A Plume of Dust

by Wynne May

  She listened attentively as he talked about the Mini and once again asked him to give her the night in which to think things over.

  Jean brought in coffee and, at Lyle’s request, she and the young man, whose name was Vic, joined them. Good-naturedly, they answered Michelle’s questions about such topics as Bushmen paintings and the great spectacle beyond the windows, which was the Drakensberg.

  Afterwards, Lyle said, ‘Come along, I’ll show you all there is to be seen - not that there’s much, but you seem fascinated by the Land-Rovers.’

  ‘I am. I’m utterly fascinated to think that any vehicle can climb those mountains out there.’

  There was a large piece of ground behind the building. Some of it was under good lawn, but most of the lawn was chewed up by the tyres of vehicles. Somewhere, a motor was running continuously -

  possibly, thought Michelle, recharging a battery belonging to one of the Land-Rovers, several of which were parked to one side of the Sani Ski vehicle. Apart from the Land-Rovers, which all appeared to be in excellent shape, the yard seemed to be full of broken vehicles and empty drums. There were also several petrol pumps. An African was sitting on a drum and the sight of the blanket draped around him staggered Michelle because of the intense heat. ‘How can he bear that blanket?’ she asked, ‘in this heat?’ She glanced up at Lyle and the hot wind blew her hair about her face and she shook it back, laughing.

  Suddenly she could sense the hidden strength in Lyle Cunningham and the thought of him driving one of these vehicles up the rugged Sani Pass had the power to thrill her. ‘I suppose,’ she struggled to keep her voice light, ‘you keep all the old vehicles for any parts which might not be worn out and which can be used again as spares?’

  She looked up at him seriously. Her hair was blowing across her face and she swept it back with both hands. Before he had time to answer she asked, ‘By the way, where are the drivers?’

  ‘There are three,’ he told her, ‘all expert mechanics - and all out, apparently.’

  On the way back to the hotel he said, without looking at her,

  ‘Michelle, would you mind very much if I picked something up at the house?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she answered, after a moment. ‘I didn’t have any afternoon appointments, as it so happens.’ She tried to control the fluttery feeling she had in her chest.

  To strangle this feeling she said, ‘Thank you for your trouble today, by the way. It was very kind of you. I’m just sorry I’ve got to ask for time to think about the Mini. You see, I seem to have used up so much money lately, but I would like a small car. It would save a lot of bother, all round.’

  The mountains were pulling the clouds in from the distant sea. Lyle parked the car in the spacious parking area. In the late afternoon light the exotic plants in the pottery urns, which flanked a blue-tiled archway, appeared even more exotic.

  ‘Come in for a few moments,’ he said, ‘and I’ll pour you a drink while I hunt out some papers which my father particularly asked me to bring back with me. They’re all to do with the new brochure I was telling you about As soon as I’ve found them, I’ll join you.’

  ‘Don’t bother about pouring a drink,’ she murmured demurely, as they walked along the pale beige ceramic pathway leading to the front door. ‘I can wait.’

  The ceramic flooring continued through the door and her footsteps made clinking noises. Glancing down, she noticed that Lyle was wearing suede shoes with a soft sole, suited to the safari suit he was wearing.

  With the grandeur of an Eastern palace, the silent entrance hall greeted them. However, somewhere there was the tick-ticking of a clock, slow and measured, and Michelle stood next to Lyle, undecided as to what she should do and feeling her nerves beginning to tighten up. As she met Lyle’s blue-green eyes she knew suddenly that he was as much aware of her as she was of him, and filled with these conflicting thoughts she said, ‘Where shall I wait?’

  ‘Through here. You know your way about,’ he answered. The carved sliding door with the heavy brass handle was partly open and she watched him as he opened the door completely. There before her was the breathtaking honey-shaded carpeting leading in the direction of the conversation pit so reminiscent of a sheikh’s harem -‘the coloured cushions in shades of emerald, shocking pink, orange, turquoise and purple were almost jewel-like in the late afternoon sun. Apart from the fragile notes of the clock, striking now, there was the sound of cascading water which, she knew from having visited the house before, came from one of the many indoor gardens.

  ‘It’s so beautiful,’ she let out a breath. ‘Isn’t it?’

  ‘And yet for all that, it’s really a white elephant,’ he said. ‘Walk around and amuse yourself. Ill get you something to drink.’

  ‘Please - I’d rather wait,’ she said.

  ‘Just as you wish.’ His eyes met hers and she felt the usual shock at their magnetism and so she began moving about the room.

  ‘There are so many beautiful things,’ Michelle did not turn her head, ‘I don’t know which to admire first. It’s strange that the film people left everything here. One would have thought that all this,’ her shoulders moved slightly, ‘would have been taken away and sold and the house rented.’

  ‘After the film - the shooting of the film, I should say - was over,’ she heard him say, ‘an artist decided to buy the house as it stood. He and his wife lived in it for the better part of a year before they realized that it was too far from everything - even for them. They’d had an option on the place, you see, but when the lease was up they left.

  They were followed by an author and his wife and when the book he was writing was finished they went back to Johannesburg. After this couple left plans were, in fact, under way for everything to be removed and sold. The house would then be empty and sold or, failing that, rented once again. This is when I decided to step in, and arrangements were made to leave the house as it stands, and for me to rent it on a lease with the option of buying it when that lease expires.’

  She turned. ‘Oh, I hope you do. It’s perfect - just the way it is.

  Besides,’ she smiled, ‘this is your “stamping ground”, as they’re so fond of saying, in this country. Your work is here - apart from the hotel.’

  ‘It needs a wife in it,’ his voice had an edge of ridicule to it, but his eyes were serious. There was a feeling of tension in the air. ‘As you can imagine, it can be lonely.’

  ‘Well …’ her voice was deliberately light, ‘you could always change that, I guess.’

  ‘I intend to,’ he answered mockingly. ‘I’ve already put an advert in the papers - wanted, beautiful, intelligent and good-natured girl.

  Matrimony offered to right person.’

  ‘You don’t want much,’ she laughed, and knew that she was shaking a little. For a wild moment she had thought of Liza.

  ‘Well, browse around,’ Lyle told her. ‘I’ll be with you in just a moment.’

  While he was away, Michelle wandered about the fabulous room, overwhelmed at the immensity of her good fortune. Just to have had the opportunity of visiting this mansion was an experience of a lifetime, she thought, quite apart from the experience of working in a luxurious hotel situated in the mountains. Suddenly she thought of Peter and Laney and felt determined that, at all costs, they would keep their farm. Now she could see why they had chosen it. Nervous and angry at their inability to make it pay, she began to work out how she could help them.

  Lyle Cunningham chose that moment to come back. ‘You look very purposeful,’ he told her.

  ‘I was just trying to work things out,’ she said.

  ‘Think about it,’ he told her, obviously with the Mini in mind. ‘You’ll realize what a bargain it is.’

  ‘I was thinking of Peter and Laney - and the farm, as it so happens.

  They’re talking of selling, but I’m determined that they’re going to keep it.’

  ‘How do you profess to make it possible, Michelle?’ He sounded puzzled and - a l
ittle annoyed. ‘Let’s face it, Pete and Laney are in debt They’re struggling… they have no money.’

  ‘It makes me sick just to think about it!’ Her voice was heated. She ran her fingers through her hair which was windblown and honey-coloured, almost the same exotic colour as the deep carpeting.

  ‘Yes, I know that,’ he turned impatiently, ‘but the farm isn’t paying -

  not the way it’s being run at present Therefore, it must follow that certain changes must be made - or, failing that…’ he shrugged, ‘it will have to go. There’s no other way out.’

  On the verge of sinking into depression, Michelle said swiftly, ‘ I don’t think so.’ Her eyes followed him as he went in the direction of the panelled bar, in the entrance section of the room. He began to pour drinks. ‘Why must it follow?’

  When he had poured them he turned. ‘And when did you become an expert on the subject?’ He sounded more amused than annoyed now and she had the feeling that by pouring drinks he had himself in hand again.

  Remembering who he was, she murmured, ‘Well, I’m not an expert, of course.’

  Lyle turned back to the drinks and dropped two ice cubes into the chunky glasses, then turned again. ‘So?’

  She moved her arm in a helpless little gesture. ‘I don’t know. All I know is that they mustn’t be allowed to sell.’

  He picked up the glasses and came over to where she was standing and gave her one. ‘It’s not strong,’ he told her. ‘See if you like it.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She dropped her lashes and took a sip. Then, drink in hand, she began wandering about the room again.

  Now that she was here during the daytime she was able to see that the house was uniquely situated to capture vistas of the stunning mountain formations. Changing the subject, she said, ‘How wonderful to be away from city smog and traffic - just looking at all that, out there, makes one decide almost instantly that one doesn’t need city life. The whole site must have been worked over by the architect. It’s perfectly obvious that the exact spot for the house was very carefully researched. Don’t you agree?’

  ‘Yes.’ His eyes were on her face. ‘But don’t change the subject, Michelle. You’ve already said enough today to destroy my peace of mind about Pete and Laney.’

  Honestly puzzled, she said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I got carried away.

  I’m - I’m not given to wild outbursts as a rule.’ She took a small sip from her glass, to hide her discomfort, and watched him over the rim.

  Her hair slipped forward and she shook it back.

  ‘I think you’d better resign yourself to the fact, Michelle, that Pete and Laney have big problems.’ There was more than a hint of impatience in his voice now.

  ‘Well,’ she shook back her hair again, ‘that could be a challenge, couldn’t it? I don’t think they should just give up like that!’ She lifted one slim hand.

  ‘I’m in emphatic agreement, but why not talk it over with Laney, some time?’ he asked.

  ‘I have talked it over with her.’

  ‘Has she told you the extent of their problems? Have you a complete picture of the set-up?’ he asked.

  ‘It depends what you call complete. I happen to know that they owe money - here and there, of course. I didn’t ask where, of course. In any case, it would mean nothing to me. I don’t know the people involved.’ They studied each other and she dropped her eyes again.

  Lyle moved away slightly. ‘It’s difficult to know how to help these two,’ he swirled the liquid round in his glass. ‘Two very nice people with very little idea of how to run a farm and a whole lot of stubborn pride into the bargain.’ He glanced up. ‘That’s what happened here. I should know. But it’s time they faced up to their problems.’

  ‘They happen to be - to be sensitive about these things,’ Michelle replied, with a faint trace of sarcasm. ‘And I should know. I’m closest to them.’ Wishing now that she hadn’t let the sarcasm show, she went on hurriedly, I’ll really have to be getting back to the hotel, you know.’

  ‘Why?’ There was anger behind his words.

  ‘In case I’m needed at the salon. People turn up, looking for me, at the oddest times, without an appointment.’

  ‘Relax. You mentioned that you had no advance bookings, so why worry? Besides, it’s late now. Too late for setting hair.’ Some of the anger had come back into his voice and she kept her head down as she tried to understand how he could have spoken to her like that.

  What was Lyle Cunningham really like? Suddenly the loneliness and isolation of the house made itself felt and she glanced around for a place to put her glass. Somewhere in the house a door thudded and she felt a stab of relief and was even able to smile at him, trying not to have those hypnotic blue-green eyes bullying hers into clinging to them.

  ‘I’ll give you another figure for the car in the morning,’ he said, ‘and I’m sure you’ll have to agree with me that it will be a fair one. So think about it… take your time. You don’t have to rush things.’

  ‘I’ll let you know - finally,’ she replied.

  ‘The female mind,’ his voice was mocking now.

  ‘No.’ She tried to make her voice light. I’m afraid it’s the female purse. This time, anyway.’

  ‘In all honesty,’ he said, ‘could you stretch to the figure I’ve already mentioned?’

  ‘Yes - only just.’

  ‘I intend bringing that figure down.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’ Suddenly she felt impatient with him. ‘It’s so difficult.

  You see, if I do buy this car I’ll feel trapped.’

  ‘Trapped?’ He gave her a sharp look, then lowered his head for a moment, while he waited for her to finish speaking, his arms folded across his chest. Then, without warning, he looked up and his blue-green eyes clashed with hers.

  ‘I mean I’d feel that I’d have to remain here - if not for good, for a long, long while. You see, I’d have to save up again, and that takes time. Don’t you see?’ Her blue eyes widened.

  He didn’t move but stood stiffly looking at her, his very attitude matching his tone. ‘What is there back in England for you now that Pete and Laney aren’t there?’

  Listening to him, Michelle felt tense and restless. ‘This was only supposed to be a holiday,’ she said, not telling him about her last-minute decision to pack and crate her belongings in case she decided to make her home in this country. Feeling utterly caught up, she said,

  ‘Even if I wanted to stay, don’t you see, Pete and Laney might well go back if this venture ends in disappointment for them and,’ she lifted her shoulders, ‘what point would there be in my staying here? I’d be completely alone in a strange country.’

  ‘A fair question, Michelle.’ He was giving his full attention to her hair, her eyes, her lips… Beneath her feet the honey-gold carpeting seemed to fall away. She was alert to danger. A sudden, overwhelming silence filled the room.

  Beyond the windows the peaks of the mountains were becoming obscure as clouds drifted across them. It was cooler, but outside, the heat of the sun would be retained on the paving-stones.

  Looking at Lyle Cunningham, Michelle was quite resigned to the fact that she was hopelessly in love with him.

  ‘What is it?’ His voice was soft.

  ‘Nothing.’ She bit her lip and then went on. ‘Except that I’ll have to be getting back.’ She moved away slightly, deliberately not looking at him now. It had been a moment before she had trusted herself to speak.

  ‘I hadn’t forgotten,’ he answered quietly.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ON the day Michelle was to take delivery of the Mini Lyle Cunningham drove her into Thabana. Looking at her tanned dreaming face, he said, ‘Well? Are you excited?’

  Michelle laughed, slanting her eyes at him. ‘Yes, madly excited! I had a tiny car in London. Eventually, it broke down - it was a complete write-off and I had to take what I could get for it, which was next to nothing, as it so happens. It wasn’t like this, though.’ Her eyes scann
ed the mountains.

  ‘Like what?’ He sounded curious.

  ‘One day I’ll get into the Mini and drive and drive, with the sun splashing into the car and those magnificent peaks beckoning me on.’

  He laughed. ‘Are you, by any chance, contemplating driving up them?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Although she was still shy of him she found herself relaxing with him. ‘I’ll take all the roads which appeal to me and drive until I know it’s time to turn back. I’m terribly grateful to you for helping me to make up my mind and for helping me with the business side. So long as the insurance is in order that’s the main thing.’

  ‘You sound like a risky driver, Michelle.’

  ‘No - not really.’

  They passed a dam and the tall reed-like grass growing on the banks shivered its reflection in the water.

  It was late afternoon and, very much her own boss, she had closed the little salon, but she found herself thinking of Liza’s dark eyes as they had watched her leave the hotel with Lyle Cunningham. The memory of the expression on Liza’s face disturbed her. Was there - or

  had there been something serious between Liza and Lyle? she wondered. She had grown to learn that Liza’s sarcastic attitude was reserved for her when the three girls happened to be behind the desk together - for often, during the past few days, Michelle found herself helping out in small ways. In fact, Cunningham Senior had noticed this help on her part and an arrangement and a slight increase in Michelle’s salary had been worked out.

  ‘What are you thinking about?’ Lyle asked, breaking into her thoughts. ‘If it happens to be about the drive back I’ll follow you.

  There’s no need to worry.’

  ‘No, I’m not worried. I had a trial run, don’t forget. I’m very pleased, really, all round.’ She gave him a smile.

  He had taken her into Thabana two days earlier so that she might complete the necessary negotiations and she had, at his suggestion, driven the Mini round the small town.