Shooting Butterflies (38 page)

‘Who are Goronga and Moeketsi?' Gabe asked.

‘Anti-poaching game guards, professional hunters. Part of our team at Kujana,' Wayne said.

‘Ah,' Gabe said.

‘Our problem is still if he finds Tara, then what?' Wayne asked.

‘I shoot him between his eyes this time, put him out of his misery, so that he can never hurt another child, and never hurt my Ebony or your Tara again,' Jamison said.

23

Stolen Moments At Kujana

Kujana Farm, Hluhluwe, South Africa

5th March 1998

Flying into the farm, Ryan buzzed the small airstrip, and the small herd of zebra grazing on the field scattered in all directions, a confusion of black and white as they trotted away, flicking their tails angrily at the disturbance.

The Squirrel touched down, and Wayne helped Tara with her harness.

A smiling black driver in khaki overalls leant against a green Land Rover. He pushed off as the rotor blades stopped.

‘Moeketsi,' Wayne called to him, motioning with his hand out of the front door.

‘
Baas
,' he greeted. Moeketsi opened the back door, and as he let the small steps down, Josha tumbled out the helicopter first in excitement. He turned to help his mum.

She stepped out and onto the grass.

It had been many years since she was in Hluhluwe, and the first thing that hit her was the heat. Already she could feel the sweat as
it trickled down her back, and made her T-shirt stick to her. Wayne walked with her to the waiting vehicle and helped her into the front seat. Josha followed shortly, loaded down with two of their bags, and Moeketsi close behind him, similarly laden. Gabe was helping Lucretia out of the back, and then walking slowly with her towards the
bakkie.

‘It looks amazing, like we are in the National Park,' Tara said quietly. ‘It's beautiful.'

‘This is Kujana as I run it. Not my father's sugarcane farm anymore,' Wayne said.

‘I think I like it so far,' she said.

Wayne stroked Tara's short hair. ‘I'll be as fast as I can,' he said, ‘I need to help Ryan tie down, then we can go to the house but we can go via the camps, they are worth seeing.'

Wayne, Ryan and Moeketsi moved the helicopter into the hangar and came back out, closed the door, and walked to the
bakkie.
Moeketsi got in the back of the modified safari Land Rover with its multiple rows of seats, sitting next to Josha, and Wayne climbed in the front. He started the engine and they drove towards the main camp.

‘
Holy moley
!' Josha said.

The giraffe that was on the side of the road was practically in touching distance, and it turned towards the vehicle as if to see what was disturbing its afternoon snack on the acacia tree it chewed on.

Moeketsi laughed. ‘That giraffe is
indlulamithi
, can you say that?'

‘Inda–what?' asked Josha.

‘
Indlulamithi
,' Moeketsi laughed again, ‘you will learn fast,
Inkosana
Josha. You will learn.'

They drove further and then stopped as they came into the safari camp.

Tara held her breath. The camp looked like it was right out of a tourist brochure. The main building appeared to be built of stone, then timber, and was topped with a large thatch roof. The scattered chalets, all eight of them, were strategically placed so that they couldn't be seen into. They nestled among the large wild fig trees that dominated the site, all overlooking a large pan, filled with water.
Ducks swam on the glassy surface, but no game gathered around at midday, instead keeping to the trees and the shade to hide from the African sun.

They drove past the camp and up a road that said,
Private No Trespassing.
They went past a few small thatched cottages also neatly placed within the trees. Tara noticed that there was what looked like a new home being constructed nearby. Like the lodge, it was built of stone, roughly hewn trees and thatch, but it looked more like a home than a lodge. It had a large veranda running the whole way around it, and a red tricycle lay on the lawn next to a bright pink swing set.

‘That's Jamison and Ebony's new home,' Wayne said. ‘They have moved in, but the construction isn't totally finished. We wanted Ebony to have her own new home for the arrival of Joy.'

‘It's beautiful,' Tara said.

‘Don't be fooled by the rustic look, it's totally modern inside, and now I know why Jamison was so insistent on that top-of-the-range alarm system, and the extra electric fencing.'

‘I still can't quite believe that that killer will still come for me,' Tara said.

‘If Jamison is worried, so am I. We'll do everything to pump up security and keep him out.' Wayne's jaw set at a determined angle as he continued driving, knowing that Jamison wasn't too far behind them. He had gone on a shopping trip for Ebony, before driving home from Durban.

They came to a place that Tara recognised. The original sheds from the sugarcane farm still stood proudly, huge enough to hold a harvester, trucks and trailers. Then they rounded the bend and she could see Wayne's house.

Only this time, there was something different about it, two large Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs, bounding down the driveway towards them.

‘Max and Sheba,' Wayne said as he stopped the
bakkie
, and opened his door. The dogs almost yelped with happiness, but not quite, their tails lashing the metal of the vehicle in their excitement
of seeing their master. They licked Wayne's face, and then Sheba attempted to cross the seat to Tara.

‘No. Down,' Wayne instructed. ‘Out!' The dog listened and jumped nimbly back to the ground, but they both continued to stare at Wayne with amber eyes, and wagging tails that could have been declared lethal weapons they wagged so fast from side to side. Their paws didn't quite stay stationary on the floor, almost looking catlike in their kneading of the ground as they moved in excitement.

On the steps to the building, along with an old border collie whose tail thumped excitedly, waited two black women. The older one was dressed in stylish clothes, like an office worker. She walked down to the
bakkie
as it stopped in front of the house. She was smiling.

‘Welcome home, Wayne,' she said, and then she put her hand to her mouth. ‘
My wena.
He looks so like you—'

‘Ella, meet my son, Josha. This is Ella, she was my nanny when I was just a boy, and she's still hanging around me,' he said with such adoration that Tara could tell these two people meant a lot to each other.

‘And meet Nomusa, she looks after me now.' The younger woman, dressed in a black and white pressed maid's uniform, bobbed a customary Zulu curtsey.

‘Ella, remember Tara?' Wayne asked.

‘I remember you, many many years ago. You stole
khosan-
Wayne's heart,' Ella said with a smile on her face.

Tara smiled weakly. ‘Would you forgive me if I told you I'm bringing it home today?'

Tears filled her old eyes.

‘This is Gabe, and this is Lucretia.'

The introductions completed, Wayne led Tara through the front door and the lounge to a chair on the veranda. ‘Have a seat.'

‘Thanks. It's all so lovely.'

The border collie padded across and sat near her. ‘Hello old girl,' Wayne said, ‘Tara, meet Storm.'

Tara reached down and stroked the dog's soft muzzle.

He left her, and took their luggage from Moeketsi behind him.

‘Lucretia, I'll show you where Tara's room is so you can get Nomusa to change anything that isn't as you need it.'

‘
Yebo
,' Nomusa said as she followed him. Josha trailed behind him with his bags.

‘Josha,' Wayne yelled.

‘Right here,' he said from behind him.

‘Sorry, I thought you were on the veranda still. This is your room.' He pointed to a closed door. ‘Your mum is the next door down the corridor.'

‘Thanks,' Josha said and turned the old-fashioned brass knob.

Josha walked into a time warp. Something from a hunting lodge of the 1800s he was sure. A mosquito net covered the bed. The room was decorated in mahogany and dark green, with a ducks and hunting dogs frieze. The wallpaper was distinctive broad vertical stripes from a picture rail downwards, and above the rail was a lighter teal colour. As rooms went, it was big. An old-fashioned writing bureau graced the corner, with its lid closed, a duck-shaped lamp sitting on a tall three-legged stool beside it.

The chair at the bureau was amazing. Josha walked over to it and ran his had over the wood. It arms and back was intricately carved with elephant heads, and the tusks that seemed made of real ivory were inlaid into the carvings. The cut out in the back and seat of the chair were made of some type of flat rope in a lattice pattern. The carvings carried on down the legs, and the feet of the elephant were carved at the base. The whole chair had a 3D effect as if it were the elephant.

‘Man, what a chair!' he said.

Josha was too afraid it would break if he sat on it. He put his bag next to the bureau, and walked over to the old-fashioned wardrobe. It had a single oval mirror on the outside of the door, and didn't smell like mothballs as he'd expected it to.

Josha spent hours going around the antique markets with Mauve, and he knew quality antiques when he saw them. Wayne's house was loaded with them.

‘So, what do you think?' Wayne asked from the door. ‘Other than needing a new wardrobe to fit all your stuff, is it okay?'

‘It's great, thanks.'

‘Hey, you don't need to lie to me. First rule you and I need to make, no lying. Honesty always. We can redo it. It was the interior decorator who suggested this theme when she did the rest of the house years ago. I just went along with it as I didn't have anything better to suggest at the time. After seeing your room in Cape Town, I know we have work to do in here to make it yours. I want you to feel that you have a room at my house that you can call yours. That you will look at this as home one day too.'

Josha looked at Wayne. He hadn't pushed him into unwanted hugs or calling him Dad or anything, he had been amazing, despite Josha being a bit narky to him sometimes because he was uncomfortable with the notion of suddenly having a dad in his life.

‘It's a nice room. Neat chair! Where did you get that?'

‘That chair has been in my father's family for years. I remember him telling me about his grandad bargaining with a merchant from Zanzibar for it. I used it when I was at school, and I put it in your room. In case—'

‘It's stunning. Mauve would do her nut for it.'

‘It's not for sale. Some things are meant to stay within a family,' Wayne said.

‘I get that. You should see this one bureau that she got, seventeenth century cherry wood, beautiful as—'

‘You like antiques?'

‘Sure. I love history and art, and they are just part of someone's past. Like your chair, every piece has a story for the family it belonged too,' Josha explained.

Wayne looked at his son. He was so much more than he could have ever hoped for. A surprise package to get to know.

‘So where's your room?' Josha asked as he walked to the door.

‘My room is up the hall on the left. Here is your bathroom across the hallway, there, and you will share it with your mum. Gabe has
his own, and so does Lucretia.' Wayne pointed to other closed doors further up the way.

‘Cool, thanks.'

Wayne ran his left hand through his hair. ‘I hope you don't freak out at this gift, I wanted to give you this.' He held out his right hand and opened his palm. ‘I made this bracelet in 1990, after I learned about you, and when I first met Jamison, he taught me how. I have always worn mine, to give me hope that one day I would be able to find you and hand over yours, and Tara's. To me they are a symbol of hope.'

Josha took the bracelet. ‘Thanks. I have seen the basic elephant hair ones, but never with silver knots in them.'

Wayne watched as he put it on and adjusted the circles of hair to fit.

‘Will you teach me?' Josha asked. ‘To make one?'

‘It would be my pleasure. We just need to go collect the strands of hair from the dam where they swim one day.'

‘Seriously?'

‘Yes.'

‘Neat,' Josha said.

They walked back out to the veranda together.

Tara was asleep in a chair, her head at a strange angle. Wayne looked around for something to help make her more comfortable. Finding an ample supply of cushions embroidered with wildlife, he puffed one up, and then changed his mind. He lifted her up in his arms instead.

‘You rest up, Tara, you're home,' Wayne said, as he felt tears swell up in his eyes. He kissed her forehead and felt the softness of her hair as it brushed his face as he carried her inside.

Home had never had such meaning before, and now they would only share it as a family for such a small time, it was even more important that he needed to do anything to protect both Tara and Josha, so that they could stay together.

Wayne lay Tara down on the sofa, then manoeuvred himself to hold her, cradle her head in his lap.

‘She's exhausted,' Gabe said, as he came into the room and sat opposite Wayne. ‘Can't believe she stayed awake so long. It's been awhile since she was able to do that.'

‘She never even murmured when I moved her.' He stroked her hair.

‘What are you guys going to do?' Gabe asked.

‘Just get through the next two and a bit weeks. Jamison will get in touch with his cousin, see how things are going in Zimbabwe, and then we'll see after the operation.'

‘Hey, Wayne, can I go out with the dogs?' Josha asked.

‘Sure. Moeketsi is waiting for you outside, he'll be your guide while you are here when I can't be with you, and he'll show you around if you like,' Wayne said.