Poacher

by Leon Mare

  ‘Also,’ Sam observed, ‘there is the matter of the beer in the back. Trying to get one now could get a person recycled,’

  Once on the fire break they relieved themselves and opened fresh beers. ‘Thank you, Sam, that was beautiful. Your macho friend and family could not have put up a better show even if they rehearsed it. It was spectacular.’

  Arriving at the reservoir Sam circled it once, scanning the area with the spotlight, before parking right up against the nine foot concrete wall of the dam. These reservoirs were built throughout the Park in areas where permanent water was scarce. A borehole was sunk and a windmill erected. The water was then pumped into the reservoir, which is basically a round concrete dam built on top of the ground, so that there was no danger of animals drowning in the sheer-sided waterhole.

  From this reservoir water was let out through a ball valve into a drinking crib some distance away from the reservoir. With the Parks Board’s typical attention to detail, a lot of work had gone into the design of these cribs. They had to be at ground level to make them as natural as possible, and it took a lot of experimenting to come up with an acceptable crib that resisted the attempts of elephants to convert them into mud wallows.

  They shed their clothes on the back of the truck, and Sam was first to climb onto the roof of the cab and dive in. The water was lukewarm, but nevertheless refreshing. He swam to the other side and turned around, hanging onto the wall with one hand. Linda was standing on the wall, her beer still in her hand. The white light of the full moon contrasted her starkly against the darker background of the trees behind her, accentuating her magnificent body. The nipples on her high, firm breasts were teased into full bloom by the slight breeze pushing in from the distant Mozambique channel, and the dark triangle covering her mons looked like part of a minute tanga in the eerie light.

  ‘You are the most beautiful woman God has ever created,’ Sam whispered hoarsely, his voice carrying clearly over the now still water.

  She stood for a moment longer, looking straight into his eyes. Had the light been better, the expression in her eyes might have warned him. ‘And what you see is what you get,’ she said before dropping the empty can onto the back of the truck and diving . . .

  Chapter Seven

  ‘We are experiencing a slight problem with the Veterinary Services about the outbreak of anthrax in the Satara division, and I am flying down tomorrow morning at six, coming back Sunday. Want to come along?’ Dr. Fisher looked at his beautiful daughter across the dinner table fondly.

  ‘Oh, dad! Beautiful!’ Estelle jumped up and hugged him. A worried frown crossed her face. ‘But Comair flights are always full over weekends. Will you still be able to get me on the plane too?’

  ‘Done. We’re flying to Phalaborwa airport, where an Avis car has also been booked. You can drop me off at Satara and drive on to Nwanetzi for the day.’

  ‘Lovely. Are you also coming through when your things have been sorted out?’

  ‘No, I haven’t the faintest idea how long our discussions are going to take, so I don’t think we will be staying with Sam this time. The guest house in Satara is reserved for us.’ He was hoping that she would not notice his discomfort. Mrs Fisher appeared to be totally engrossed with her dinner, not paying any attention to the conversation. Beneath the surface, however, she was seething.

  Earlier in the week Dr. Fisher had received a visit from Smitty. What he had assumed was just a courtesy call had turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare. He could still recall the conversation vividly, and shuddered as he once more thought about the possible consequences of his actions.

  ‘Dr. Fisher,’ Smitty had started immediately when he was shown into the sumptuous office. ‘What I am about to tell you is going to upset you greatly, and inevitably a lot of people are going to get hurt by it. I have done a lot of introspection before coming to talk to you. The honest conclusions I’ve come to is that my reasons are mainly selfish, but on the other hand, if things are driven to a point at this early stage, the damage may not be permanent. I have only the highest regard for your daughter, and it would distress me greatly if she . . .’

  At this stage Dr. Fisher had interrupted him. Anything involving Estelle would receive his immediate and undivided attention. ‘Get to the point, man, get to the point. What is the problem?’

  ‘The point is that your future son-in-law is having an affair with the girl I intend marrying. While he is cheating on a fiancée who deserves a better man than he is, he is also placing our relationship under tremendous strain. I think if he is confronted with the facts now something can still be saved.’

  ‘Dr. Smith, I think Estelle is quite capable of deciding for herself who is good enough to get married to, and who isn’t. But that is beside the point. What is happening and how long has it been going on?’

  The more Smitty had talked, the angrier Dr. Fisher had become. A quick fling in an irresponsible moment was something that did not damage anybody, and as long as it was kept secret, it could be overlooked to a certain extent. But this was something else. He loved Sam like a son, and he knew that Sam would make an excellent husband for Estelle. This profligacy had to be squashed immediately and effectively. ‘So you suspect that she visits him during the weekends that she just disappears?’ Pretty damn flimsy relationship if your girlfriend vanishes over weekends and you don’t do anything about it, he had thought.

  ‘Right, thanks for letting me know. There won’t be many single women entering the Park in Porsches, so we should not experience any difficulty in nailing his arse to the wall. In view of your future relationship with Linda I suppose you realise that this conversation has never taken place.’

  Only after lengthy discussions with his wife, who was extremely upset by the news, had he decided on a plan of action. No matter how much he loved his daughter, this was something she had to sort out the way she saw fit. There was no doubt in his mind that Estelle, in spite of her apparently vulnerable, innocent personality, was quite adequately equipped to handle the situation. Like her mother, she could be a tiger when necessary. He would have her catch Sam red-handed, and play it by ear from there on.

  Orpen Gate had notified him at noon on Friday what a white Porsche had entered the Park, with one female occupant.

  It had taken all his considerable influence to secure two seats on the early Saturday flight, and he had notified reception at Satara that he required the guest house for the weekend.

  As Estelle skipped up the stairs to start packing, Mrs. Fisher looked up. There were tears in her eyes. ‘Isn’t there a way we can make this easier for her? I don’t want her to get hurt.’ She started crying openly, and he put his arm around her.

  ‘No, my love. If we cushion the blow by just telling her, there will be all sorts of denials, and she will never have any certainty. Her decision to either marry him or not must be based on absolute reality. We must be prepared to give her a lot of support in the coming days, and you must brace yourself for the emotional crisis that lies ahead. I’m convinced that this is the only way that will solve the problem cleanly and clearly, either way. May God give her strength and help her to do the right thing.’

  Mrs. Fisher buried her face in her hands and cried bitterly.

  At the same moment that the Fokker Friendship had touched down at Phalaborwa airport, Linda and Sam sat down to a huge breakfast if impala liver with all the trimmings, expertly prepared by Job. Linda hated liver, but seeing that Sam obviously took pride in the abilities of his house boy, she had no option but to tuck in with great gusto.

  She had washed her hair while he had been busy with the radio session, and he was once again awed by the invigorating sense of wholesome cleanliness that she radiated. She was truly one of the most striking women ever.

  ‘I spoke to Louis after session this morning. He’s invited us to lunch. Let’s pack ourselves a cool box and cruise the fire breaks, and if we don’t waste too much time along the way we should be at Louis’s place at about noon. How
about it?’

  She was not very keen on spending the day sharing Sam with someone else, but knowing the deep friendship that existed between the two men, she decided to play along. ‘Sounds wonderful. But isn’t it a bit dicey for us to visit your friends in the Park together?’

  ‘No problem. Louis’s house is quite secluded from the other personnel homes. One of the perks of being a game ranger is that you enjoy the privilege of privacy, seeing that the rangers never live inside a rest camp like the rest of the personnel.’ He did not think it was necessary that he should also point out that fact that the main reason for travelling along the fire breaks was that they would not run into anybody else. They would pass through the territories of two other rangers, but he had alerted them to the fact that he would be travelling through their divisions. Had he not done this, the presence of his tyre tracks would have caused a furore. Unexplained tyre tracks on closed roads in one’s territory were always followed up. Apart from the fact that it could be poachers, it could also be a daring but dumb tourist intent on trying to spot game in a totally undisturbed environment. A person not familiar with the network of fire breaks criss-crossing the 20,000 square kilometres of the Park, could get hopelessly lost. And a breakdown on one of these seldomly used tracks was very likely to lead to great hardship and even violent death if the tourist was not well versed in the finer points of survival in this particular environment.

  This time Sam was not all that keen of travelling the whole distance to Louis’s house along fire breaks. He would, for a change, have preferred to take the Porsche and travel comfortably along the tarred road, luxuriating in the smell of the leather upholstery, and swilling cold Castles in the air-conditioned comfort of the exquisitely engineered car. But then, the bumpy ride in the Toyota would eliminate the chance of anyone spotting him with Linda, and the fire breaks usually offered a far better chance of encountering interesting wildlife that the crowded tourist roads.

  The spotlight and rifle were still in the truck, and they just replenished their stocks of beer and ice.

  During their three-and-a-half-hour trip they encountered practically everything, including the scarce sable antelope and some cheetah.

  An incident that had Linda ecstatic occurred early in their trip. They were descending towards a drift in one of the smaller streams when they noticed a wild goose lying in the road just on the other side of the water. It was flapping its wings weakly, honking and hissing and kicking up a tremendous row, out of the all proportion to its size. Sam stopped immediately and started scanning the bush on either side of the road. Where the road had interfered with the flow of the stream, it had formed a smallish pond, heavily overgrown with reeds. Under the overhang of the opposite bank five small ducklings were silently paddling around in circles.

  ‘Poor thing,’ Linda said observing the goose’s struggles. ‘Do the chicks have any chance of surviving on their own?’

  ‘On their own, no. But I don’t think it will come to that. Just watch this.’

  They sat for a full minute observing the death struggles of the big bird.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be more humane if you just put her out of her misery, Sam. I can’t watch this any longer.’

  ‘Patience, my beauty, patience. That is something you beautiful females don’t have. Relax and observe. You are going to see something spectacular.’

  Lacking patience, she thought, smiling inwardly. Boy, have I got a pleasant surprise for you.

  It happened so fast she nearly missed it. One moment the goose was alone in the road, and next moment the leopard was where the goose had been. For a second the silly thought crossed her mind that the bird had changed into a leopard, but ten yards up the road the goose was still struggling and hissing. The leopard charged once more, and the bird barely managed to stay just out of reach of the lethal claws. Sam started the truck and followed at a discreet distance. When the leopard couldn’t reach the bird with the initial full-tilt charge, it slowed down to a trot, the goose managing to stay just out of reach. This went on for some distance, and the perplexed leopard stopped. So did the goose. The moment the goose remained in one spot, the leopard zeroed in on it once more, moving like a spotted streak of lightning. The bird once again managed to keep just out of reach. The previous scene was repeated once again, until the leopard and the bird were once more static in the road. The leopard sat down, eyes riveted on its prey. The bird, now apparently exhausted beyond the point of recovery, was lying in the dirt spread-eagled. Even the honking and hissing had subsided considerably. It was clear that the leopard was also feeling the strain of the extended chase. It was used to surprising its prey and killing it on the spot. It was not in the leopard’s nature to chase something over long distances and it was tiring visibly. The leopard was apparently losing interest in the elusive bird, but it perked up once more as the bird again started struggling along feebly, trying to put some distance between itself and its pursuer.

  ‘Oh no,’ Linda moaned as the spotted cat walked up to the bird again. Miraculously, the distance between them remained exactly the same. This had been going on for more than a kilometre now, and the leopard had reached the end of its tether.

  With a frustrated grunt the leopard charged once again. Linda couldn’t believe her eyes. The bird had made a miraculous recovery, and it took to flight, honking loudly. It turned in a wide circle, gaining altitude, and the leopard sat down in the middle of the road. Linda could not help laughing at the dejected attitude of the cat. It actually looked as if it felt the goose had been cheating in a game of gentlemen. The leopard started licking the fur on one of its front paws, glanced at the Toyota over its shoulder, and haughtily sauntered off into the tall grass.

  At this stage they were both laughing so hard, the tears were streaming down their faces. ‘Oh Sam that was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!’ She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. ‘This is a weekend I will never forget as long as I live. The leopard actually looked as if it was feeling embarrassed about being caught for a sucker in front of an audience. And you predicted it. How did you know?’

  ‘The moment I saw the ducklings I realised the mother was trying to draw the leopard away before he noticed them. I saw this happen once before, years ago, but I must admit that this goose knew her stuff. She was really cutting it fine, and at one stage I thought that she had underestimated the leopard. I think us humans can learn a lot from the animals about parental love and sacrifice.’

  As she looked into his eyes her pupils dilated with emotion, and the scary word was on the tip of her tongue once again. It took tremendous effort to restrain herself from saying it so, just to say something and break the spell, she suggested an early-morning beer, for which she didn’t have any desire at this stage.

  ‘What a precious thought,’ came the predictable response.

  Her hand was casually resting on his knee as they entered Louis’s yard. Louis had one of his rangers stationed at the gate especially for his guests, and they drove straight in. As they got out, it immediately struck Sam that only the Staffordshire bitch was there to greet him. He was still scanning the yard for Rommel as Louis rounded the corner.

  Louis was clearly in a jovial mood. ‘Hello, Linda. Growing more beautiful by the day! Small wonder our friend here hasn’t been himself lately. How is everybody? And how is my smitten friend?’ He was grinning hugely as he slammed the flat of his hand between Sam’s shoulder blades.

  While Sam was contemplating the feasibility of kicking Louis in the crotch he smiled amiably. ‘How are you, my man,’ returning the slap with interest. ‘Where is Rommel?’

  Louis’s face fell. ‘Mamba.’

  To Sam this was adequate explanation. ‘Hell, sorry to hear about that.’

  ‘That’s the way it goes. Come along. The fire’s been going for quite some time, we had expected you earlier. We’ll just chuck on some more wood to give us time to bend some brownies.’

  Louis was referring to the dark brown
dumpy bottles in which their favourite brand of beer was also available.

  Sam stopped in his tracks. ‘We?’

  ‘Yes, we. Do you think I am some kind of recluse or something? Let me introduce you to Yvonne.’

  Yvonne proved to be a very likeable girl with a great sense of humour. She either did not know that Sam was engaged to someone else, or she handled the situation like a true champion. Normally a certain amount of condemnation would have been in evidence in a situation like this, but Yvonne just plunged into the conversation spontaneously, and evidently enjoyed the company.

  Linda was immediately at ease, and the day turned out to be a huge success.

  Estelle was in her seventh heaven as she stopped the yellow Citi Golf in front of Sam’s gate and tapped the horn twice. She had dropped her dad off at reception in Satara earlier, and in her excitement had failed to notice his worried expression as they parted. She had not been to Nwanetzi for months, and frowned at the condition of the garden. The ancient Job shuffling towards the gate was in for a nasty surprise in a few months’ time. The days of leisurely lounging around were definitely going to come to an abrupt halt when she became the madam of this establishment. There was no way she was going to raise kids in a jungle like this. The bush on the outside of the fence actually looked in better shape than the garden itself. Sam always said he was happy as long as he had a nicely trimmed green lawn and to hell with the rest. Hence the condition of the flower beds. Hell, for all you knew there could be a herd of buffalo living in this garden, and nobody would be any the wiser.

  Job had only opened one gate sufficiently to get out, and was standing at her window. ‘Hau, missy, nkosi he is not here.’ Even Job realised that this was trouble. Big trouble.

  ‘That’s quite all right, Job, I will wait for him.’ She gestured for him to open the gate.