#Chapter2
Dust rises in a cloud behind the Land Rover as it makes its way along the narrow dirt road, hiding the other vehicles traveling behind it. At the wheel, Piet’s eyes survey the countryside, hoping to see some game in the area; he thinks to himself it has been awhile since he has seen a kudu with a decent set of horns, and since he has hung his own biltong.
David and Adele are traveling in a second hand Land Cruiser that David managed to pick up in Lusaka from a used car dealer for a very good price. The man was very happy to accept cash, after all, this vehicle was high-jacked in South Africa and driven across the border and business was booming, although that was a small detail that he omitted to tell David. They had bought a tent, sleeping bags, cots and other basic necessities that they would need. Adele is ready for her big African adventure.
Behind the Land Cruiser, is a 20-ton truck, loaded with everything that they could think of in order to renovate the house and make it livable again. Along with a gang of laborers that Piet had rounded up to do the manual labor with a promise of tobacco, beer, and food, plus a few shillings in the pocket once the job was done.
They crest a hill and look over a vast open veldt. They watch the dark cold slow moving water of the Kafue River glinting in the sunlight. A high kopje overlooking the house from behind throws shadows across the bush and the house itself looking so alone in the vast expanse of the bush veldt. They could see a few dilapidated outbuildings near the house but apart from that, nothing but bush. Adele feels a tremor run up her spine, is it a prickle of fear or excitement she feeling? She glanced at David to check his reaction to what they were seeing. He feels her gaze fall on him and looks back at her, his eyes full of joy. /"This is going to be our home darling it needs quite a bit of work but once that’s complete you’ll find yourself falling in love with it. I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but it’s all ours to do with as we please./"
David had inherited the small farm from his late grandfather, although the old man only stayed there for three months before moving off. He had been unable to sell the farm so as David was his only living relative, the small farm automatically passed on to him.
***
With the sun slowly sinking on the horizon the night sounds fill her ears as Adele sits by the fire and looks around the camp. The tents are up work has started on the house and the air smells fresh and clean. She has had her first bush shower this evening, a ten-gallon bucket with holes in the bottom suspended from the branch of a tree filled with water, heated by the fire. To protect her modesty and give her privacy the sides of an old army tent was put up around the shower area.
With a sigh of contentment, Adele sits back sipping her drink. She watches David and Piet busy at the cooking fire preparing supper. She listens to the chatter of the laborers as they busy themselves around their own cooking fire and watches as the moon no longer full climbs back up into the sky.
Marveling at the night sky, so bright with stars, something she has never seen back in London Adele closes her eyes just drifting along with the smells and sounds of the camp, letting Africa wash over her like the waves of the ocean.
She hears the laughter of the men gathered around the cooking fires and feels at peace with the world. Nothing can hurt her out here, she’s safe and content. The meal arrives, pap and vleis as Piet calls it, it smells good and suddenly she realizes just how hungry she is. The conversation turns to the house and the small farm which is more of a smallholding than a farm.
/"Hey David, you know, something funny happened in town when I was trying to get this group together, none of the local okes wanted the job. All these guys come from another district, maybe they are just too lazy huh, come to think about it there is something strange about this place of yours./"
/"Come on Piet, let’s not hear your ghost stories tonight, Adele and I are bushed and I can hear our sleeping bags calling us./"
/"No man, I tell you, something is really strange. You know your oupa planted mielies here before he moved back to town and these now grow wild but there’s a troop of baboons that live on the kopje behind you, and not once have I seen them or any other animal in the vicinity of this house. It’s just strange man, strange./"
/"Maybe it’s the smell of man that still lingers in the area that keeps them away?/"
/"Ag nou praat jy twak, the human smell would not linger for three years, my friend. It’s long gone, no there’s something about the place that does not feel right but I can’t put my finger on it, bloody hell I have not even seen a bird in the trees today./"
/"With all the activity going on, maybe that scared the birds off./"
/"Nee Adele, Ag I mean no that would not keep them away, come to think of it, it would be perfect for the weaver to nest here but look around nothing. Oh, and one more thing, there is nothing more stunning than a full moon over the African bush./"
The fire dies down, and the camp sleeps soundly to the sound of crickets and frogs. Adele’s first night in the African bush passes peacefully.