see any problem with her plan and he just nodded as she went up.
By the time Mac returned to the helm, Kate was ensconced white knuckled in the crows nest. She decided she would never be coming down. When first Zeff and then Mac climbed up to encourage her and then bribe her and finally to threaten her, they too concluded she would never be coming down.
It was certainly Kate’s distraction that allowed the sloop to be overtaken by several armed men just before midnight. Surely, the Serendipity would have succumbed anyway as they were outgunned and outmanned but it wouldn’t have been so bloodless.
Once aboard, under the misunderstanding that Merry who had been under strict orders from her husband to hide under the salon settee panel but didn’t, was thought to be the wife of the Captain - Zeff. The two of them were tied together under the mast.
Junior who was the first to spot the
invaders, warned Mac before hiding under the settee. Kate was overlooked as she watched horrified from the crows nest. Tino put up a fight but was beaten. He lay on deck tied and unconscious.
Mac knew the game was lost and conceded to the intruders by calling to them in Portuguese and then in French. He needed to stay free and keep them busy while he planned their demise.
Trying hard not to seem concerned about Merry, Mac bolstered the idea that she was in fact, Zeff’s wife and Zeff, the captain. Keeping his hands up, Mac said it was time to party and later, they could do their dirty business. The leader thought this a good idea and since his six men were armed and free while the sloop’s “captain” and his crew excepting Mac were restrained... Yes, they would have a bit of a holiday.
The Serendipity was not the usual 72 foot windship. A good size hold was not typical. Their leader on the main ship, Captain Yosef didn’t trust any of his men or women but had given this small contingent simple instruction as was the norm. Something usually went wrong with their impious plans and this occasion, was no exception. The pirates were not informed that there was a hold nor how many people were aboard and so after briefly examining the boat, they were satisfied that they had everyone and knew everything about the sloop.
Mac invited their unexpected guests as he called them to the galley for some good food and drink. He left the St Helena wine alone but pulled from beneath the counter three bottles of the Saints’ infamous Tungi Spirits.
Tungi Spirits is an alcoholic beverage that Mac described as useful as an effective anesthetic if there was a need to have a canon ball removed from one’s chest but also, Tungi Spirits could second as rocket fuel. It was a powerful drink that snuck up on the partaker and laid him out without warning. In years gone by, Mac had woken up the next morning - head pounding, after being put under by just a few drinks.
Catching Kate (Scenic Route to Paradise) Page 11
