Catching Kate (Scenic Route to Paradise)

by Andrea Aarons

  Tommie was at the helm although the helmsman was more of a lookout rather than a pilot for the vessel. The course for St Helena’s had been established and programmed into the boat’s autopilot minutes after leaving Redford’s Bay that morning. Outside the pilothouse, the wind whipped cold as they flew across the water. Roger relieved Tommie, asking him to return for a dogwatch before they entered James Bay.

  The pilothouse was a comfortable modern affair. Roger answered Kate’s questions and explained the various functions of the high-tech console before them.

  It was a clear night although to the north lightning lit the sky periodically revealing a storm front.

  Once truly settled, Kate told Roger as much as she could remember of her abduction. She steered clear of telling him of her thoughts of him and the tinge of regret she felt at dismissing his obvious attraction to her while she visited St Helena’s the week before. Therefore, Kate said nothing of the locket gift Roger had given her.

  Initially, Roger looked forward to Kate bringing up the silver heart locket with his picture in it. After all, she had to have opened it to set off the GPS signal. Too, there was the surprising GPS factor but then he realized Kate had no plans of mentioning the locket. He was silent as she recounted her misadventure and he told himself that he was relieved he hadn’t given his version of the events first. Kate concluded with opening the door to see him - Roger in mid-whistle standing at the galley table.

  He said numbly, “I’m so glad you are safe and without any real harm. I think all of us, Mac and Merry realize that God intervened. His plans for you must be truly significant.” They were quiet. The motor sounding muffled over the wind and water, played as background music to their thoughts. Roger was hurt and confused at first at the inadmissibility of the locket. As the boat sounds thrummed and the stars overhead shimmered, he concluded that Kate was as fearful of the unseen as much or more so, than she had been concerning the Boerboels. Simply put, Kate wanted to be in control! The unknown element that God eventually leads His children into, coercing them to walk by faith and not by sight caused anxiety in Kate; that was obvious to Roger. He had inadvertently led her through to victory over her fear of Boerboels. Could he do it again? This time he hoped be the beneficiary of Kate’s defeated foe.

  When Kate yawned, Roger said, “Kate you’re tired! Of course, you are! I’ve kept you up talking, doing dishes and entertaining me with tales of piracy and adventure, when you should be resting. Come, come. Let me take you below decks to your berth.” Roger was sincere but also, he didn’t want to have to give his rendition of the last few days as he knew it would be stilted without detailing the importance the locket had played in her rescue. He took Kate by the elbow and guided her toward the companionway.

  “Oh, but I wanted hear how you found me,” she yawn along with her protest.

  “Yes. I know and you will hear all about it tomorrow,” Roger reassured her.

  Turning on a dim night light so Kate could make her way from her cabin to the bathroom, he bid her goodnight. She took his jacket off and laid it over the chair back in the galley. Roger remembered later that he had left the locket in his jacket pocket. He retrieved it when Kate had retired for the night, disarming the GPS signal. Also, Roger didn’t want Kate finding it after her lack of transparency. He returned to the night watch above decks to think and to pray and to strategize how he would catch Kate... How he would capture her heart.

  Chapter 17 Dr. Smith

  It was still dark when Kate climb down to the dock, her legs wobbly from the drugs and speedboat ride. Roger’s motor boat docked in the slip next to his wind vessel; a smaller, newer version of the Serendipity... There was no crows nest!Roger called Mac but there was no response. He figured rightly that the Serendipity had not arrived yet and Mac’s cell phone was beyond St Helena’s reach. Tommie ran to bring Roger’s car around and some minutes later the three of them were driving through the morning twilight toward Roger’s house.

  Using the sea radio at his house, Roger let Mac know that Kate was safe with him. Mac responded that they planned to be in port before noon.

  Lulu, Roger’s housekeeper made breakfast. She tut-tutted at Kate and cosseted her with attention and food. Roger watched bemused as Lulu never liked any of the women he had brought home during the 20 years of her service. In the old days, Lulu was often rude to his paramours, receiving severe reprimands from Roger that went for the most part unheeded by the older woman.

  It had been over four years since Roger had invited a single woman to his home... He entertained yes, and he had cast about for a suitable wife on the mainland but his playboy days had ended when he died with Christ at his water baptism. After breakfast, Lulu hustled Kate off to one of the guestrooms and sometime later, Kate reappeared wearing one of Lulu’s wrap around skirts and a cotton shirt that had belonged to Roger before Lulu shrunk it accidentally some months back. It was still new and Lulu had hid the evidence to be retrieved at a far distant date when Roger wouldn’t recognize his new shirt on someone else. Kate wore the satin slippers that she had on in Luderitz.

  Roger did recognize the shirt but wisely said nothing to Kate, only eyeing Lulu suspiciously.

  “Come sit down Kate and have some coffee with me before I get busy with this day,” Roger said, indicating the patio chair next to him. He set his laptop aside, as Kate made for the chair and Lulu returned inside to get the coffee items.

  “You look refreshed,” Roger told her. “Did you sleep well on that noisy boat of mine?”

  Kate nodded. “I think I would have slept soundly on an inner tube... I was so tired.” Roger looked exhausted although he had showered, his hair was wet still but his face clean shaven. “I left you last night minding the helm and that is where I found you this morning as we came into port. Did you get any sleep?” she asked.

  “I slept. Tommie took over and I slept for 3, almost 4 hours,” he said. Lulu came with a tray and set it on the glass topped table between them. He thanked her.

  Taking a mug filled with coffee, Kate said, “Thanks, Lulu.” And then Kate turned to Roger. “Okay, Mr. Cowels you must tell me how you set up Yosef and found me yesterday. You were an answer to prayer - I’m sure you know that!” Lulu tut-tutted as she closed the sliding glass doors, leaving Roger and Kate on the patio.

  Roger frowned after his housekeeper. He knew her well but she was acting so odd. He said to Kate, “God orchestrated and I played a small but significant role as you saw.” At the helm last night and in the early morning hours, he had thought of how he wanted to say witty and wise words that Kate would appreciate, admiring him - respecting him. But now his mind went blank. He recognized that the entire knight-in-shining-armor scenario would have been so doable if only she hadn’t left out the locket from her story. Earlier, Roger had thought to call Willie, a South African medical doctor who had retired to the Islands with his English Bull Terrier, after his wife died. Glancing at his wristwatch, Roger knew the doctor should be making his appearance at any moment.

  Kate was speaking, “... Yes, but there must be some particulars. I cannot see how anyone knew which ship I was on and who...” The dogs out front were barking joyously and the small terrier Kate had referred to as Fang, came zipping around the side of the house heading for the pool. Leaving her exclamation in mid-phrase, Kate watched wondering if the mutt would actually continue into the water or abort his dive in the final seconds. He did go in the pool and was reprimanded severely by Roger. Lulu came out with a towel as the newcomer came briskly up the side path from the front drive.

  Roger and Lulu were busy with the soaked terrier when Kate’s attention was drawn to the approaching man, Coco trotting behind.

  “Dr. Smith!” Kate jumped up from her cushioned patio chair and ran to meet the surprised doctor.

  “My, my! Its little Kate Merriweather! Kate what are you doing here?” Dr. Smith suddenly made the connection and as he gave her a fatherly hug, he looked over her shoulder to Roger.

  Wilf
red Smith looked exactly as Kate remembered him the first time she met him 20 years previous. Wearing round, gold framed glasses, he was short with a ring of hair, now grey rather than blond, encircling his bald spot. He always wore a tie too short and khaki slacks... Today was no different. Everything else could and had probably changed about the doctor but these physical idiosyncrasies remained eternal or so it seemed to Kate.

  Dr. Smith pulled a white cloth handkerchief from his shirt pocket. Kate was saying, “I don’t know! I don’t know what I’m doing here!” She was crying as they turned toward the patio.

  Roger watched this interchange wondering at the ever shrinking size of the planet he lived on... How did Kate know Wilfred Smith when he and the doctor and been friends for decades? Roger had coerced the dog from the pool and he stood holding the rat-like beast at arms length trying futilely to stay dry. Lulu took the dog but Roger took the towel - meant for the pooch and he began wiping himself dry.

  Throwing the towel on an empty chair, Roger shook Dr. Smith’s hand vigorously. He had hoped to keep the doctor’s profession a secret, telling Wilfred earlier to “drop in” to observe Kate. Roger thought Kate was none the worse for the wear but he thought Willie might think otherwise.

  Roger’s mind was in a whirl and he sensed his old nature rising up in jealousy at Kate’s warm greeting toward his friend. He frowned as she dabbed her eyes while incoherently explaining the last few months to Wilfred. Nodding professionally, Wilfred also gave friendly reassuring phrases, such as “Oh, my” and “I see” at the appropriate pauses in her dialogue. He had been patting Kate’s hand but when he noticed Roger’s frown, Wilfred let go and picked up a glass of “cool drink” Lulu had set down for him.

  Dr. Smith had been agnostic since medical school. Some years back, he admitted to himself and later to his wife, that the Merriweathers had caused him pause to reconsider the possibility of a “good God in heaven,” as Toni, Kate’s mother had typically called the Christian God. They were always getting miracles and very seldom needed his professional services. All the time the Merriweather family lived in Cape Town, they lived three houses from him on the same street. His office was the first floor of his expansive home.

  At Kate’s query, Dr. Smith told her of his wife’s death three years ago. “And so, I left my profession and Cape Town behind to move here... I stayed with Roger for a few months and then bought a place in town.”

  Kate went inside to find Lulu as Roger asked her to have the housekeeper bring out a pitcher of ice water and some fruit.

  When the glass door closed behind Kate, Roger said, “This gal is full of surprises... So Willies, you knew Kate and her family? Well, in that case, you can probably make a sound prognosis about her recent ordeal... I mean it might be the drugs lingering but she seems a bit fragile emotionally or is that normal?”

  “I have a prognosis all right... I think you’ve fallen hard for young Kate Merriweather!” retorted Wilford. “But let me warn you. The Merriweathers are a weird lot... They ride the storm when others drop anchor in a calm harbor; they reach out to the untouchables and rub shoulders with the undesirables. Why, I’ve seen them pray and get a miracle when a normal joe would have surgery or an amputation. I’m telling you Roger, they are not normal... No sir, but she is a great catch! What a beauty! My prognosis is she must take a week no, a two week rest on the island before gallivanting off into the unknown. By then maybe she will realize what a fine specimen of manhood you are and fall head over heels for you just as you’ve done... Here she comes. Please, take your heart off your sleeve before you scare her off!” Roger was quite used to his friend’s machine gun chatter but he was really amused and encouraged after this particular rant.

  Roger laughed and said, “I like that prognosis!” But for Kate as she approached he said, “Are you sure Dr. Smith? Two weeks of rest and relaxation... No, no Kate is a strong and healthy person surely two weeks is a bit much!”

  Dr. Smith replied, “You asked my professional opinion and I gave it! If you wanted something other than that perhaps, you should have called on the grocer or the barkeep at your illustrious pub downtown! Women are not men in funny bodies! They need to recover both physically and psychologically and that is why I prescribe two weeks of fresh air, fresh food and lots of exercise like hiking the island paths and swimming laps in a pool - just like this one.” Then after gesturing towards Roger’s pool, Dr. Smith turned in mock surprise toward Kate. He said, “Kate, I was just explaining a few medical suggestions to our mutual friend, Roger here. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Kate looked from one to the other. They had been speaking quite loud and she had overheard the entire discussion or at least as much as they had intended her to hear. “Dr. Smith... Roger, I don’t think Mac is going to want to hang out on St Helena for two more weeks. I sense I have presumed upon him and you too, Roger quite enough already.” Roger thought she might start crying again. Maybe, Kate truly did need some real rest... She had been through quite a lot since leaving America back in March.

  “Kate, sit down,” Roger said gently but firmly. He stood up and took her elbow bringing her to her seat.

  Dr. Smith said, “Roger, what’s that on your sleeve? Oh, it’s nothing...” He trailed off as Roger looked at his sleeve. Roger’s face revealed that he remembered his friend’s warning about “wearing his heart.”

  Roger shook his head but grinned. He said to Kate, “Don’t worry about Mac. He can go on and you can fly into Cape Verde or another place and meet them later, if you want. I’ve done it before - lots. They should be coming into port in a few hours and then you and Merry can talk about Dr. Smith’s... suggestion.”

  Lulu came out with another tray bearing iced water and a bowl of fruit. As if on cue, she said as Kate took a naranje from her, “My lady, your hand is trembling. Why don’t you come in out of the heat and take a nap?”

  “That is an excellent suggestion! Please, Kate go. We’ll visit again soon I trust,” Dr. Smith encouraged.

  Kate left with Lulu and Dr. Smith said, “Watch her, Roger! She is probably in there praying for a miracle of supernatural strength now and from what I’ve observed, the Merriweathers’ God usually answers their prayers.”

  Chapter 18 Journal Entry

  ... So then, I went inside to get out of the sun. As Lulu the housekeeper insisted and Dr. Smith went on to tell Mac and Merry. I cannot remember a time we didn’t either take his medical advice or take it with a prayer!

  I’m sure Merry was quite surprised to see him!

  I slept the entire day. This is the strange part... I awoke about 3 or 4 am. I tossed and turned but couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally I got out of bed and when I turned on the lamp I saw that my suitcase was there. Someone had left it with my travel bag on the trunk at the foot of the bed. I replaced Lulu’s splashy wrap-around - I fell asleep in it! and since it was chilly I pulled on that big sweat shirt I bought at the local tourist shop downtown, St Helena. So, I crept through the house thinking of getting some water in the kitchen. The tile floors are freezing!!! but I didn’t want to return to the guestroom and rummage about for socks or worse - those hideous pink slippers Myla had me wear.

  I remembered how warm the pool was, so with my glass of water in hand I went outside and stuck my feet in the pool to warm them... It worked! A mist was steaming up from the surface and I had an overwhelming desire to find my swimsuit and take a early morning swim under the stars! I refrained and good thing too. I climbed into one of the long cushioned chaise patio chairs to pray and be alone with God. The moon was streaming through the trees making the shadows look like a sunny day... I don’t know if it was a full moon but it is huge and bright now. Anyway, I had my eyes closed and I was thinking of what else to pray about when I felt someone go by me followed by the sound of grating sand (there is a lot of sand on this island!).

  I laugh now but at the time, I thought I was going to scream. Instead my voice stuck in my throat. (Yosef and his ilk have me on edge still, I supp
ose) I opened my eyes almost simultaneous to the involuntary but silent scream and there was Roger standing in the moonlight at the edge of the pool! He hadn’t seen me! I would have thought he was going to dive-in but he wore a wife-beater type undershirt and a pair of slacks - not swim trunks. Instead, he stooped and rolled up his pant legs, sitting, he stuck his feet in the water! I couldn’t help it but I let out a giggle... After all, I had done the very same thing not half an hour before.

  For an older guy (he’s almost 40) - he is fast! He swiveled about and was on his feet, halfway across the four or five yards to where I sat in barely a blink of an eye. I’m glad I wasn’t an intruder because I think he would have certainly knocked me into next week.

  Roger laughed when he realized it was me and explained that he had gone to the kitchen to put the coffee on in his bare feet and “Well, they got a chill.”

  He sat down on the other end of the chaise chair I was sitting in and pulled his feet up off the cool pavement... Roger laughed again when I told him I had done the same thing... even sitting where he had sat on the flagstones at the poolside.

  He mentioned that Merry had offered to stay a few weeks with me while I recuperated. Roger told her that Lulu was an exceptional nurse as she had ministered to everyone on the plantation from newborn goats to several of the young men coming down with influenza all at the same time... But he asked me what I thought.

  I realized I needed to be honest with him. After seeing Dr Smith and hearing his recommendation... two weeks! I cried myself to sleep in Roger’s guestroom. I really want to be in control of my life but it seems God wants me to rely on Him even more than I did when I was a trusting little saint at the age of 10 or so. I didn’t know where to begin and so, I mentioned the fact that I knew he was interested in me as perhaps, a wife. Oh that was difficult to articulate... It took me ten minutes or more! Roger didn’t help at all by remaining deathly quiet. In the moonlight, his face showed little expression... It was difficult! I’m sure my face was as red then as it is now as I write.