Chapter 17
1997.
He never got undressed before he collapsed on the bed.
The next morning he woke up with a throbbing head ache. He waited a few minutes for his head to clear and a few minutes longer to see if it stayed that way. It didn’t clear so He took a couple of aspirins with a large glass of water then went back to sleep.
He slept late and called the kitchen to send a breakfast to his room. He ate and had a shower. It was 1.00 o’clock so he decided he would go down to the pool, have a swim and get some sun. There wasn’t a single deck chair available to lie down in. They were all taken up by the guests. He looked at the pool, it was sparkling clean and inviting. He dived in. Perfect, not to warm or to cold. He thought. When he got out of the pool he spread his towel on the lawn and lay down. By the time he woke up it was nearly 5.00 o’clock. He walked back to the bungalow to change. He took his time preparing himself for the night, almost sensing something was going to happen. He went to the cupboard and took out his best white shirt and a pair of black trousers. He looked great but needed to put a comb through his hair. As he did this he said to himself. “Who do you think you were going to impress tonight.”
David was on the veranda and called for his normal, a double Johnny Walker Black. While waiting for his drink to arrive Andy came and joined him. He seemed nervous as he told about a game drive he did earlier. “I took some guests out along the river and when we came around a corner there were four elephants behind some trees and bushes. I stopped the Jeep and prepared to quickly reverse down the track if they showed any aggression..." He paused..." A calf started flapping its ears and trumpeting, almost as if pretending that he was going to charge then this French chick pleaded with me, to get away from them."
"So what did you do?" David asked.
"I could only do one thing because she was really scared and asked me if I could take her back to the lodge, which of course I did."
He stood leaning with his arms on the chair,"the other people were upset because they thought I was giving her special attention and that they were not going to see anymore game. I took them out again and thank goodness the elephants were still there. They showed no aggression so we watched them for a while and then carried on. We saw a couple of game that we might not have if we had carried on with her. Anyway in the end they were happy.”
Just then a women of about 45 years in shorts appeared in the doorway. Her mane was long and black with just a hint of waving, her eyes dark and wide apart and her lips were unpainted but every now and then she would slowly lick them with her tongue to keep them moist. She wore a khaki shirt which hugged her body and showed off her large breasts. The shorts that she wore were so tight it showed the lips of her sex.
David couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she walked towards them. Andy saw the expression on David's face and could not help but turn to see what he was looking at. “Andy.” She called.” Thank you, thank you, my darling.” She put her arms around his neck. “I will always remember what you did for me today.”
He tried to pull himself away from her. “It was nothing.” He said. She held onto him. “No, no. Of course, you are so brave. Can I buy you a drink?” She asked.
David couldn’t help but giggle at Andy and at the same time think to himself. “Oh baby if you did that to me, I’d never let you go.”
“No! I have to get home. My wife is waiting for me.” He pleaded. Just then David’s drink arrived. “What will you have?” He asked.
Andy said looking at him. “Oh! no, not now, thanks. Gayle is waiting for me. I must go.” Then he turned to her. “I’m sorry you had such a bad experience today.” He somehow managed to break away from her. “See you later.” He said then walked off the veranda.
David turned to her.“Can I offer you a drink?” She shook her head slowly, smiled. “No thank you.” Then walked back from where she had come. Why did she walk away from me like that? Did she find it forward that he offered her a drink?
He sat there a bit longer before he went into the kitchen and greeted the staff. “Good evening.” He said. They all replied at the same time. “Moni, abambo.” (Hello Sir.)
Then David went to Patrick, the head chef. He had been working at the lodge since we had opened. He was tall and thin but muscular. He was a terrorist when he was younger. He fought in the bush against the Rhodesian soldiers. David never asked him what he did, if he had any contacts or skirmishes. All the staff respected him. He never had to tell them what they must do. Each of those in the kitchen had their own function and he couldn't remember having ever had a complaint. Tonight he was dressed in his chef’s uniform and one could see how proud he was to wear it. It was whiter than white, starched and his chef’s hat stood up straight. He looked good and I liked him. “How are you Patrick?” I asked. “Ndili bwino abambo.” (“Fine, thank you sir.”)
“What do you recommend, I eat tonight?” David asked?
“We have fresh bream which I could pan fry and serve it with vegetables, Abambo.”
“Patrick that sounds great. How long will it take?”
“About twenty five minutes Abambo.”
“Thank you. I’ll have chips instead of veggies. OK.” Then he walked out of the kitchen and into the dining hall. He chatted to the people until his dinner arrived. The bream had been caught today. The flesh was white and came easily off the bone. It was served with a creamy lemon, butter sauce. On the side I had a few crispy chips. Instead of his normal double whiskey he had a bottle “Chardonnay” that had been Ice chilled. It was a lovely dinner and he walked out the dining hall feeling fully satisfied. Then he went into the bar.
He was drinking his usual and talking to one of the guests when she walked in. If she looked good this afternoon, she looked great tonight. She turned heads in her short, low cut dress that clung to her body and displayed all her curves. Her breasts strong and firm, were showing just enough to keep you guessing. Her legs that were long and shapely were exaggerated by the high heels she had on.
The noise in the bar died instantly. Everybody’s eyes followed her. Should he approach her? he thought. She answered the question for him. She walked past, as if she hadn't seen him. Looked around then walked straight to an old guy sitting on his own. As the gentleman stood up and she sat down the place came alive again with the buzz of people talking. It was the gentleman David had met earlier in the day. He was also Belgium but a lot older than her. Is that her partner, a friend or her father he wondered? He decided not to pay any attention to her. She had treated him too badly earlier.
But every now and then, throughout the evening their eyes would meet and then they would turn away to keep talking to whoever it was that they were talking to before. Later Simon came into the bar. He wanted David to come with him to his office.
David excused himself from the group of people he was with and followed Simon. It turned out to be something petty he wanted David to help him with. David told him, he would deal with it in the morning. Then David walked back to the bar. By the time he got back, the bar was almost empty accept for two couples sitting in a corner. He greeted them, then took a seat at the bar and asked precious, the bar lady to give him his usual.
In the background music was playing softly through the speakers. David chatted to Precious, in the hope that the Belgium would come back. It was 10.00 o’clock. He wasn’t tired so he decided to stay a bit longer. By 11.00 o’clock there was still no sign of her. He said good night to Precious and walked out the bar to my bungalow. He didn’t know how many doubles he had to drink but by the time he got to the bungalow he was too drunk to get undressed and passed out on the bed.
The next day didn’t begin well. He woke up later than normal with a throbbing headache, aching eye sockets and a thirst of a hundred camels. He felt as if he had been gang-stomped by a herd of water buffalo. Andy came in. “What are you doing to yourself? You look like shit.”
David touched his head it felt as if it was going to burst. “Dave you must stop drinking that stuff or at least cut down to single tots otherwise it’s going to kill you.” Andy said shaking his head as he looked at him.
He tried to get out of bed but the more he tried the worst I felt. “Look stay in bed till I get back. Don’t move!” Andy said.
Half an hour later Andy re-appeared. “Here drink this down.” He said.
“What is it?” David asked.
“It’s a concoction of carrots, ginseng, ginger, parsnip, garlic, celery and a couple of other things.” Andy said.
“I can’t drink that.” David said without tasting it.
“I don’t know where he got all these things that he put in there but I believe its incredible stuff. It’s supposed to cures flu, gout, malaria, shingles, and impotence, schizophrenia, hepatitis and hang overs.” David drank it in one go hoping not to taste it but that didn’t help, it was horrible.
“Where did he get the recipe?” David asked, wiping his mouth.
“Patrick made it for you.” Andy replied.
“His fired! Tell him that when you go back. I’ve been so good to that guy and now he wants to poison me.”
Andy returned an hour later with two of the kitchen staff each carrying a tray. “Here you are brother get some of this into your stomach and then you might feel human again.” He said. On the one plate there were two poached eggs, crispy bacon, a pork sausage and a piece of steak. On the other tray was toast with a selection of jams and a steaming pot of coffee.
“How are you feeling?” He asked.
“It takes a bit of time to get that poison from my mouth to my stomach.” David said. “Pour me a cup of coffee without milk. Please.”
Andy passed it to him with two aspirins. Then Andy left him to finish the breakfast.
After having a long hot bath, he had a talk to himself. Did he want to live? Yes he did. But his behavior wasn’t reasoning. He should have stayed in bed but realised there were things to be done so he got dressed. As he was walking out he looked in the mirror. Andy was right he did look like shit.
After a slow walk up to the lodge he drank a pint of tomato juice, then went into Simon's office. “What happened to you? You look like shit.” Simon said.
“No not another one.” David said and walked straight out.
He had to find a place to hide. He grabbed a newspaper at reception and went into the lounge. There stood a chesterfield in the corner, all by itself. That would be an ideal place to hide behind the paper.
For a while he tried to read the Times of Zambia which we collected together with other magazines each day in Itezhi Tezhi. On the front page today was a photo of the new Miss Zambia. She was stunning as she posed in a bikini costume and high heels. She was chosen from a group of about 30 girls and I wondered how her life was going to change in the next year.
Most of the other news was on President Chiluba and his Multi Party for Democracy, murders, stock theft; poaching and the big news were Zambia’s football team that had just beaten South Africa 3-0. In small print, hidden somewhere, in the middle of the paper was the countries” economy. He folded it and put it on the table to be read by somebody who had nothing else to do. Slowly he got out of the comfort of the chesterfield and wondered back to Simons” office to find out what he needed him to do regarding the incident of last night. “Don’t worry. I already sorted it out.” He said. David thought to himself. “I could bloody well sort you out. What a waste of time.”
David asked him if they could go through the register of visitors. He wanted to find out more about the Belgium lady. Simon fetched it from reception and they went through it together until they found her name. Michèl Mornè. She lived in Paris, held Belgium nationality, was booked in till Thursday and had a room on her own. It was Tuesday today. David thought. “I still had a chance of a friendly meeting.” He said to himself softly.
Later David went to the pool and was lucky to find two empty deck chairs. He put them together, not touching but close enough for us to have a conversation. That was if she would arrive and if she would want to speak to him. He dived in the pool and was doing a couple of lengths when he swam into somebody. He stopped, wiped the water out my eyes and then he saw her. He said. “Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
She looked at me. “Oh, that’s alright.” She said in that sexy French accent. Then she continued swimming. He stayed in the pool a bit longer then got out and went to lie in his chair. She came out the water like a goddess. She was wearing a white bathing suit that clung to her figure like it was her skin. She had an olive color skin and her shiny black hair hung loosely round her sun tanned face. He bent down to pick up his book and when he came up again he couldn’t see her.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
