by PJ Skinner
Jean made a big pot of strong tea, which they drank in silent appreciation, both deep in their own thoughts. Sam could see that her feisty reaction had impressed Black. She had shown him her gutsy side and made him see that she could come in useful. She watched his jaded reactions to all the sycophantic staff at Kardo sucking up to him all the time. It was his fault that they were terrified of him but it was obvious that he needed someone less afraid of losing their job to contradict him when he was wrong.
When he asked her to sit in on his afternoon production meetings, Sam remembered to be diffident. She had no idea what to expect but she was not going to turn down the opportunity of supporting her mercurial boss. She had made a breakthrough with the tea and she was not going to waste it.
‘I’m not expecting you to speak,’ said Black.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ said Sam.
Was that a grin? She could not believe it. Finally, finally! She wanted to jump up and down. She contented herself with a couple of fist pumps in the toilet, where no one could see her.
The production meetings followed a pattern that Sam grew to recognise. Everyone who came to a meeting was humiliated, harangued and dismissed from the room to go and lick their wounds. There was a prolonged session for one of the engineers who was responsible for only about five percent of what Black was ranting about, having only been at Kardo for two weeks. That was company policy. The incumbent in any position took the flak, even if the issue was the direct responsibility of their predecessor or they were replacing someone on leave.
Ewen had not had to take any flak. The sun was shining out of Jim’s arse with great brilliance at the time due to the high production figures. Ewen basked in the reflected glory.
Finally, Black let fly at Bob, shouting until he had one of his turns. They were famous. All the veins stood out on his neck and he looked in danger of having a seizure. Sam was amazed that he had not had a stroke or a heart attack yet.
‘The doctors gave him eighteen months to live a few years ago, as he only has half a liver left,’ said Jorge after the meetings.
‘I’m surprised he's lasted this long. He must smoke forty cigarettes during his marathon meetings.’ said Sam
‘I reckon he smokes about three or four packs a day,’ said Jorge. ‘He gets raging drunk most nights of the week, and, as far as I can make out, he never eats proper food. He's been doing that as long as I’ve known him.'
No man likes to be belittled in front of a woman, especially one he has been rude to. Sam could see that for some of the victims, being belittled by Black was normal. But in front of her, it was unbearable.
‘What the fuck do you mean? Why are so many trucks side-lined for maintenance? Where are the fucking spare parts?’
‘They are stuck in Mondongo customs boss.’
‘You useless bastard, why didn’t you order them earlier?’
Sam knew that they had been begging for money for spare parts for months. She also knew that Black knew that. Holding her tongue was not easy. She looked down at her lap.
By the end of the afternoon, she was exhausted. She had watched a continuous train of people get bullied and intimidated by Black. He loved to humiliate people, and doing this in front of her inflated his ego even more. Sam knew he had ensured that she would be even less popular.
‘Why won’t you buy new machinery for the mine?’ she asked him cautiously, ‘wouldn’t you make more money if you mined more.’
Black looked irritated but Sam’s tone told him that she was not looking for a fight.
‘If I buy new machinery, MARFO will steal it. That is not good economics.’
‘So that’s why all the machinery is so old?’
‘Yes. MARFO won’t steal it if it needs lots of maintenance.’
‘Ah. But what about the civil war?’
‘What about the civil war?’
‘If it starts up again, won’t you have to stop mining? Wouldn’t it be better to get as many diamonds as possible now while you have the chance?’
‘And how do I do that?’
‘Well, Bob says that he needs lots of spare parts. You could mine a lot more if the machinery wasn’t broken down.’
‘It’s none of your business,’ said Black abruptly. ‘Who do you think you are, questioning my management?’
‘Sorry, I’m just trying to learn from you.’
Black frowned but she could see that she had planted an idea even if he was cross with her.
Sam had not anticipated the results of the meetings to be a further drop in her standing in Kardo and was deflated until Black asked her to stop procrastinating and get over to the bar with him. If she was not popular, at least she was protected for the time being by her status as teacher’s pet. She decided to enjoy herself.
By midnight, the whole crew was plastered. Sam had managed her intake with great ease, as they were all trying to out-do each other in drinking ridiculous amounts and did not notice that she was drinking tonic by itself without the gin.
The barman was complicit in this. He had had a soft spot for Sam ever since the night that they had excluded her from their circle.
Sam thought that Black looked remarkably sober. They played a couple of close games of pool, which Sam was careful to lose by very slender margins, giving Black the chance to crow about the victory but not to feel sure about it until the last ball had gone in. She wondered if he knew that she was letting him win.
Black was not stupid by any means, but he loved to bask in the adoration of his team when he had a few drinks. He beckoned her to the door of the bar. ‘Come, come. Bring your drink.’ He started off to the office.
Sam had the barman put gin in her tonic just in case. She scampered over to the office and found Black in Fred’s room.
‘What kept you, woman?’
‘Sorry, forgot my ciggies.’
‘Give me one. Come over here.’
Sam was not sure where here was but he was indicating Fred’s desk. Jim had forbidden her to approach Fred’s desk. She was not allowed to touch the computer if Fred was not there. But Black gestured for her to sit down.
‘Start it up,’ he said. ‘I hate these things. I want to see the production data for this month.’
Sam did as she was told. It was not hard to find the records that Black was looking for. Fred was methodical and there were not too many files on the computer that were not to do with diamond production in one way or another. Sam opened the file and stood up so Black could sit in front of the screen.
‘Now that’s what I call beautiful,' he said.
‘Sparkling figures,’ said Sam and immediately regretted it as Black glared at her like an owl woken up during the day.
‘Okay, turn it off. Go on with you.’ Black dismissed her from his presence and staggered off in the direction of the bar.
Sam was not sure why Black had showed her the data. Perhaps it was a demonstration of his growing trust in her. She considered herself lucky to escape another ordeal by alcohol and poured her drink onto the roots of the mango tree outside the door of the office on her way out.
She went home and lay awake for a while on her bed, reflecting on the way a small incident can change the whole complexion of any situation.
***
The next morning, she waited in the office at six-thirty for an ‘early’ meeting with Black. When he arrived at midday, he apologised for being late. She looked so startled to receive an apology that he asked her what was wrong. She muttered something about women’s problems.
After procrastinating for an hour and drinking two large mugs of tea each, they set off to Tunde with Sam driving at Black’s request. It was a long, straight tarmac road with huge potholes, most of which were unavoidable. There were very few vehicles. She counted only six on the half-hour drive. Black was in a good mood, chatting and telling stories.
‘Have you heard the story about the phantom Filipino?’ he asked.
‘No, I’m sure I haven’t,’ said Sam.
<
br /> ‘Well, in 1989, during one of the many cease-fires in the civil war, MARFO rebels launched an attack on Kardo, and a Filipino mechanic disappeared. Local people said that he had been kidnapped. Three days later, they found the bottom half of a rotten torso on the riverbank. A doctor examined it and said that it wasn’t African or white but probably Asian in origin. The missing man’s colleague said that he himself had helped sew up the wound that caused the scar found on the left calf. With this confirmation of the death of the poor unfortunate man, Gemsite collected contributions for his widow from his workmates and an insurance pay out from Lloyds and sent the ‘body’ back for burial. The widow declared the legs to be those of her beloved and accepted the thirty-thousand dollars’ compensation with tears of gratitude.’
‘Wow, that’s a lot of money in the Philippines.’
‘Quite so,’ said Black. ‘Well, most people assumed that the story ended there. However, twenty-two months later, the missing Filipino turned up in a Red Cross convoy that arrived in Namibia. It turns out that MARFO leaders were embarrassed to admit that they had taken a hostage during a cease-fire, so they hid him for two years. Meanwhile his ‘widow’ had remarried and spent all of the thirty-thousand dollars that she got as compensation in his absence. She was surprised when he arrived home demanding that she get rid of her new husband.’
‘Oh my, that’s awkward.’
‘The Filipino mechanic moved back into his house and started suing Gemsite for unpaid salary over the two years. Can you believe it? Cheeky bastard.’
The story finished there, as Sam did not dare ask who won the case. She had to admit, it was a good yarn, even if it was not entirely true. She never could tell with Black.
They got to Tunde in good time. Black discussed matters with the production manager and the head of metallurgy in a restrained manner before going out to look at the terraces that were being exploited. The general manger of Tunde was on leave and Sam had not met him yet.
As usual, Black was full of ideas, hopping back and forth across the mining areas like a demented leprechaun. At one point, he was unable to go any further, as he had a bad knee, which seized up. He got stuck halfway across a ditch and had to be helped back out. He was due to get an operation to fix it. But like many bullies, he was a coward, so he preferred the daily pain.
Sam made sympathetic noises anyway. She knew which side her bread was buttered. Black sent Sam home by herself. He had some heavy drinking to do with the Tunde management. She was relieved not to be stuck there with nowhere to sleep. Black would be given the best room as a matter of course, and she had a funny feeling that the back of the truck was reserved for lepers like her.
***
Sam got up before dawn the next day to go to the diamond recovery area with Ewen and to do the diamond export for Mondongo. She was expecting to perform Jim’s job of weighing and checking the diamonds, but Tunde’s chief sorter stood in for her. It was just as well. Sam was so tired that she could not get the inner safe to open. Ewen did it for her. She could feel the disdain of those watching.
‘That’s your street cred down the drain,’ said Ewen.
The Tunde crew arrived for their weigh up. Then both exports left on the flight to Mondongo.
Ewen and Sam went back to the office and had the normal production meeting.
They arrived back at lunchtime. Sam was starving as usual. Black was talking to Ewen.
‘Do you mind if I go and have lunch now?' asked Sam.
‘Can’t you wait an hour while we drive around the production sites?' asked Black
Sam knew that she was not going to eat lunch yet again. She looked miserable, slumping in the backseat of the car as they set out. However, to her surprise, they stopped outside the mess on their way to the diamond terraces.
‘I suppose you’re still hungry, Sam,’ said Black.
’Ravenous’
‘Grab something to eat in the canteen.’
Sam went into the mess. As luck would have it, they had scotch eggs, which were perfectly portable. She grabbed four eggs and an armful of apples and walked outside, dropping a couple of them at the feet of the two boys begging outside. She winked at them, eliciting some excited giggles and went back to the car.
‘Those look good,’ said Black, who had not noticed the contraband change hands, as he had been lighting a cigarette.
Sam smiled to herself and divided the spoils. She guessed that Black’s indifference to food was caused by living with a girl who ate only lettuce so she could stay stick thin. She was sure he had a healthy appetite if he was allowed to eat. His big paunch and flabby jowls were the result of heavy drinking. She wondered if Marybelle ever tried to swap some of the drink for food. Probably not. She would not mourn long after his death with all that money to comfort her.
Sam and Black spent a couple of hours blundering around the terraces and came back in the failing light. Night really did crash down like a shutter in Tamazia. They saw two tawny eagles that drifted along in front of the truck, a large flapping guinea fowl, an iguana and some quail. The wildlife was extraordinary, especially at sunset. Black pretended to shoot everything, wishing he had his gun. Sam did not think that the animals would have been in any danger. With Black’s shaky hands he could not hit an elephant sitting in a Ford Fiesta. Black was all hat and no cattle in lots of ways.
They drove to meet Ewen at the river diversion from which had had the water pumped out. There was a big crocodile in the drying-out riverbed, thrashing about in the gloom and fishing in the remaining pools of water. Black insisted on going for a walk in the dark bush growing on the bank of the river diversion. Crocodile prints were everywhere in the gathering gloom but Sam was more uneasy about the possibility of meeting a hippo on its way to feed. She knew that hippos killed more people a year than crocodiles, snakes and all African predators put together.
They went back to camp and had drinks with Jorge, Bob and Jean. It was a pleasant evening. Jorge’s wife brought out plates of chorizo sausage, cheese, raw onion and bread that the starving entourage wolfed down. They all had a glass of wine. Then as suddenly as he had appeared, Black left with Marybelle to catch the plane to Mondongo.
Sam staggered back to Jim’s house where she reviewed the visit in her mind. She had without doubt made inroads with her recalcitrant boss. With patience she could make the job work in her favour and learn everything she required to succeed. She just needed to get some more of the management working with her.
She went to her room and fell into a dreamless sleep.
X
During the days that followed Black’s departure, it was made clear to Sam just how much she was despised at Kardo. But she did not care. She smiled at everyone no matter what they said to her and made sure not to frequent the bar and cramp their style. Talk away, boys.
She was plotting a coup.
Now that she had all the production information from Ewen, she was determined to get another one hundred percent bonus for Kardo for September. No matter what the management team thought of her as a person, she wanted a tiny bit of respect for her professional abilities. If she could reach the elusive target of doubling the baseline monthly production without Jim on site, she would show them what she could do.
It would take a little planning and she might have to adjust Black’s orders a bit. But who would notice that? Black changed his orders every other hour and Sam was the only one present at all the meetings, so she was the only one who knew what the final orders were. She assumed that he would not even remember his own orders after all that change. She knew what mix of material to use and where to get it from.
Sam was aware that Black wanted to spread the good material over a couple of months to keep production down and to prevent the government boys from taking an interest. They might try and change the terms of the agreement if they thought that Gemsite was making too much money. However, a spike in production was normal from time to time when they hit potholes in the riverbed.
The
only person who might have foiled Sam’s plan was Ewen but he had his own agenda.
‘I’m off up to Gali,’ said Ewen, ‘the production levels have dropped and I need to find out what is going on. Can you keep an eye on things down here?’
‘Sure. How long will you be there?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, a couple of days at least. There is a problem with material in one of the terraces and I have to find something with which to substitute it if we are to hit our targets for this month.’
‘No problem. I’ll drive up and let you know if we need you for anything.’
‘Thank you. It shouldn’t be too difficult to hit Kardo’s target this month with the diamond grades you are getting. Maybe I’ll take some of your high-grade gravel for Gali.’
‘Forget it. That’s ours.’
‘OK tiger, take it easy. I’m not dumb enough to try and steal your gravel.’
Sam laughed.
When Ewen left, Sam started to adjust Black’s plans by just enough to have the desired effect on production. She knew that the only person who might notice what she was doing was Jorge. But he did not know what Black’s instructions were, either. He knew that some terraces were richer than others but he did not know the details. Since Jorge did not see the production figures, he didn’t what Sam was doing. He was content to work with Sam on an equal basis. They had a fine time together organising the mining and production to fit in with the availability of machinery and manpower.
She managed to have a short talk with Dirk, who approached her when no one else was around.
‘Sam, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about, well, you know.’ Dirk stood staring at his feet as if unable to look up. ‘I never wanted to take part in the bet. I’m new too, you know. I got bullied into it.’
‘I can understand that,’ said Sam.
‘Honestly, I wasn’t pretending. I like you a lot.’
Sam cringed. ‘Okay, don’t tell me, please. I don’t think I could deal with it right now.’