Clive Sheldon was a short man, though he carried himself as though he were 10 foot tall. At the mention of his restaurant, the weight of concern bore down visibly and his shoulders drooped. “Unfortunately, I don’t need any more waitresses. Though I’m sure with your looks, you’d have them lining the streets to get inside. Can’t help you there.” He began mumbling, “Now, if you could co-ordinate the kitchen staff and pull off the duties of a chef, then we’d have something to talk about.” He turned away, pre-occupation with his current dilemma out-weighing the attraction of her good looks.
Rebecca spoke softly, as if discussing the matter with herself, “The Chef thing would really be no problem. Waitressing — that would be disastrous.” Rebecca stood chewing her lip thoughtfully; unaware of the bomb she’d just dropped.
Clive Sheldon spun on his heel and rounded in on her. “What did you just say?”
“I am a Chef, sort of. I’m definitely NOT a waitress.”
“What do you mean ‘sort of’? I need to know if you can run my kitchen.”
“I’ve catered for dinner parties of well over 200 people, with the help of one other staff member. How many kitchen staff would I be working with?”
“You’ll be part of a team of 10. Can you do this?” He was hardly daring to breathe.
Rebecca’s insides trembled, but her voice was confident. “I believe I can help you, Sir.”
He studied her warily, but with a glimmer of hope in his heart. “You just might do, young lady. You just might do. Come with me. I’ll show you the kitchen.”
Turning back, he held up a hand to stop her, and said, “There’s one other thing. For this first week at least, I’ll need you round the clock. You will need to move into the staff quarters as soon as possible.”
Rebecca beamed. “That would suit me perfectly!”
He held out his hand, “Clive Sheldon. Welcome aboard.”
Rebecca shook his hand, and hesitated briefly before responding, “Rachel Jonas. Happy to be aboard, Sir.”
__________________________________________
Shane was out somewhere, when the three guys arrived back at the flat. They’d made good time to East London, spending little more than an hour with the Goodwood’s in Stutterheim. The elderly couple was anxious for Rebecca’s safety and had eagerly shared all they knew with the young men. Pete had confessed to being a ‘very astute judge of character’, and all three of them had obviously passed his test. The only light they could shed on Rebecca’s whereabouts was a hunch that she’d taken a Taxi to East London. Jason consoled himself that there was a good possibility that the 8 other provinces in South Africa could be ruled out. What a tremendous help.
Without further ado, they’d headed for home, and — they all hoped — Rebecca and Claude.
Tim showed Kenneth to the lounge and gestured to the 3-seater. “This will be your room for the next couple of days.”
Kenneth dumped his bag, rubbed his palms together and looked from Tim to Jason and back again. If he had a tail, it would have been wagging. “Right. What’s the plan? What’s our next step?”
Jason caught Tim’s eye and rolled his heavenwards. Tim laughed and gave Kenneth a friendly shove on the shoulder, sending him crashing onto the couch. “Chill out! Relax. At this stage there is no plan. Halloway?”
Jason shrugged, looking distracted. “Now that we’re here, I really don’t know where to start.” He shrugged, “There’s something I’ve got to take care of. You two hang out here for a while. Make yourselves useful – make a list of all the B&B’s in the area around Gonubie Beach where the Taxi dropped Rebecca. She would have had to find somewhere to stay. Claude too, for that matter.”
He’d no sooner been into his room to put his bags down, when he came out looking befuddled. “There’s something weird going on here. I have a suitcase full of ladies clothing in my room. Not to mention other unmentionables which have taken up residence in my living space. Shane’s Brenda is away, so it can’t be hers.” He shook his head, face grim, “I’m gonna kill Shane.”
Tim looked equally shocked, “You’ll probably have to wait until Brenda has killed him first.” He shook his head with a frown, “That’s just not like him. There must be some explanation.”
Kenneth chipped in, “Apologies for being dim, but if Shane was shacking up with a girl, surely they would be together in his bedroom?” He had a way of stating the obvious with a sweet innocence that made Jason want to punch him in the face.
Fighting the urge, Jason picked up his car keys. “Tim, get hold of Shane and tell him I want my room back. I’ll be back later.” Tim reached for his cell phone, and Kenneth stood in the middle of the lounge looking lost.
Chapter 20 – Stone of Stumbling
Outside, Jason breathed deeply of the fresh winter air, trying to clear his mind. The subtle female scent that had caught him so off guard in his bedroom still lingered on his senses, unsettling him completely. His downhill slide to insanity was picking up speed.
Since heading for Gauteng, Jason had been hankering after his Mom. Nothing deep, he told himself, just the normal way a young man who had been fending for himself and eating his roomies cooking, would.
What he wasn’t willing to face was that the episode with Maxine Rochester had brought all the memories of Nicole flooding back. Memories that carried with them unresolved emotions. Jason was having little success in dealing with these unruly feelings, and was downright disgusted with himself for the fact. So he convinced himself he missed his Mom’s cooking, and headed out her way.
True to her regular routine, Faith Halloway’s ancient VW Beetle was parked outside the school hall where she conducted her Ballroom Dancing lessons. Jason could hear a strict-tempo tango number coming from the hall as he pulled up outside. Just above the frantic violins, he could just hear his Mom’s voice, “Sharply, people. Slow, slow, quick-quick, slow. Don’t be sluggish on the quick’s.”
Jason’s rear remained glued to the seat. In an instant, he was not so sure that this was the right thing to do. “I don’t know why I’m here. What would I say?” He chewed his lip for a moment, caught in indecision.
“Stay, Jason. Speak to your Mom.”
Jason’s teeth ground. Rebellion stiffened his spine. “This was a mistake. Forget it.” Turning the key, he shoved the gear lever into reverse. Checking behind, he floored the accelerator. He was winding the steering wheel to the right to pull off forwards, when his Mom tapped on the window. Checkmate. He wound down his window, his face a bleak grin. “Hey Mom.”
“Jason! I’m so glad you’re here. This class is just finishing. Come inside.”
Jason parked the car again. Faith held his door open for him as if he were back in pre-school. With a sigh, Jason got out of the vehicle and closed and locked the door for himself. There was nothing to say. Sensing his mood, Faith chattered away, filling the silence with her gentle voice.
“It was the strangest thing. Right in the middle of teaching, something told me to come outside. I did, and here you were. Amazing, hey? Well, I shouldn’t say ‘something’; I know exactly who it was. That still, small voice.” A radiant smile lit her lined face. “It was obviously the Lord. Ah, here we are.”
Jason’s ears pricked at her mention of a voice, but he said nothing.
20 pairs of youngsters were moving round the hall, with varying measures of competency. Faith turned the music off and announced, “That’s all for today. You all did very well. You can give each other a pat on the back. Don’t forget to practice and I will see you again next Saturday!” A happy buzz filled the hall as they changed shoes, collected bags and headed out.
Jason was surprised to see that well over half the students made a point of coming over to hug their teacher before leaving. At their age, Jason wouldn’t have been caught dead hugging a teacher. Before long though, he could see why. His Mom had crept into these kid’s hearts in a very real way.
The last to leave was a pretty blond who approached them shyly. Fa
ith swept her up in a big bear-hug. “Bethany – will you remember what we decided about that situation of yours?” Bethany nodded, eyes brimming, but a smile on her lips. “Yes, Aunty Faith. I’m going to do exactly what we talked about.” She turned to leave, but swung back spontaneously and hugged the old lady again, “Thank you!” Faith kissed her on the head affectionately. “It will work out, you’ll see.” Bethany nodded, and left with a wave.
“You really love these kids, Mom.”
Faith was packing her CD’s away. “I do, Jason. It’s funny, you know. I started teaching to keep myself busy after Nicole died, and it’s done so much for me—” she thought for a moment, “—and for them. For some reason, they feel comfortable with me. They share their problems, their fears, hopes and dreams with me. I talk to them about God’s wonderful purposes for them, pray them through the rough spots. It’s a real privilege.”
Jason got stuck at her off-hand mention of Nicole, and his temper flared. “How can you talk about Nicole so casually? Geez, Mom. Do you love these kids more than you loved her?”
She met his anger with a calmness that rattled his insides. “You’re not okay, Jason. Talk to me.” Agile for her years, she hoisted herself up onto the edge of the stage and patted a spot next to her.
Jason was too riled to sit. He began pacing up and down, frantically searching for the right words to throw at her. All the frustrations of the past weeks poured out. “You talk about her as if she meant nothing to you. It’s sick. She loved Jesus so much, and what did He do?” He stopped pacing and glared at her. “Sent a terrible sickness her way, and killed her. On the brink of life. And you still love Him.” The fire went out of him and he sank, cross-legged to floor in despair.
Faith slipped off the stage and knelt on the cold wooden floor in front of her son. “I can see what it looks like from your perspective. I seem pretty heartless.”
Jason’s head was down and he didn’t respond.
Faith kept talking. “Nics and I spoke a lot during those last weeks of her life. During her 17 years on this earth, she made a huge impact on the people who knew her. Do you remember her best friend Teresa?”
Jason didn’t look up, but nodded.
“Her folks got divorced and she took it really badly. There were all sorts of other issues in her life too. Anyway, she tried to kill herself. I don’t know that you ever knew that? Mercifully, she didn’t succeed. Do you know that your little sister, at the age of 15, loved and prayed her back into wholeness? Jason, she achieved more in her 17 years, than what most people do in a lifetime. As for me, I know that our separation is temporary. Life on earth is so short compared to the eternity that we’ll spend together once this life is over.” She reached across and took his head in her hands. Leaning her forehead on his, she continued, “I’m not saying that I never ask ‘Why?’ But if I’ve learnt one thing in my life, it’s that He knows best. His Word promises that ‘All things work together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.’” She paused for a moment, “Jason, if I can’t trust Jesus, who can I trust?”
There was a catch in her voice that made Jason look up. He read the pain in her eyes and it comforted him. He was not alone. Mom felt it too, but somehow managed to cling to her decision to trust God despite not understanding. And God was honoring that trust by making her life matter. He could live with that.
Taking her hands in his, he nodded. “I hear you.”
Mom squeezed his hands briefly, “Come, let’s go home. I’ve got a chicken in the oven. Interested?”
Jason’s stomach growled on cue. They were both laughing as he helped her to her feet. “Need I say any more? Lead on, Mom.”
__________________________________________
The dishes were drip-drying in the kitchen. Dad was out helping the neighbor with a faulty oven. Jason and Faith sat on the upstairs verandah of their family home in Gonubie, admiring the sparkling expanse of ocean.
Sitting side-by-side in companionable silence, they sipped hot chocolate. After a while, Faith asked, “So what else is bothering you?”
Nearly choking on a mouthful of hot liquid, Jason swallowed, coughed and blinked away tears brought on by a scalded throat. “What are you talking about?”
“C’mon Jason. I know you so well by now. The whole Nicole thing was bothering you, but that’s not all. Talk to me.”
Jason squirmed, not sure how much he wanted to face himself, let alone share with his Mom. One glance at her piercing eyes and he knew he didn’t stand a chance. Might as well spill his guts.
The hot chocolate warmed his cold hands, but he put the cup down anyway and clasped them together to help him focus. So many strange things. “I was diving about two weeks ago, exploring a wreck. I found a sealed package that contained a portrait and a wad of love letters. The portrait was of a mom and her daughter, the love letters were all written to her by a young man from East London.” Jason glanced at his Mom. She was sitting on the edge of seat, leaning towards him intently, her drink forgotten for the moment.
Confident of her full attention, he continued. “I’ve been doing some investigating to figure out what happened. At this point I believe the mom drowned and went down with the ship, but the little girl, Rebecca, somehow survived. She’s about my age now. I’ve been following her trail across the country and it’s led me back here.”
“That all sounds exciting, but what’s bothering you?”
Mom had always been a bit of an emotional bloodhound. She never let up on a feeling scent until she’d found the source. It was rather frightening to be on the receiving end of such focused attention.
“What’s got me rattled is the voice I keep hearing in my head.” There, he’d said it. It sounded so bizarre that he wanted to laugh, but it was out now, and he couldn’t take the words back. “I keep hearing a voice speaking to me.” He looked at his Mom, expecting a reaction.
Her face remained calm, and she looked at him with her eyebrow lifted. And?
“Mom? Doesn’t that disturb you at all?”
“Not yet. What happens if you listen to what the voice tells you?”
There was so much, he wasn’t sure what to say. Floundering a little, he began, “Outside Planet Dance where I DJ, I heard the voice tell me to go and speak to a young woman who was sitting crying outside. I didn’t want to, but when I did I found myself giving her advice that just didn’t come from me. I also told her to tell her Mother what had happened to her.”
His Mom was a very good listener and she prompted him to carry on without interrupting.
“Amazingly, she was the very person I needed to help me with the next step in my search for Rebecca. She also took my advice in speaking to her Mother.” He shook his head, unable to believe the results. “Turns out her Mom went through the same thing she did at that age, and understood what she was going through completely. I didn’t know that.” Faith nodded. “Mom, she would NEVER have spoken to her Mother if I hadn’t suggested it.”
Faith nodded again, and simply said, “There’s more. Keep talking.”
“Following Rebecca’s trail, we ended up visiting a lady by the name of Maxine Rochester who had employed her four years ago. As we were leaving, I—” Jason struggled over this bit, “—I saw a man standing behind her, and her two sons. They weren’t really there, and they looked hazy, kind of like looking through a heat wave. Then I started speaking all this stuff to her about their futures being balanced on the edge of a knife, and that they needed her. That she had to go back to them. She looked all shocked, asked me how I knew this and promptly went on to tell me her life story and how she’d ended up separated from them.”
“There’s also this dream I had. I can’t shake it. It’s always there, lurking in the back of my mind.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Thousands of people in a desert all chained together walking into a fiery abyss. Some are covering their eyes and ears; some have keys but refuse to use them. Since the dream,
I actually see the chains on people. They look completely real, but if I touch them, they’re not there. It happens with strangers and people I know. I don’t know what makes the difference.”
His Mom held out her arms, “Do you see anything on me?”
“No. You’re free. The question is why? Tina from the club had them, after I’d spoken to her, they disappeared.”
Faith pursed her lips in thought, then quoted one of her favorite verses, “Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Maybe the shackles are an indication of someone’s state of freedom. Believing the devil’s lies will always tie you up and render you ineffective. God’s truth is the only thing that can shatter the hold of the enemy’s lies.”
Jason wasn’t convinced. “Maybe, I don’t know. I’ll be honest with you, Mom - I’m freaked out. I think my sanity is slipping away from me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
With all his cards on the table, he shrugged and looked at her. She looked very calm for a Mother of a lunatic. In fact, she looked downright gleeful – though she was trying very hard not to show it.
Chapter 21 – A Prophet and a Hundred Rand Note
Rebecca knuckled her aching back. For the first time in four hours, she took a moment to stop and catch up on her breathing. One hundred Crème Brulee’s were leaving the kitchen on cue, the proverbial cherry on top of a very successful evening. The team she was working with was well trained, but it had still taken every last scrap of the experience she had gleaned from Hazel to stay on top of all the preparations, and one step ahead of the guest’s needs.
How she had pulled it off was beyond her. Tumie, wiry and bald, grinned at her from his place near the grill. He was a virtuoso on the grill, and he’d eyed her skeptically for the first two hours before concluding he was in good hands, and promptly became as loyal as a sheepdog. She echoed his grin, her insides warm and satisfied.
Shackles: The truth will set you free Page 16