Chapter 23

Plettenberg Bay Airport, Plettenberg Bay.

There was a dusting of low-level clouds about, and the Southeaster was moderate, just stirring up dust devils here and there. This didn’t hamper Jeff and me as we flew five loads of two-inch-thick metal sheeting and some air-conditioner ducting out to the construction site.

The ship with the cargo had arrived shortly after dawn as it was on its way to Port Elizabeth and Durban with cargo for these ports. We started flying at daybreak to uplift the cargo for the construction site.

Due to the Southeaster blowing across the bay, the ship was anchored just west of the Robberg Peninsula in the lee of the mountain. This made the uplifting easier, but unloading at the construction site had me dancing on the rudder and playing with the collective and cyclic to keep station in the gusts that rolled through.

By 09:45 we were finished and landed back at base. In the meantime, a suitable hangar became available, and we secured the copter inside it.

As we walked back to the offices, flight suits unzipped to about the waist, carrying our helmets and flight bags, Jeff casually remarked:

“I have submitted my retirement documents.”

“What?”

“I said, I have submitted my retirement documents.”

“Just like that!”

“It’s time, Louis. I turn sixty-one coming January.”

“But you are still going to fly, ain’t you?”

“It all depends on my upcoming medical.”

“You’ll ace your medical.”

“I’m not so sure, Louis. It seems like the old eyes are not what they used to be, and my blood pressure is getting a little on the high side.

“You that leads such a healthy lifestyle?”

“It’s called, “Old Age”. Let me quit while I’m still ahead.”

“So, Jeff, what are you going to do?”

“Sue has made up her mind and will sell the jet. I’m going to help her get her forestry plantations up and running again.”

“Sounds like you planned this move?”

“I did. I’m not getting younger and flying’s not all there’s in the world to do. I like the new challenge. It will keep me fit.”

“And Sue? Is she the missing piece you’ve been searching for?”

“Like with you and the redhead, that part of my future I did not plan ... It just happened.”

“Yeah, that part I did not plan either ... But don’t you feel like pulling the trigger on buying the jet from Sue?”

“To do what with? It is tempting, but it will just sit in the hangar and gather dust. Besides, I don’t have that amount of cash lying around.”

“What does she want for the jet?”

“She can get in the region of ten million American dollars for it, but I think she will let it go for about twenty to thirty million Rand, way less than what it is worth, but more than she needs to get the plantations up and running, and an easy quick sale ... Why? Are you interested?”

“Maybe...”

“To do what with? Start your own low-cost airline?”

“No, to commute my sweetie with it between South Africa, London, Austin Texas and Europe, or wherever she needs to be to run and direct her company.”

Jeff shook his head and clucked his tongue. “I still don’t believe it. That little redhead is still wet behind the ears, and already a world player in the oil industry!”

“Shit happens,” I chuckled.

“Well, good luck with that roller-coaster ride, Louis. I’ll light a candle for you.”

“Well, I’m not going to miss you in the left seat. Maybe on any other bird, but not in the Phoenix Puma.”

“Now why should that be?”

“I also submitted documents.”

Jeff stopped dead in his tracks.

“What documents?”

“My resignation,” I dropped the bomb.

“No way! Are you really going to fly that brand spanking new Puma for the little redhead?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“But you resigned already? Is that then an indication that you are going to the North Atlantic?”

“Maybe ... Maybe not. It all depends on where Bobbie wants to base her headquarters. But that is still a few years in the future. She plans on finishing her studies first. I think that she will stay in South Africa and only go to London for quarterly directors’ meetings. With the management agent doing all the work, she’ll only have oversight and approval functions anyway.”

“What if things don’t work out between you two?”

“We’ll...” I started, but Jeff cut me short.

“Don’t! Don’t say you’ll cross the bridge when you get to the bridge!”

I chuckled. “You know me too well, partner.”

“I should! How long has it been that we’re together? Five years?”

“In that region. But come, let’s go wash up and get the paperwork done.”

“I bet old Joss will have a heart attack...” Jeff chuckled.

“Yeah! Two of his overworked and underpaid pilots dropping him like a warm potato!” I smirked. Together we walked back to the offices.

Plettenberg Bay Senior High School.

Then came the day that Bobbie had to break the news to the headmaster of the school that she was taking leave of absence from the academic program.

John, Jenny, Bobbie and I were ushered into the headmaster’s office.

At first, he was a little taken aback about why the four of us made an appointment to see him. “It is a little unexpected to find you all wanting to see me,” he commented after he waved us to take up seats at the little conference table in his office.

“We need to inform you of a certain development concerning Barbara,” John began.

“Nothing bad, I hope...”

“On the contrary ... It’s the best that can happen to a young girl just setting out in the big bad world, and therefore we need to inform you that we are taking her out of school for a week or two.”

“A week or two? Can’t it wait until the school holidays?”

“It will be coinciding with the school holidays, but might overlap into the last semester of school, until just before the final exam starts.” I elaborated.

The schoolmaster looked at me. “And you are...”

“Louis Du Preez. Just Louis Du Preez, looking out for the well-being of Bobbie.”

Then, Mister Du Preez, John, Jenny ... what is so important that Bobbie must miss two weeks of school?”

“Attending a special board meeting of a company that she has partial ownership in.” I said.

“Attend the board meeting ... For what reason? Her schooling is at a critical stage now.”

“Yes, I do agree that her schooling is essential, but what else could you do to put more schooling into that brain of Bobbie? She’s so far ahead that she is looking back. And what do you hope to achieve by delaying a special board meeting of a company? She will have a significant role in the company, and her attendance is vital. Missing it would cause the meeting to be delayed.”

The stunned school headmaster sat back in his leather swivel chair, his hands gripping the armrests as if he expected the chair to eject him through the ceiling of his office. He turned to Bobbie, but before he could say a word, Bobbie went ahead:

I inherited significant shares in the company that make me an owner in the business, a board member, and an executive. I have to be there ... come hell or high water!”

“You inherited WHAT?” the still rattled schoolmaster asked, but his eyes were wide in his face. His mouth gaped open.

“I became a significant shareholder in NextGen Oil Technologies and Exploration with three oil wells in the North Sea,” she replied softly, but with urgency in her voice replied.

“Then, I ... I suppose ... I need to let you go ... and wish you well on your adventure...” he stuttered. “It’s the first time I heard of someone that had not even finished school, and had a significant position in an established company.”

“Thank you, Mister Thompson. I will be away for just two weeks and promise to be back for the final exit exam.”

“You don’t need to take the exam! You are already a success in life!”

“Oh, I do need the piece of paper, else I won’t be allowed to go study B.Sc. Physics.”

“You still want to go to university?”

“Of course! Being an executive in an oil company, I don’t need anyone feeding me nonsense. I need to know what and why things are being done, and the correct way to do them. I need to be on top of all that is happening so that I can make the right decisions to advance the company and see to the well-being of the employees,” Bobbie floored him.

“Barbara McGee! Even I could not have said it better. How did you grow up so fast, so soon?”

Giggle. “I met the right people to push me in the right direction. People who believed in me and guided me,” she replied and looked at me where I sat next to her with my hands in my lap, and my head slightly bowed. At that moment I knew that she was ready to go and direct her company. She did not need me. She might be an eighteen-year-old girl, but her brain was running like a woman of twenty-seven to thirty-two; way ahead of her age; an old wise soul in a young body.

“If you ran for president of the country ... I’d vote for you, young lady,” the headmaster replied. “The school is done with you. There’s nothing more we can add to your education...”

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see what the result of the exit exam will be, don’t we?” Bobbie replied, shyly smiling.

“I have no doubt in my mind about the outcome of your exit exam, Miss Bobbie. I have no doubt, it will be astounding!”

“So, Mister Thompson, Bobbie will not return to school after the school holidays directly, but a week later,” Jenny summed up the discussion.

“For the purpose she will be away, it will be in order by me,” Thompson agreed.

“Ah ... Mister Thompson, just one thing,” I interjected. “We need to keep this between ourselves. Do not advertise the reason for Bobbie’s absence.”

“And why not? It is good for her, ain’t it?”

“We don’t need the press to pick up on it, yet. Especially in the light of all the drama and trauma surrounding her the last two or three months. We don’t need negative publicity and no publicity would be more than welcome.”

“I see ... Well, in that case ... my lips are sealed.”

“Thank you, Sir! It will be appreciated,” John thanked the headmaster., then he added. “Just keep it in mind that Bobbie is still a very vulnerable person, negative press might damage her, and we don’t need that. If any such negative press does surface, the company would take legal action against the originating party or parties involved. At this stage of the game, they, the board of directors, will do anything to keep Bobbie safe, secure and out of the limelight. So we appreciate you keeping a lid on it.”

After some further pleasantries, we left. Outside at the bakkie, she turned to me, “Okay ... I need to get back to class.”

“See you this afternoon at the cabin?”

“As always!”

“Be good.”

“Only three more days of school till it will be holiday, and then the adventure begins...”

“Pack warm clothes. It’s winter in Europe, and it snows in London.”

“SNOW!” She exclaimed with wide eyes and a 1000-watt smile.

“Yes, cold white icy wet flakes of popcorn that’s not covered in salt or butter.”

“Yippee! I’m going to see snow!”

“Go, before you’re late for class.”

She turned and looked around over each of her shoulders, and seeing no one but three mall-rats take any interest in us, reached up on a tiptoe and pecked me on the cheek.

“There! That’s all you get for now. But later...” She said and turned, skipping off to go join those mall-rats waiting on her. I smiled, and looked at her going off, the ginger red ponytail flipping from side to side, and the little too-short school skirt, flipping up and down, exposing a little more thigh than what was healthy. She is growing taller, and the skirt does not keep up with her. It will also be just a waste of money to go and buy her a new skirt for just the few weeks of school still left.

Bobbie is an enigma. She’s hovering on the edge of womanhood. One moment the wise worldly woman, the next moment she’s the skipping, carefree teenager. And I love her!

A Zoom chat in the living-room of Louis’s cabin later that afternoon.

“Where’s his majesty?” Tracy asked.

“Oh, he’s clearing out his office,” Bobbie answered.

“Why? Did they fire him? I must tell Don there’s a good helicopter pilot available...”

“No, silly,” Bobbie giggled. “He resigned to come take care of little innocent me.”

“I like the ‘take care’ part of that statement!”

“Hey! We’re only friends!”

“Friends with benefits, as I see it. And don’t you deny it!”

“Well...”

“Oh, good for you. He is such a catch!”

“I did not plan it ... it ... just happened...”

“Look, Sista, ALL good things in life ... just happen. Okay, given, sometimes you need to push it a little...”

“Like you with Don?”

“Yeah, but I was fourteen, remember? I loved him, and he seemed a bit distracted.”

“So, you pushed him over the edge?”

“Sort of...”

“And you were fourteen?”

“Sjuu ... Not so loud.”

“But it makes me feel like an old thornback!”

“Why? Because you waited till eighteen?”

“Who said I waited?”

“See!”

“Nope! Nothing happened until the other day, but I sneaked into his bed a time or two...”

“And how do you get past your mother?”

“Easy. But I needed to be creative in my ways of convincing her.”

“Oh, I think she knew. Aware mothers always know,” Tracy giggled. In her twenties, Tracy still giggles?

“But let’s not discuss my sex life.”

“No, but I need to know how the wind blows, seeing I will be chaperoning you two. I need to know when to look away, you know?”

“You’ll know. So, are you going with us?”

“Yes, Don and Dave will be piloting the 747, Leah will play cargo master and chief hostess. Nadia will be second hostess. Mai-Loan will be looking out for that stray puppy, Luigi, she brought home, and the rest of the girls will be running the business under the watchful eyes of Lisa, Lucy, and Laura.”

“The three ‘Ls’. Sounds like you got it all organised and in hand?”

“Yip!”

Giggle. “You, Nadia, and me? Three ginger-tops together? Okay! Fun!”

“Yeah, and I’m thinking of throwing a spanner into the itinerary, so we can slip away to Tralee for a day or two. Then I can go show you where I grew up.”

“You long for Ireland, your homeland, don’t you?”

“Not actually. But it will be good to see my roots again. Maybe there’s still folks around that speak old Irish. I’m losing my touch on the language...”

“Celtic?”

“Gaelic! But yes, it is a Celtic language.”

“You could teach me. Then we can plan our mischief without anyone knowing!” Bobbie giggled.

“You forget about Nadia. She’s Polish. She can teach us Polish. Now that would be fun.”

“Or we could teach her Celtic?’

“Both would work.”

“So, Sista, what are you packing for the trip?”

“Warm stuff! It gets freaking cold out on the west coast of Ireland this time of year.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, believe you me. I never acclimatised here in South Africa. In winter, here on the Highveld, I still wear shorts and t-shirts, while Don is bundled up like an Eskimo!” Giggle.

“Jeez, Girl, what do you do in summer?”

“Melt!”

“Move to Cape Town.”

“And leave Don to the mercy of Laura and Mai-Loan? Not on your life!”

“How is that working for you? The four of you, I mean...”

“What? Being wife number one, while he is legally married to Laura? It works fine. We all love and respect one-another, and we all, Laura, Mai-Loan and I, get me-time with Don...”

“Damn! Don has his bread buttered on three sides!”

“Bread only has two sides...”

“Whatever! Maybe I should have said his samoosa. You know, that triangular pastry thingie with hot curry filling they sell here in Cape Town?”

“I know samoosas, but you don’t butter them. They are yummy. Bring some of them when you fly up here tomorrow.”

“I’ll do so. Anyway, I hear the bakkie stopping outside. His majesty is back.”

“Okay Bobs, catch you tomorrow when you get here, and say hi to Louis from me.

“Will do! Now don’t get too naughty, you hear!”

Giggle. “I say nothing. Bye Sista!” Tracy signed off.

“You keep well. Bye Sista!” Bobbie returned the salutation, then closed the laptop, just as Louis walked into the cabin with a big carton box full of books and files.

“What big secret do you and your mom have?” I asked Bobbie as she cuddled up to me on the couch.

“Why? We don’t have secrets?”

“Then why did she hand me this?” I asked and held out a packet of condoms.

Bobbie’s eyes went wide.

“She ... She gave you that?”

“Yeah! Said I must be careful. She’s not ready to be a grandmother ... Yet!”

Giggle. “She placed me on the pill, but it will only work in a month or so...” Bobbie announced, and I turned red.