The Perils of Skinny-Dipping

by J A Sandilands

  Early the next morning, after being force-fed breakfast by Isaac, they said their goodbyes and were on their way back north. They chatted idly about their evening when Phil brought up the subject of Richard, and what he would say to them when they got back. Abbey had to wipe away the tears as Phil did an impression of Richard, demanding to know where they had been, and what had taken them so long.

  ‘It was a simple errand, even the monkeys would have managed.’ He imitated Richard’s voice perfectly, snorting in between words, which Richard often did if he was laughing or angry. ‘You know that guy gives me the creeps,’ shuddered Phil. ‘Give him a pointy hat and a fishing rod and he’d pass for a garden gnome any day.’

  Phil took his eyes off the road momentarily to look at Abbey, joining in with her laughter, when the look of horror on her face made him look back at the road. A young bull elephant had suddenly appeared out of the bush, running out in front of them. Phil tried to swerve, but the truck skidded. It overturned and landed on its roof, down a ditch on the side of the road.

  Although it had happened very fast, Abbey knew she had not lost consciousness. She looked over at Phil in the driver’s seat. Both of them had not been wearing seat belts and Phil’s head had hit the windscreen. The glass had shattered. His face was badly cut and blood was trickling down his chin, and also from a deep cut on his scalp. His eyes were closed.

  ‘Phil! PHIL! For god’s sake, talk to me,’ shouted Abbey.

  Phil groaned a reply, much to Abbey’s relief and she started to try and release herself from the cab. The door was jammed tightly shut. She knocked out the rest of the broken glass and crawled out of the open window. Kneeling on the ground, she reached for her mobile phone from her shorts pocket, but it had been thrown from the truck when it overturned. Frantically, she scanned the parched ground looking for it.

  ‘Phil, I can’t find my phone,’ she shouted, as she ran her hand across the grass.

  ‘Use mine,’ cried Phil from the bakkie.

  Abbey made her way around to the driver’s door, took the phone from Phil’s shirt pocket and wiped the blood off the small screen.

  ‘Shit, no signal. Can you believe it?’ Abbey looked around her, trying to establish exactly where they were. The heat shimmered as she looked down the tarmac road. ‘Phil, can you move at all? Do you think you can get out of there?’

  Abbey was now concerned that the truck might blow at any time, as petrol was starting to spill out of the tank onto the dry, brown grass. She knelt beside the driver’s door and tried to wrench it open. The cut on her knee stung as it took the weight of her body as she leaned forward, pulling on the door with all her might.

  ‘It’s no good Phil, I can’t move it,’ she cried, trying to stop the panic she was feeling rising in her voice. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as she made yet another attempt to move the twisted metal. The noise of an engine made her turn. Darren’s bakkie was coming along the other side of the road from the direction of Kasane. He swerved over to them and parked behind the overturned truck. In no time at all, he had powered the door open and was checking Phil’s pulse.

  ‘How long ago did this happen?’ he said, without looking at Abbey.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know… I’m not sure. Maybe about five minutes ago. I… er…’

  ‘OK, let’s try to get him out and into the back seat of my truck. I’ll drive closer, and Abbey, keep him talking.’

  ‘Do you think it’s OK to move him?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘Abbey! For Christ’s sake,’ wheezed Phil, his body bent awkwardly over the steering wheel. ‘Just get me the hell out of here, will you?’

  Between them, they managed to slide Phil out of the crumpled truck and into the back of the twin cab. She half turned in her seat, asking him questions to keep him awake. In what seemed an eternity they eventually arrived at Kasane Clinic.

  Abbey sat patiently on the bed whilst the nurse cleaned the cut to her forehead and bandaged her right hand and her left knee, which had needed two stitches. She also had a nasty bump on the top of her head where she had hit the roof of the bakkie as it had overturned. Her headache was slowly starting to ease after taking the pain killers the doctor had prescribed.

  Richard had been in to see them both, but had left after half an hour, complaining of feeling queasy at the smell of disinfectant, and the fact that hospitals always made him feel ill.

  ‘Can I go and see Phil now?’ she asked the nurse.

  The nurse nodded. ‘Yes, see your friend, he’s being a baby. Can you hear him? See if you can keep him quiet!’

  Abbey followed the sounds of the pathetic yelps down the corridor and into the room where Phil was lying on the bed. The nurses were treating his cuts and bruises. An x-ray had shown three broken ribs and he needed stitches to the cut on his head.

  ‘Hi,’ said Abbey, as she popped her head around the door. ‘Want me to hold your hand while you have your stitches put in?’

  Phil smiled back. ‘God, it’s good to see you. Are you OK?’

  ‘I’m in a much better state than you!’ she replied. ‘That was a close one, Phil. I thought the truck was going to blow and you were a gonna. I really did. If Darren hadn’t shown up when he did…’ she paused, ‘well, I don’t know what I’d have done.’

  ‘I think you’d have managed perfectly well.’

  Abbey turned. Darren was stood in the doorway.

  ‘Hey, thanks mate,’ said Phil, smiling at Darren, as he made his way over to the bed. ‘I owe you big time, and yeah Abbey was as cool as a cucumber as I remember. In fact, hun, you can join me in a crisis anytime!’

  Phil smiled at Abbey, who he thought looked decidedly embarrassed at Darren’s arrival and also that her face looked slightly flushed. They both sat by Phil’s bed until the nurse invited them to leave. Phil was being kept in overnight to make sure there was no internal bleeding.

  ‘Oh god,’ gasped Abbey. ‘I’ve forgotten about the bakkie. It’s still on the road!’

  ‘Don’t worry, it’s all been sorted,’ replied Darren. ‘My lads brought it back in. It’s write-off though, so I’ve left it with Moses down at the garage. We unloaded the trees that could be saved at AVP and I told your boss where the bakkie was before I came here. Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.’

  They travelled the short distance up to the bungalow in silence. He helped her out of the bakkie by taking her hand. They walked up the wooden steps to the front door.

  ‘Thanks for everything today,’ said Abbey quietly. ‘I really do appreciate what you’ve done.’

  ‘You were lucky I was around. I was on my way to a meeting just south of Kasane. I must drive up and down that road about ten times a day at the moment! Anyway, I’m sure you’d have done exactly the same for me.’

  He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, his hand gently holding her chin. ‘Goodnight Abbey, I’ll look in on you tomorrow.’

  She watched the truck as it disappeared out of sight. Abbey went into the dark bungalow and stood with her back against the door. Without any warning, she burst into tears and sank to the floor.

  Chapter Five

  Richard left the small clinic and made his way down the main street towards the Savuti Lodge. He stopped at the garage to look over the crumpled wreckage of the bakkie.

  ‘That’s the problem with that woman,’ he tutted under his breath. ‘She always thinks she knows best.’ He walked around the truck, his mind penning the damming letter to head office, complaining about Abbey’s complete lack of responsibility and respect for charity property. Ah yes, he knew exactly what he would say.

  Mr Permelo was waiting for him in the small casino at the lodge. Richard made his apologies for being late, relaying what had happened.

  Mr Permelo smiled and shook his head. ‘You know you need to bring that woman under control, Richard. She has ideas above her station, that one.’

  Richard nodded in agreement.

  ‘If you need any ideas,’ continued Mr Permelo,
‘I’m quite happy to help.’

  ‘I might just take you up on that,’ replied Richard, waving at the bar tender to refill the glasses.

  Richard and Mr Permelo met on the same day and at the same time every week. Richard had acquainted himself with Mr Permelo not long after he had arrived to work for AVP. He had been impressed with the South African’s direct attitude with his staff and noticed, when he shouted orders, people literally jumped to attention. That was Richard’s way too. He had had that authority in the classroom and hadn’t been afraid to use it. He had found managing the AVP office very frustrating and, at times, futile. Phil, he had decided, had never jumped to attention in his life. His laid-back attitude grated on Richard’s nerves and that woman, well… Mr Permelo had a very valid point as far as she was concerned.

  It wasn’t long before the bar quietened down and the two men could talk about the business they had met to discuss.

  ‘I’ve two girls who think they want to be waitresses,’ said Mr Permelo quietly. ‘One is a local girl and the other is from Mahalapye, here to live with her aunt.’ Richard nodded and Mr Permelo continued. ‘I’ll send the girl from Mahalapye round tomorrow. Usual routine.’

  It had been on one of their first meetings that Mr Permelo had brought up the subject of Richard living on his own. Richard had agreed that, although it wasn’t an ideal situation, it was better than living with a woman who either didn’t know her place, or couldn’t string an intelligent sentence together. Mr Permelo had been delighted to come up with a solution that would benefit them both.

  ‘I get lots of casual labourers looking for work,’ explained Mr Permelo. ‘I don’t have the time for them. I’m too busy running this hotel. If I do need staff, there are plenty of Kaffirs I can call on. What I could do is send the girls to you for an ‘interview’ and trial run for, maybe, a week. The job description is purely down to you, Richard, but I think it could cover all your needs. Of course, if you think one might be good enough to work here for me, I would consider it, after a good reference from you of course.’

  Richard had smiled and given his approval. It sounded like an ideal solution. ‘What can I offer in return?’ he had asked.

  ‘I need plants and trees for the hotel gardens. They’re difficult to source and not cheap to buy. I’m sure AVP wouldn’t miss a few now and again!’

  ‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem,’ smiled Richard.

  The usual routine was that the hopeful applicants would go to Richards’s house at four in the afternoon when he had returned from work. The arrangement had worked extremely well and, after the promise of a good reference to Mr Permelo, all his needs had indeed been met. He left the bar happy with the prospect of female company over the next week. However, there was another female on his mind who he needed to attend to first thing in the morning.

  Chapter Six

  Abbey was woken by the sound of knocking on her front door. As she lay for a second or two, the knock turned into a constant thump. She rolled out of bed and flinched at the stiffness of her muscles as she made her way across the floor. She opened the door. Richard was standing there, looking very annoyed.

  ‘I thought you’d be up by now, Abbey,’ he chastised. ‘It’s gone eight thirty!’

  ‘What can I do for you, Richard?’ yawned Abbey, as she put the kettle onto the stove.

  ‘Aren’t you coming into work today?’

  She turned to face him. ‘Richard, it may have escaped your notice, but I was in a road accident yesterday and I could have died! I have a cut on my face, my hand is still sore and I feel like shit. So no, I will not be coming into work today. What I will be doing, is visiting my friend and colleague who has also been injured and is probably still in hospital. Now, would you like a cup of coffee whilst your here?’

  ‘No coffee thank you, and it didn’t escape my notice that you had been in an accident given the pickup is completely written off. I hope AVP are insured, that’s all I can say. What you were thinking of staying out all night, I’ll never know.’

  ‘Look Richard, I made an executive decision, OK? I decided that, as the truck from Francistown was definitely on its way up the road, we had better wait for it. I also decided that it would be far safer to drive back in daylight rather than in the pitch black.’

  ‘Hmm, well I’m not sure your last executive decision was the right one. Do you?’

  Abbey stayed silent and kept her back towards him for fear of throwing the kettle at him.

  ‘I better go,’ said Richard, breaking the silence. ‘Someone’s got to keep the home fires burning, as they say. I’ll see you tomorrow?’

  ‘You might - you might not,’ hissed Abbey through gritted teeth.

  The fly screen banged against the frame and Richard muttered something indecipherable under his breath as he stomped away down the hill. Abbey took a deep breath and shook her head at his insensitivity and lack of compassion

  ‘What a total arse,’ she muttered to herself. ‘Typical friggin school teacher. Always right, always got to have the last bloody word.’

  She made her way back to bed, holding a cup of coffee in her left hand.

  Phil was at home and lying on the sofa when she arrived at his house later that afternoon.

  ‘Is that wise?’ she asked, pointing at the empty beer cans already stacking up on the table.

  ‘Purely medicinal,’ replied Phil, taking another slurp.

  ‘Did you manage to carry them over here yourself, given you have broken ribs?’

  ‘Nah, paid one of the kids five pula. Now he keeps coming back every ten minutes to check whether I need another delivery!’

  Abbey cleared a space on a chair before sitting down, and relayed the visit she’d received from Richard earlier that morning.

  ‘Well,’ said Phil. ‘It’s gonna be at least a week before I’m back, and old Rickcardo can stick that up his proverbial. Honestly, what is his bloody problem with the rest of the human race? Hey, do you think he’s married or has been?’

  ‘Hmm, not sure,’ shuddered Abbey. ‘He’s not the easiest person to talk to, is he? And he doesn’t exactly have any animal magnetism. At least not that I’ve noticed.’ She looked at Phil and smiled. ‘Anyway, you behave yourself, OK? Otherwise I’ll be sending Nurse Judith round to tend to your broken body!’

  ‘Steady on now, hun,’ laughed Phil, clutching his ribs. ‘Don’t go putting images into my head I really don’t want there.’

  Satisfied that Phil was alright and on the mend, she left the bungalow and walked home. Children were playing barefoot on the road, rolling old car tyres with sticks. She smiled at the pure simplicity of an activity that brought so much pleasure, that didn’t have a complicated instruction manual or cost a fortune. The children recognised her from school visits and shouted ‘hello’ as she walked past. She smiled and waved back at them. She had just turned to walk up the hill when Darren pulled up beside her.

  ‘Hop in,’ he said, ‘I’ll give you a lift up the road.’

  Abbey happily accepted and climbed gingerly into the cab.

  ‘I told you I’d look in on you today. How you doing?’

  ‘I’m feeling a lot better thanks. Just a bit sore and I’ve got bruises in the most peculiar places.’ She rubbed her shoulder as she spoke.

  He smiled at her and pulled up by the porch steps. ‘I have something that belongs to you. The guys found it when they brought the truck in.’ He handed a mobile phone to her.

  ‘Wow, thanks. At least now I still have all my contact numbers, assuming the damn thing still works.’

  ‘It does,’ he replied. ‘I took the liberty of checking it for you.’

  ‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ she said when they got inside. Darren smirked at her. ‘What’s so funny about that?’ she asked, slightly bemused at the expression on his face.

  ‘It’s not so funny, as so British!’

  ‘I’d make you something to eat as well, but I haven’t been shopping and this hand is still quite sore
and…’

  Darren held his hand up and mouthed ‘stop’ at her. Without another word, he went out to the truck and appeared with two plastic bags full of shopping.

  ‘I’d already thought of that,’ he said, ‘so I came prepared. Now, do as you’re told, sit down and I’ll pour you a glass of wine.’

  Darren busied himself in the kitchen. He listened intently as Abbey chatted about her job with AVP, and the antics her and Phil had managed to get up to since they arrived. She explained why they had stayed the night at the café and then decided to set off early the next day to try and appease Richard’s mood.

  ‘I feel a bit of a fool actually,’ she said. ‘There I was thinking I was being sensible and avoiding a possible accident by waiting until daylight. Some good it did us!’

  ‘Listen, don’t be so hard on yourself. We both know there have been literally hundreds of accidents on that road over the years, some a lot more serious than yours!’

  ‘Thanks,’ Abbey smiled. ‘Unfortunately that’s not quite how Richard sees it. You’d think he was going to have to pay for the repairs out of his own money!’

  They spent the rest of the evening swapping stories about past jobs and the current delights of working outdoors. She sat beside him on the sofa, taking note of his soft features and toned body. He seemed to sense Abbey’s scrutiny and leaned over to fill her wine glass, brushing her hand with his in the process. He smelt divine, of soap and a hint of cologne and, still feeling slightly vulnerable after the accident, she could have quite happily sunk into his arms there and then.

  It was midnight when Darren stood up to leave. She walked with him to the door.

  ‘I seem to be thanking you quite a lot at the moment,’ she smiled, looking up into his blue eyes.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m writing out IOU’s on a daily basis now,’ he laughed. ‘See you soon, Abbey, and take care of yourself.’