Chapter 8

The sea breeze of last night had dropped, just rustling the leaves in the trees. The sun played hide-and-seek with the land, as foggy clouds drifted lazily overhead, casting islands of dark patches on the fields, and the still-surviving forests surrounding the airport.

Everywhere grey ash covered the land, signs of the fire that swept through Sedgefield, Knysna, and the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay. The airport itself was untouched, and so were patches of vegetation to the south and east of the airport.

At the seawater desalination plant under construction, it was another story. The fire reached right to the boundary on the west and north of the plant. A pumping station to the south of the plant had been gutted. The construction guys were in a sombre mood.

So, it was no surprise that when the site manager called me up for a favour, I did not hesitate to listen to him, and maybe grant him his wish. It was Friday and the guys needed a distraction. There were fifteen of them and would we be so kind as to give them an airlift to the airport? There they would get taxis or Uber to take them into town. Return on Sunday afternoon before four o’clock.

There were plans to build a roadway towards the plant, but that was still in the future. Well, if there was a road, then Jeff and I would not have had this job.

Effectively, these guys were cut off from the outside world and solely dependent on our transport to bring them the materials and equipment they needed. Flying them out and bringing them back was the least that we could do for them. I agreed immediately.

With this in mind and an eye on the weather, I took Bobbie home for fresh clothes, and a much-needed shower, and then returned to the office. Bobbie would call when she was ready.

“Are you two going to run the roads?” Jenny asked raising one eyebrow.

“The plan is to go grab a hamburger in Knysna,” I replied. “Not a good idea to keep you-know-who out of school and then go gallivant in Plett.”

“No, not a good idea. Well, we know why she’s not going to school, but others might not understand the situation.”

“Yes, Jenny. I would also like to keep an eye on her. That strange thing you talked about? Well, she seems not to remember what happened and doesn’t even know why she was at the security gate in the first place.”

“What?”

“I suspect short term memory loss. We need to get her to counselling very soon. I’ll ask Jeff to speak to his brother and take him up on his offer.”

“I’ll speak to Jeff. He’s anyway bringing Sue over later.”

“Good. In the meantime, let me entertain Bobbie and observe more of her behaviour. Maybe it’s a temporary thing, and she will start to remember.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. Just now she is alone when it happens, and we don’t know how she will react.”

“My thought exactly, Jen. For the next two days we must not let her be alone.”

“More sleepovers?” and she winked at me.

“Not if I can help it!”

“Why not? She’s as safe with you as a cow in India...”

“Or a pig in Palestine...” I shot back. “Thanks for the vote of confidence but let’s not tempt fate. You know how people can be. There’s many people working here at the airport and CemAir has got daily flights in and out. Just now they see her early morning coming out of my cabin.”

“Hmm ... That’s how misinformed stories start. Okay, have it your way. I just thought that you might be good to have around when the pawpaw hits the fan. She trusts you a lot.”

“I’ve come to notice. Now let me go fetch her. We’ve got to be back by two or three. I need to airlift the construction crew out and bring them in for a weekend of leisure.”

“Why did you just not stay at the house and wait for her?”

“There you go! What would the neighbours say if they saw me going into the house with her, and you and John are not around?”

“Yeah, you have a point. But it also means that she’s alone now...”

“Dammit, Jen! Must you be always right? No. Don’t answer. I’ll just reply with: ‘Yes Dear’.”

Guffaw. “Catch twenty-two. You can’t be seen alone with her, and you can’t leave her alone all by herself.”

“Yeah ... Except out in public.”

“And then she can’t hold your hand ... But in a week from now, she’ll be eighteen.” Chuckle.

“Do you and John approve our friendship? Me and Bobbie?”

“Yes. We do. You’re the best thing that has happened to her. Look at how she crept out of her shell. She even wears shoes and dresses these days. She doesn’t go around barefoot like a tomboy, and even doesn’t tie her hair in that stupid ponytail anymore.”

“Oh brother ... now I’m a thing ... And I like her ponytail!”

“Oh, Louis! You know what I mean,” And Jenny blushed!

My cell chimed an incoming WhatsApp message. Bobbie.

“I’m ready in five. Come get me!”

“That’s Bobs. Let me go fetch her.”

“You two have fun. I’ll slave away on this admin stuff,” She sighed.

“That’s the way you get the medium bucks,” I retorted.

“Medium bucks! Yeah! How about a raise?”

“Talk to Joss. I’ll tell him you are indispensable and CemAir offered you a better position.”

“Gmph!” Jenny smirked. “If that will help.”

“Well, I’m out of here. I can’t let her majesty wait.”

“Yeah. Scoot!”

It was six minutes to drive the three and a half kilometres to Jenny and John’s place. When I got there, she was waiting on the patio and opened the motorised main gate for me to drive in.

I stopped, the passenger door opened, and Bobbie dropped into the left seat. And yes, in South Africa, cars are right-hand drive ... we drive on the LEFT side of the roads.

Bobbie was dressed in a frilly blue and white tube top, a long matching skirt that hid those long legs (and didn’t ride up as far as I hoped when she sat), and blue sandals with a slight medium-sized heel. Her red hair was loose over her shoulders. She looked like a vision out of a fairy tale. I recalled Jenny’s words, but between the tomboy and this vision, I could not make up my mind, I liked both images.

“See all the tall trees and shrubs?”

“Yeah...”

“Well, the neighbours can’t see into the driveway and besides, they are all gone off to work...” Ice blue eyes flashing naughtily.

“And?”

“Well, Doofus! Kiss a girl ‘hello’,” She encouraged, a 1000-watt smile on her face.

“I must say, you look smashing! Is that for me?”

“Of course...” She gleamed and then softly added: “Boyfriend.”

I reached over the console, placed my hand behind her head, and our lips met. I kissed her without feeling guilty. Her hand went up to my cheek, and she lightly touched my face. The kiss went on, and eventually we had to come up for air.

She sat back in her seat with her head on the headrest, her eyes closed. “Wow! Just, wow!” Then she looked over at me a soft light in her eyes. “Is that what it feels like to kiss?”

“Well, that’s the sweetest kiss I ever had,” I confessed and took her right hand in my left hand, memorizing the vision before my eyes.

“Well, let’s get going! I’m hungry,” Giggle.

“You just had breakfast!”

“That was before sun-up! Wayyyy long ago! And it was only a slice of toast with an egg on it!”

“Well then, let’s get going ... seeing you teenagers are all just stomach from your throats down to your knees!” I replied and pulled out of the driveway. She opened and closed the motorised gate with a remote control, mumbling something about stomachs and knees, giving me a look that could kill.

On the drive to Knysna, I took the N2 national road. I had a place in mind to take Bobbie for her “hamburger.” But I had something else in mind than a hamburger., something in line with a nice sit-down breakfast or brunch.

The “East Head Café” not only offered a breath-taking view of the sandstone cliffs of the Knysna Heads, but also served tasteful and exquisite cuisine from locally sourced suppliers. Situated on the rocks of the Eastern Head, they also boasted a great outside terrace, just the place to take Bobbie. Except for the wine list, she can have anything on the menu.

I parked the bakkie, and the two of us wandered into the café. Well, they call it a café, but not according to Bobbie.

“Gee whiz! If I knew you are going to bring me to this grand place, I would have dressed more ha-di-daa,” She swooned as her eyes roamed the interior of the café.

“It’s not that grand. People come here in their beach clothes, sometimes even barefoot,” I replied. “AND, you’re dressed grand enough...”

“Thank you, Louis,” She blushed.

Damn! That one caught me! She’s always beautiful, but more so when she blushes. My head was spinning.

“Quick! Take a picture...” And Bobbie struck a pose, I whipped out my cell phone and clicked a picture of her in front of the view of the West Head across the water.

The waiter came and took our orders: for Bobbie, a café breakfast consisting of eggs, streaky bacon, pork sausage, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato and toast. Hmm, teenagers really are just stomach from their throats to their knees... But I made sure not to repeat that out loud!

I went for the smoked salmon hollandaise.

“It’s beautiful here. How did you come to know about this place?”

“I’ve been here before,” I replied. “I flew in an airshow at Plett, and that night our group came here for supper.”

“Oh! What did you fly? Your helicopter?”

“No. An Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros,” I replied and took a forkful of salmon, dipped in Hollandaise sauce, averting my eyes and looking at my plate of food, waiting. I knew what the next question will be.

“A what?”

Okay, I was wrong. The question I expected came later.

“An Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros. It’s a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced in Czechoslovakia.”

“You also fly jets, Louis?”

“Yeah, a few of them, why?”

“Just curious...”

“I fly helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.”

“Oh, is that why they say a helicopter is a rotary-wing aircraft?”

“Yeah. You are correct.”

“So, if the Aero Vee-dot-ski El-something was built in Czechoslovakia, where is it now and how did you get it?” Okay, that’s the question I’ve been waiting for.

“In my hangar at Wonderboom in Pretoria.”

“What’s it doing there ... Louis ... is it yours? Do you own it?”

“Yeah, the ownership papers are in my name,” Chuckle.

“Wow! You have a helicopter and a jet!”

“Sjuu ... Not so loud. Don’t let the other people hear. Everybody will want one! Besides, the helicopter belongs to the company I work for.” Snicker.

“Oh.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, and the next question: “What’s a high-performance jet trainer?”

“A fighter jet. They train fighter pilots in fighter jets. It’s a warbird.”

This time the coffee came out her nose. Some coughing and sniffing, paper napkins to wipe her nose later, she composed herself.

“You own a fighter jet!”

“A jet TRAINER, although she still has all her hard points for the weapons she can carry.”

“You got pictures of the plane?”

“Sure, there’s a picture up on my office wall with me and my baby...”

“The OTHER woman in your life?” She said with her head tilted to the side and pouting her lips. I could just hug her.

“What do you mean, other woman?”

Giggle.

“No, spit it out! Say what you mean.”

“I thought I was the woman in your life...” She softly replied, teasing, little devils of light sparkling in her sapphire eyes.

“I thought ... No, never mind.”

“Come on! Spit it out ... Your turn ... Say what you wanted to say...” she responded, and it was my turn to be on the receiving end of this verbal tussle.

“Okay, sweetie, you went and done it! I found this beautiful, young blue-eyed ginger redhead that just crept in under my skin, and ... I want to keep her ... forever...”

Bobbie reached over the table and clutched my hand in hers.

“I thought ... you would never realise it.” She looked at me hopefully. “I want to keep you too...”

“You are so young, Bobbie. Your whole life is still ahead of you.”

“Yes, and I want to share it with you, Louis.”

“Me too. I want you in my life.”

“Then let us be together. Let’s take it day by day, and...”

“And, what, Bobbie?”

“Just be us ... I see the way you are with me. From the first time, that first time in your office, your eyes told me all the things I was longing to hear ... Your smile said stay a while longer. I’m here, Louis. You can keep me...”

“Well, I got to keep you near until the end of the year, don’t I?”

“Why only till then?” And the light dimmed in her eyes.

“Because at the end of the year, you finish school. Although you’ll be eighteen in a week or so, people will frown at you and me being in a close relationship.”

“I, a schoolgirl, and you are a professional pilot, and way older than me ... Yeah, people. But stuff people. They can say what they want. It’s you and me that matter.”

“Yeah, it’s us that matter.”

“Now finish your breakfast, lunch, whatever ... I want to go and look at the cliffs, and the rocks, and the beach, holding your hand in mine, and walking close to you,” she said through a smile, ice-blue eyes sparkling, “and, maybe sneak in another kiss.”

“I thought you wanted dessert?”

“The kiss will be dessert, Doofus!” Giggle.

Our brunch at the East Head Café came to an end, and we strolled down to the viewpoint, and down to Beacon Rocks at Fountain Point. Bobbie found the information board about the wreck of the three masted sailing ship Paquita.

“This is sad...” She commented after reading the full story on the information board.

“Yeah...” I replied. “To think they staged the stranding of the ship just to claim the insurance on her.”

“What happened to her?” She asked, looking over her shoulder at me.

“She’s still out there. At low tide you can still see her bow above the water.”

“So, as if she’s reaching out a hand...” and then she went quiet. She stood like that for a long moment, then looked at me with her eyes wide, and a cloud passed over her blue eyes. She stroked the breeze-blown hair out of her face, just looking at me. After a while she added: “ ... to be rescued...”

“Yeah ... You want to go look? Maybe we could see a part of her.”

“Louis?”

“Yes, Sweetie?”

“Must I still go to the hospital?”

“Not if you don’t want to go.”

“I think I must go ... I remember! I remember all!” She exclaimed and grabbed my hand tight.

“You remember ... last night?”

“Everything! Their faces, the two that grabbed me. Pushed me into a car ... Everything! The paramedic that wanted to touch me and what I said to her ... LOUIS! Hold me...”

“Bobs!” I said and just folded her up in my arms. “Let’s go back.”

She was shivering again, and her lip quivered, like she was about to have the breakdown we all feared.

I started to steer her up the path back to the parking-lot. I need to get her to proper medical care pronto.

Walking back to the car must have had some effect on her because she stopped shivering.

I dropped into the driver’s seat after handing Bobbie into the passenger seat and buckling her in. She turned to me and said, “I’m okay, Louis. I’m fine. I know I’m safe.”

“Not to worry, Bobs. Let us get you checked out and take it from there. You may not hurt outwardly, but inside there’s healing to be done. Let’s do it the right way. Okay?”

“Thanks, Louis. You care ... that’s why I love you...”

I never drove that bakkie so fast back to Plettenberg Bay. On the way to Plett, I used the on-board cell phone system and called Jenny.

“Yeah! Did she dump you, already?” Chuckle.