The Perils of Skinny-Dipping (5 page)

When Abbey returned to the table, Phil was chatting to a man Abbey recognised from Kasane.

‘
Hey Abbey,’ said Phil, ‘this is Mr Kobe, from the Savuti.’

Mr Kobe was the assistant manager at the Savuti Lodge and, compared to Mr Permelo, was a breath of fresh air. He was renowned for his hospitality and always gave his guests a warm welcome whilst never compromising his professionalism when socialising in the town. Abbey smiled and shook his hand. Mr Kobe smiled and lowered his head.

‘
Anyway, Mr Kobe has been on a training course in Francistown,’ continued Phil. ‘He’s seen our guy down there and apparently the truck’s broken down. It’s being fixed and he doesn’t reckon he’ll be here until six!’

‘
Yes,’ nodded Mr Kobe looking at Abbey. ‘He knew I would see you here and asked me to pass on the message. He would like you to wait.’

‘
Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do this,’ said Abbey, before turning to face Phil. ‘Shit, now what do we do?’ she groaned. ‘You know it will take us at least an hour to load the trees, and it’ll be dark by then and that road is lethal by day, let alone by night.’

‘
Miss Abbey,’ said Isaac who had been listening in to the conversation. ‘You know I have room here and I would be happy for you both to stay and leave early in the morning. I think it would be much safer.’

Isaac leaned on the counter, his huge hands spanning across the wood. The noise of Phil clearing his throat made her turn to look at him. Phil’s grin couldn’t have been any wider as he nodded encouragingly at Abbey to accept the offer.

‘
Is there enough room for us all?’ asked Abbey.

‘
It is fine. I will sleep in the café tonight.’

Abbey looked again at Phil and then at Isaac. ‘Oh, OK. I don’t suppose we’ve got much choice really. Thanks Isaac, if you’re sure it’s no trouble?’

‘
You are never any trouble Miss Abbey,’ he replied, grinning.

Before Abbey could speak, Phil had returned to the counter and ordered two cold beers, which soon turned into four and then six. The trees arrived just after six and, with the help of Isaac and some other customers who were persuaded to help with the promise of a beer and a cigarette, the bakkie was loaded in just over half an hour.

Abbey and Phil resumed their spot in the café and settled in for a pleasant evening. Phil showed off his skill at playing pool, confidently beating both Isaac and Abbey almost effortlessly, taking twenty pula off each of them. After her fourth beer, Abbey was feeling totally relaxed and made herself comfortable over a couple of chairs.

‘
Phil,’ she said. ‘You know that guy Darren we were talking to the other week at the President’s Lodge?’

‘
You mean that guy who made you blush, twice?’

‘
I don’t remember that bit,’ laughed Abbey defensively. ‘Well anyway, did you and he stay on after I’d left?’

‘
Yeah, we were there until midnight.’

‘
Did he say anything about a girlfriend anywhere, I mean…’

‘
Hey, I know what you mean,’ laughed Phi interrupting her. ‘No, he didn’t mention any girlfriend, or wife for that matter. All I know is that he’s taken a six-month lease out on the old Fernella house just out of town, and I think he said his family comes from Bath. He did mention he has an older brother who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with his wife and kids. Apparently, his father died a couple of years ago and his mother wasn’t coping living alone so, she went to live with the brother to help look after him and his family. Oh yeah, and he did a Geology degree at Newcastle.’

‘
Hmm,’ Abbey nodded. ‘You found out quite a lot considering.’

‘
Let’s just say I have a friend who I thought might be interested!’

‘
Why didn’t you tell me all this before then?’ asked Abbey.

‘
Because you made it very clear to me, when you bit my head off the next morning, Miss Frosty Knickers, that you weren’t interested in him.’

‘
No, Phil, if you remember rightly I said I wasn’t interested in bedding him within five minutes of meeting him. I never said I wasn’t interested in him! Not that I am, obviously,’ continued Abbey, looking sheepishly into her glass.

Phil rolled his eyeballs and shook his head. ‘Women, Isaac. I’ll never work them out!’

Isaac took full advantage of their company that evening and hung up his apron to join them on the other side of the counter. He entertained them with stories about the customers that had used the café over the years, some of whom included locals from Kasane and, more often than not, Phil had stories of his own to supplement Isaac’s. When Abbey felt her eyes becoming heavy, she excused herself to bed, not realising it had only just turned nine o’clock.

Using a torch, she made her way to the small wooden shack at the back of the café. She breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped inside as the house was clean and tidy, and not what she had expected from a bachelor living on his own. She hoped Phil might take a leaf out of Isaac’s book and decided she would mention it to him before they left the next day. Isaac had already put two sleeping bags out, one on the floor and one on his bed. Abbey smiled at his thoughtfulness, hoping the one on the bed was for her and not for Phil. She decided that it didn’t really matter, as that was where she was going to sleep!

Early the next morning, after being force-fed breakfast by Isaac, they said their goodbyes and were on their way back north. They chatted idly about their evening when Phil brought up the subject of Richard, and what he would say to them when they got back. Abbey had to wipe away the tears as Phil did an impression of Richard, demanding to know where they had been, and what had taken them so long.

‘
It was a simple errand, even the monkeys would have managed.’ He imitated Richard’s voice perfectly, snorting in between words, which Richard often did if he was laughing or angry. ‘You know that guy gives me the creeps,’ shuddered Phil. ‘Give him a pointy hat and a fishing rod and he’d pass for a garden gnome any day.’

Phil took his eyes off the road momentarily to look at Abbey, joining in with her laughter, when the look of horror on her face made him look back at the road. A young bull elephant had suddenly appeared out of the bush, running out in front of them. Phil tried to swerve, but the truck skidded. It overturned and landed on its roof, down a ditch on the side of the road.

Although it had happened very fast, Abbey knew she had not lost consciousness. She looked over at Phil in the driver’s seat. Both of them had not been wearing seat belts and Phil’s head had hit the windscreen. The glass had shattered. His face was badly cut and blood was trickling down his chin, and also from a deep cut on his scalp. His eyes were closed.

‘
Phil! PHIL! For god’s sake, talk to me,’ shouted Abbey.

Phil groaned a reply, much to Abbey’s relief and she started to try and release herself from the cab. The door was jammed tightly shut. She knocked out the rest of the broken glass and crawled out of the open window. Kneeling on the ground, she reached for her mobile phone from her shorts pocket, but it had been thrown from the truck when it overturned. Frantically, she scanned the parched ground looking for it.

‘
Phil, I can’t find my phone,’ she shouted, as she ran her hand across the grass.

‘
Use mine,’ cried Phil from the bakkie.

Abbey made her way around to the driver’s door, took the phone from Phil’s shirt pocket and wiped the blood off the small screen.

‘
Shit, no signal. Can you believe it?’ Abbey looked around her, trying to establish exactly where they were. The heat shimmered as she looked down the tarmac road. ‘Phil, can you move at all? Do you think you can get out of there?’

Abbey was now concerned that the truck might blow at any time, as petrol was starting to spill out of the tank onto the dry, brown grass. She knelt beside the driver’s door and tried to wrench it open. The cut on her knee stung as it took the weight of her body as she leaned forward, pulling on the door with all her might.

‘
It’s no good Phil, I can’t move it,’ she cried, trying to stop the panic she was feeling rising in her voice. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as she made yet another attempt to move the twisted metal. The noise of an engine made her turn. Darren’s bakkie was coming along the other side of the road from the direction of Kasane. He swerved over to them and parked behind the overturned truck. In no time at all, he had powered the door open and was checking Phil’s pulse.

‘
How long ago did this happen?’ he said, without looking at Abbey.

‘
Oh, I don’t know… I’m not sure. Maybe about five minutes ago. I… er…’

‘
OK, let’s try to get him out and into the back seat of my truck. I’ll drive closer, and Abbey, keep him talking.’

‘
Do you think it’s OK to move him?’ she asked quietly.

‘
Abbey! For Christ’s sake,’ wheezed Phil, his body bent awkwardly over the steering wheel. ‘Just get me the hell out of here, will you?’

Between them, they managed to slide Phil out of the crumpled truck and into the back of the twin cab. She half turned in her seat, asking him questions to keep him awake. In what seemed an eternity they eventually arrived at Kasane Clinic.

Abbey sat patiently on the bed whilst the nurse cleaned the cut to her forehead and bandaged her right hand and her left knee, which had needed two stitches. She also had a nasty bump on the top of her head where she had hit the roof of the bakkie as it had overturned. Her headache was slowly starting to ease after taking the pain killers the doctor had prescribed.

Richard had been in to see them both, but had left after half an hour, complaining of feeling queasy at the smell of disinfectant, and the fact that hospitals always made him feel ill.

‘
Can I go and see Phil now?’ she asked the nurse.

The nurse nodded. ‘Yes, see your friend, he’s being a baby. Can you hear him? See if you can keep him quiet!’

Abbey followed the sounds of the pathetic yelps down the corridor and into the room where Phil was lying on the bed. The nurses were treating his cuts and bruises. An x-ray had shown three broken ribs and he needed stitches to the cut on his head.

‘
Hi,’ said Abbey, as she popped her head around the door. ‘Want me to hold your hand while you have your stitches put in?’

Phil smiled back. ‘God, it’s good to see you. Are you OK?’

‘
I’m in a much better state than you!’ she replied. ‘That was a close one, Phil. I thought the truck was going to blow and you were a gonna. I really did. If Darren hadn’t shown up when he did…’ she paused, ‘well, I don’t know what I’d have done.’

‘
I think you’d have managed perfectly well.’

Abbey turned. Darren was stood in the doorway.

‘
Hey, thanks mate,’ said Phil, smiling at Darren, as he made his way over to the bed. ‘I owe you big time, and yeah Abbey was as cool as a cucumber as I remember. In fact, hun, you can join me in a crisis anytime!’

Phil smiled at Abbey, who he thought looked decidedly embarrassed at Darren’s arrival and also that her face looked slightly flushed. They both sat by Phil’s bed until the nurse invited them to leave. Phil was being kept in overnight to make sure there was no internal bleeding.

‘
Oh god,’ gasped Abbey. ‘I’ve forgotten about the bakkie. It’s still on the road!’

‘
Don’t worry, it’s all been sorted,’ replied Darren. ‘My lads brought it back in. It’s write-off though, so I’ve left it with Moses down at the garage. We unloaded the trees that could be saved at AVP and I told your boss where the bakkie was before I came here. Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.’

They travelled the short distance up to the bungalow in silence. He helped her out of the bakkie by taking her hand. They walked up the wooden steps to the front door.

‘
Thanks for everything today,’ said Abbey quietly. ‘I really do appreciate what you’ve done.’

‘
You were lucky I was around. I was on my way to a meeting just south of Kasane. I must drive up and down that road about ten times a day at the moment! Anyway, I’m sure you’d have done exactly the same for me.’

He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, his hand gently holding her chin. ‘Goodnight Abbey, I’ll look in on you tomorrow.’

She watched the truck as it disappeared out of sight. Abbey went into the dark bungalow and stood with her back against the door. Without any warning, she burst into tears and sank to the floor.

Chapter Five

Richard left the small clinic and made his way down the main street towards the Savuti Lodge. He stopped at the garage to look over the crumpled wreckage of the bakkie.

‘
That’s the problem with that woman,’ he tutted under his breath. ‘She always thinks she knows best.’ He walked around the truck, his mind penning the damming letter to head office, complaining about Abbey’s complete lack of responsibility and respect for charity property. Ah yes, he knew exactly what he would say.

Mr Permelo was waiting for him in the small casino at the lodge. Richard made his apologies for being late, relaying what had happened.

Mr Permelo smiled and shook his head. ‘You know you need to bring that woman under control, Richard. She has ideas above her station, that one.’