Safari

Extract

“I think we need to fill up with petrol quite urgently,” announced Charlotte and jumped out of the Jeep. Patricia, who was busy helping Edward unload the luggage from the back of the car, had to admit that Charlotte’s beauty was not dependant on her usual, impeccable appearance. Her blonde hair surrounded her head like a wild halo; her eyes glistened fire. Patricia took a thick strand of her own brown hair involuntarily between her thumb and forefinger and looked at it dolefully.
“Tomorrow we’ll be in Uis. I also recommend a different driving style,” growled Edward. “James, will you take care of the wood for our fire?”
“Campfire?” called Charlotte and came closer, though not close enough to get seriously involved in any work. Her own crankiness scared her. She smiled at her friend as if she wanted to compensate for her unfriendly thoughts,
“I had no idea that you were such an ace driver.”
Charlotte sat on a suitcase and ignored the comment.
“Then you should see my brother. We used to race together. He really drives like the devil.”
“I say, what do you think about actually helping out around here?” Edward’s voice was laced with suppressed anger.
Charlotte looked at him with an angelic smile. “And what should I do? I’m prepared to do anything.”
Edward seemed to be mentally running through a few unpleasant tasks but finally he said, “Go help James, okay? Just make yourself useful.”
Charlotte stood up elegantly, smoothed the creases out of her perfectly draped, wide trousers, grinned conspiringly at her friend and disappeared in the same direction as James. Patricia watched her go.
“A pretty spot,” she said softly.
Edward paused. He seemed surprised.
“Yes,” he said, “I like it here.”
The campsite that he’d chosen for them was on the edge of a dried-up riverbed which, during the rainy season, would fill up again. Some camel thorn trees formed a natural fence, throwing their shadows across the dry earth in the evening dusk. Patricia let her hand run over the red wood. It felt rough and warm under her fingers.
”Be careful, it’s not called camel thorn tree for nothing.”
She laughed. “I know. I can remember some of the things I’ve been devouring in all those books; they all have stuck. But now everything is real. It’s still like a dream to me. What’s it like living here?”
“Truthfully,” Edward said thoughtfully, “The dreams fade after a while.”
“Why do you stay then?”
The sun shone on his face and gave his tanned skin a slightly coppery hue. Everything about him appeared angular and hard, even the wrinkles on his face seemed chiselled.
“What would I do anywhere else? I’ve built up a life here. And that life hasn’t paid me back everything that it owes me.”
For a moment, he looked straight into her eyes and, for a couple of heartbeats, the only things that existed were his brown eyes. Then abruptly, he turned away. Patricia took a deep breath.
Suddenly, she became aware of James and Charlotte’s voices next to her. Patricia asked herself briefly how long they had been standing there. She touched her friend on the arm unobtrusively.
“Charly, I have something to tell you.”
“About…?” Charlotte quickly glanced at Edward. Patricia nodded.
“Okay, then I would suggest that we voluntarily take over the dishwashing later. I have neither the desire nor the talent for cooking.”
“Maybe you can find a pizza service that will deliver out here,” suggested Patricia with a giggle.
She lifted an imaginary telephone receiver to her ear. “Hello, is that Joey’s? Could you deliver a Pizza Funghi to the third camel thorn tree on the left? Thirty minutes? Thank you.”
“Or we could get a tame lion to bring us a fresh antelope steak,” grinned Charlotte. “We’ll give our dear Edward to it in exchange.”
“No way!” Patricia lowered her voice to a whisper. “He’s armed.”
“No!”
“Yes. Maybe it’s completely harmless but… Psst! James…”
Sure enough, the young Englishman had approached them unremarkably. He gave them a bemused smile. “Am I interrupting?”
“Not if you’re bringing something to eat.”
“Oh, what do I get if I tell you where you can get something?”
His eyes caressed Charlotte’s slender body. Her lips parted in a smile.
“Ask me again later at the campfire. It always makes me sentimental.”
“I’ll get back to you on that,” he promised, “but first I must keep up my end of the bargain. Just keep moving towards the light of the fire.”
“That is surely worth an instalment.” Charlotte put her hand on James’s shoulder and blew a soft kiss onto the corner of his mouth. For a moment he froze, his eyes were large and enquiring. Then he turned round and disappeared into the dusk without saying a word. “I have no idea why I did that,” Charlotte said finally and breathed deeply. The light of the fire danced restlessly in her eyes.
“Are you in love?”
“That’s silly. I like him, but he isn’t my type. When I’m hungry, I can’t think about love. Let’s go eat.”

The two friends had to do without campfire romance, just like they had to do without anything that tasted even rudimentarily like culinary talent. It didn’t appear to bother either Edward or James that their meal consisted solely of tinned food.
“And I thought that the modern man enjoyed cooking,” sighed Charlotte and chased a few indefinable pieces of meat with her fork, their only advantage being that one couldn’t really identify them in the dusk.
“True, but look at the two of them. Which one of them do you consider a representative of this new generation? Ashley Wilkes or the Neanderthal?” asked Patricia dryly. “Would you like a beer?”
Charlotte nodded and pushed her plate aside. James hadn’t exaggerated when he’d said that the wood of the camel thorn tree was ideal for a campfire. The flames crackled and snapped furtively. From all sides you could hear the soft singing and chirping of the cicadas. Patricia returned with two bottles of beer and a sleeping mat, which she rolled out on the ground. They sat next to each other in silence.
“What’s James doing over there?”
“Writing in his travel diary. He told me about it in the car.”
“I should also start making notes for myself,” said Patricia without moving. Her eyes were trying to pierce the darkness that now surrounded them. It was unbelievably black. It was only the fire and the stars that gave light.
“It’s almost unreal,” said Charlotte quietly, as though she’d read her friend’s thoughts. “In Egypt, Walter and I also went out into the desert but we never lost sight of the city skyline. Civilisation was always present. Here, too, I know that tomorrow we will arrive at a town but even so, I feel as though I’ve arrived at the loneliest place on earth.”
“I know what you mean. It’s more than unreal. I feel small out here. I keep thinking about Edward who told me that there were lions roaming around and I feel the need to apologise for being here. We are the intruders.”
“Lions,” Charlotte repeated weakly. “Well, great. Maybe it’s a good thing after all that he’s armed. What did you actually want to tell me?”
“Oh, that…” Patricia looked around carefully but Edward was nowhere to be seen. She imagined that he was lurking like a ghost from an old legend and was invisible somewhere in the stillness. She had chased the thought away before a shiver ran down her spine.
“I saw his weapon…”
“What kind?”
“How should I know? A revolver or something like that: anyway, a heavy thing. There were also some fairly official documents and at least one of them originated in Angola.”
“What do you think this means – that he’s some kind of James Bond?”
“Edward White?”
“Okay, you’re right. What else then? Could they be fake papers that make it easier for him to get smuggled goods across the border?”
“I have no idea!”
“And this treasure hunt with James is just camouflage! I’ve been wondering for the whole time why the entire expedition doesn’t travel together.“
“He said that he didn’t like mass gatherings.”
“Of course not!” Charlotte’s eyes sparkled. “That would mean the danger of the whole thing being uncovered is much greater. Here’s the plan: you must try to find out what these documents contain.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“No idea, but you’ll think of something. I would travel with him but then you two, you and James, would probably get stuck somewhere…”
“Don’t exaggerate,” said Patricia uncertainly. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. But remember, I’m a researcher…”
“And Miss Marple is a dear old lady. No excuses, Patty. If this Edward is really a criminal, we will unmask him. Oh my God, were there footsteps?”
Patricia shook off her friend’s hand unwillingly. “Charly, you’re going to drive me crazy! We should stop these ghost stories. Of course there weren’t any footsteps, it was only...” She laughed quietly. “It was only a monkey, I think. Look, there!”
She pointed to a small, furry figure that was just recognisable in the reflection of the fire. The big black eyes looked at the two women inquisitively as the animal remained sitting some distance away.
“How cute. We need something to feed it,” called out Charlotte and reached for her empty plate. A stone flew through the air at that precise moment. Sand sprayed up and the monkey fled with a shrill scream. Charlotte turned around and looked angrily into Edward’s hard, expressionless face. She thought that she should be worried about how much of their conversation he’d heard. Instead, her outrage controlled her.
“You brut!” she yelled. “How dare you throw stones at the poor, little animal! You could have hurt it.”
“These monkeys are damned little thieves that shouldn’t be in the camp, especially not when there are two sentimental city dwellers sitting there with nothing better to do than to attract these ‘oh so cute’ animals. Do you have any idea of the diseases they can transmit?”
“I’ve been vaccinated!”