The Perils of Skinny-Dipping (18 page)

Whenever black magic was thought to be involved, a wall of silence and fear surrounded it. Most towns and villages had a witch doctor and very often they were approached for cures, before doctors and nurses.

The Motswana culture was developing fast; however, black magic was a force that could not be swept away by the introduction of technology or any of the other western ideals.

As soon as Boitachello and Alfred were busy outside, Abbey stole into the office and picked up the phone.

‘
Hello, Phil is that you?’

‘
Hi hun, how’s it going?’

Abbey gave a deep sigh. ‘I think I may have a problem,’ she replied. ‘A big problem.’

‘
Go on, spill the beans,’ replied Phil, sounding intrigued.

Abbey told Phil about the man outside the bungalow, the snake and now the bone in the box outside the door.

‘
Wow,’ he said. ‘Someone’s trying to scare you off. Who’ve you been upsetting lately? Anyone?’

‘
The only people I can think of are Richard and Mr Permelo, although Richard has left Chobe and the last I heard he was trying to get a job in Gaborone, as a school teacher!’

‘
You do know that either the AVP plot or you, or both, have been cursed don’t you?’

‘
Phil, this isn’t exactly helping to calm my nerves. I rang you for advice, not for a premonition of my death!’

What’s Darren said about all of this?’ asked Phil.

‘
Well, that doesn’t help either. He’s away and I can’t get hold of him on his mobile. Phil, what should I do? I’m not even sure whether I should go to the police with this. You know how superstitious people can be here, regardless of who they are and what position they hold.’

‘
I think you should hide the damn thing, at least until Darren gets back and see if he can sort it out.’

‘
Good idea, assuming I’m still alive by then!’ she laughed, without being amused. ‘Where do you suggest I hide it?’

‘
The corrugated shed at the top of the first plantation,’ replied Phil without any hesitation.

‘
Really?’

‘
Yeah, there’s a tin box hidden in the floor in the left hand corner. Just knock away the earth and you’ll find it. No one will look there, I promise you.’

‘
I take it this is your box, Phil?’ she asked. ‘And what might I find in it when I open it?’

‘
Just some weed I had left over.’

‘
WEED!’ hissed Abbey. ‘You kept dope at AVP! Good god Phil, you never cease to surprise me, even when you’re not here!’

‘
I wish I was there,’ he replied, in a very serious voice.

‘
Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me,’ said Abbey, feeling guilty at reminding Phil about his current problems. ‘OK, I’ll do that and I’ll destroy any evidence of your illegal activities too while I’m at it,’ she laughed, trying to raise Phil’s spirits as much as her own.

‘
Abbey?’

‘
What?’ she replied, still whispering.

‘
You could do with finding out who the witch doctor is out there. If he’s not involved, then he’s your man to sort this out.’

‘
Oh, well I’ll just get the yellow pages should I, and look under W?’

‘
Tetchy!’

‘
I know, I’m sorry Phil, but this is doing my head in. I could ask around, I suppose.’

‘
Abbey,’ there was a short silence. ‘Let me know how you get on. Promise?’

‘
Of course I will.’

Abbey took the box up to the shed and found the tin box exactly where Phil had said it would be. She placed the box inside and reburied it. She felt that a casual reassurance to her assistants would not be appropriate and asked both Boitachello and Alfred to come into the office. She explained, in the most confident voice she could muster, that the item had been properly disposed of, all the necessary steps had been taken and there was absolutely no need to worry. She didn’t actually know what those steps should be and hoped that neither of them would ask her!

They listened to her every word without any interruption. This was something that people just didn’t do in Botswana as it was considered highly impolite. Eventually, they nodded their heads and returned to their duties, Boitachello deciding to spend the rest of the morning in the office, filing and tidying up anything, regardless of whether it was out of place or not.

As Abbey left the office later that morning, she stopped by Boitachello’s desk.

‘
Boitachello, can I ask you something?’

‘
Yes Mma.’

‘
Do you happen to know who the witch doctor is in this town?’

Boitachello looked up, her face horrified. ‘Oh no Mma, even if I did know, what good would it do? You mustn’t ever go and see him. Please Mma, say you won’t go.’

‘
It’s OK, I promise, I won’t go and see him,’ she replied, the fingers of her right hand crossed behind her back. She had done this when she was a little girl, and somehow it always seemed to make lying a bit easier. ‘I just wondered who it was, that’s all. Please Boitachello, tell me.’

Boitachello, unable to say the words, scribbled them down on her note pad. Abbey ripped the paper off the pad before shouting ‘Thanks!’ and made her way outside.

She sat in the bakkie and carefully unfolded the paper. There were only two words written on it. ‘Koma’ and ‘Limpopo’. Abbey knew there was no use asking Boitachello to explain what she had written and, with Darren not due back for days, there was only one other source of help she could think of.

Isaac was surprised to see her given it wasn’t a Wednesday.

‘
I need your help, Isaac,’ said Abbey sipping her coke. ‘I think you were right about the way that snake got into my house. I don’t think it opened the front door by itself!’

Isaac raised his eyebrows. ‘Tell me everything.’

Abbey told Isaac about the man outside her gate as she had walked home, and about the small bone being left outside the office gate.

Isaac’s expression was grim. ‘I think we have a big problem here, Miss Abbey.’

Abbey groaned. ‘That’s exactly what I said to Phil this morning, on the phone.’

‘
What did Mr Phil say?’

‘
Oh, he told me to hide the bone, which I have done, and then let Darren sort it all out when he gets back.’

‘
Hmm, that sounds like the most sensible thing I’ve ever heard Mr Phil say. I hope that’s what you’re going to do?’

Abbey took the piece of paper from her shorts pocket and handed it over to Isaac. He looked up and shook his head.

‘
Look Isaac, I know this is a very sensitive subject, but Darren won’t be back until the weekend and it might not be a case of waiting for him to come home to help. I might not have that much time. I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next, and I don’t mind admitting I’m a little bit scared here.’

Isaac took her hand. ‘I think that’s all it is, Miss Abbey. That someone is just trying to scare you away. I don’t think your life is in danger, but if you go and start asking questions, and try to find this man, that could change.’

‘
You know who this man is, then?’

‘
Yes, I know.’

Abbey left the Crossroads and drove back to town. She pulled over to the side of the road just before the Limpopo Wood Mill, about two kilometres from the centre of the town. This was another example of a successful business, and its proprietor was rumoured to be one of the richest Motswana in the country. He lived with his family in a large bungalow, employed two maids, a gardener and a chauffeur. Abbey suddenly remembered being introduced to a ‘Mrs Koma’ at the electoral ball. She remembered a tall, well-dressed lady who was pleasant to talk to and who Richard had invited to the office for a personal tour.

She sat and watched as bakkies and lorries, loaded with wood, drove in and out of the yard. She quickly hatched a plan, jumped out of the cab, and walked towards the small office. She could hear voices inside. She knocked and called ‘Ko Ko’ as she pushed the door. Sat at the desk in front of her was the same man whom she had seen with Mr Permelo at the President’s Lodge, a few days before. He looked uncomfortable and stood quickly as she approached him.

‘
Hello Rra,’ she said, greeting him in the traditional way. ‘I’m Abbey Scott, from AVP.’

The man extended his arm and returned the greeting. ‘Hello Mma, what can I do for you?’

‘
I’m thinking of building some huts at the plantations and I need to know how much it would cost. I’m sorry Rra, I don’t know your name.’

The man looked slightly more at ease with the explanation for her visit. ‘My name is Mr Koma. How big are your huts to be, Mma?’

Abbey panicked slightly and quickly blurted out ‘Oh… er… three metres by two metres, roughly, that is.’ Having learned imperial measurements at school, she hoped that her answer had not sounded too ridiculous.

Mr Koma nodded and Abbey breathed a sigh of relief.

‘
Come with me,’ he replied, and beckoned her to follow him out of the hut.

They walked around the back of the small office to huge piles of wooden planks stored in lines. The labourers stopped what they were doing and stared. Mr Koma shouted over to them and they quickly put their heads down and started work again.

‘
What sort of wood do you want to use?’ he asked, pointing at the wood, but at no particular pile.

‘
I don’t know, Mr Koma, I’m not sure. I was hoping you could recommend the best one.’

Mr Koma muttered under his breath and took a pen out of his pocket, scribbling down some numbers.

‘
How many huts, Mma?’

‘
Just the two, please.’

‘
I will have the wood delivered tomorrow. Should I make the invoice out to AVP?’

‘
Yes, that would be fine,’ cringed Abbey, knowing full well she would have to pay for the wood out of her own money, as any expenses over five hundred pula had to be sanctioned by head office. Not only that, the storage space reserved for the saplings would now be taken up with wood.

‘
Er, Rra,’ she called. ‘Mr Koma, please could you deliver to my house? I am short of room at the moment at the office and I have a huge delivery of new trees coming this week. It’s the bungalow, at the top of the hill.’

Mr Koma nodded and disappeared into his hut.

Abbey quickly retraced her steps to the bakkie and drove away, her heart still thumping in her chest.
Had that been enough?
she wondered. Would he know that she knew who he really was and leave her alone from now on? Would her visit incense Mr Permelo even further? Time would tell, but at least the wood wouldn’t go to the office now, and Boitachello would hopefully be none the wiser to her lie.

She smiled as she drove the short distance back into town. Her experience of meeting the ‘witch doctor’ was not as she had imagined it. What had she expected? A man wearing traditional dress, living in a cave, sitting in front of a big black cauldron? She guessed that even this part of African culture had moved on with the times.

Chapter Nineteen

The rest of the week passed with no other incidents, although Abbey felt slightly unnerved, and took more notice of who was around her and inspected the house for anything unusual every day. She hadn’t heard from Darren all week, and wasn’t sure when he would be home. Late that Friday evening, she heard the familiar sound of his bakkie roar up the driveway. He stepped out of the cab and walked over to the piles of wood stacked by the gate. Abbey ran down the path to meet him, throwing her arms around his neck, reluctant to let go.

‘
Whoa, what’s the matter?’ asked Darren, hugging her tightly. ‘Are we building a new house? Is this one not big enough anymore?’

‘
God, I’ve missed you,’ she said, as they walked into the bungalow. Once inside, she told him the story from scratch.

‘
I’ll have a word with a few people tomorrow,’ he said, a frown forming across his brow, ‘and find out exactly what’s going on, although I think I already know. I don’t know this Mr Koma, but I know he’s a crony of Mr Permelo’s so that says it all. There’s no need to worry, Abbey,’ he reassured, ‘I’ll have this sorted before I leave on Monday.’

‘
Do you think it’ll be as simple as that?’ said Abbey, doubtfully.

‘
Would you prefer me to do nothing?’

Abbey shook her head in an apologetic sort of way, slightly taken aback by his abrupt retort.

‘
I’ve been meaning to tell you,’ she said, pouring two glasses of wine. ‘You know, that Mr Permelo and Richard devised some plot which resulted in Prisca losing her job at the Savuti so Richard could have her working at his house. I hope he never – you know what,’ the expression on her face reflecting the disgust at the thought of Richard taking advantage of Prisca.

‘
Abbey, I honestly don’t think Richard had any intention of taking advantage of Prisca. Not when she had a young daughter around who was also in need of a job. Were you there when he interviewed Boitachello?’

‘
No, Boitachello didn’t have...’ Abbey gasped, as the realisation of what had happened with her new employee registered in her head. ‘I’ve something else to tell you,’ she said. Darren turned to look at her. ‘I had to pay for the wood out of my own pocket. I’m afraid I’m eight hundred pula worse off.’