in London and Johannesburg and a switch of airlines, was more rigorous than expected. It took them an additional hour to find one of her bags, which had mysteriously gone in with the freight. The customs officials were astounded by how many suitcases she had brought and she had to explain that she was not selling clothes, she was planning to wear them. Finally, in frustration, she told them she was a movie star, and luckily they believed her. They were fascinated by her. She had an armload of bangle bracelets on, and they wanted to know also if she was a jeweler. She knew that someone from the crew was coming to meet her, to take her to another flight which would bring her closer to their high-end camp where they would be shooting among elephants and other animals in a national park.
She came through customs feeling a little deflated and disoriented. The trip had been endless, and she suddenly realized that she was on the other side of the globe in a totally unfamiliar world. There were people in elaborate costumes, riotous colors, exotic sights and smells, friendly looking locals, and African dialects being spoken around her. She was fascinated by all of it and felt a little lost too. She looked around to find someone holding a sign with her name, not sure whether to laugh or cry or scream when a man holding a monkey smiled at her, and the monkey leaned out and patted her face.
“He friendly, ma’am,” the owner said, and she whispered to herself with a grin, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Far from it, as three porters struggled with the eleven suitcases she’d brought. She wasn’t sure what the dress code would be at night or when they weren’t working, so she brought everything she could think of, including an entire suitcase full of PowerBars, bug-bite medicine, and insect repellent. She glanced around and saw Rufus, the director, leaning against a post, smiling at her, looking relaxed, as though meeting her at the airport with her mountain of bags was the most normal thing in the world.
“You came to meet me?” She was deeply touched. No director had ever met her at an airport before, but she’d never filmed on location in Africa before either.
“It was on my way to the supermarket to pick up a loaf of bread, so I thought I’d swing by.” He grinned at her. He was even taller than she remembered, and his beard was neatly trimmed. He was wearing a safari jacket, khaki pants, and heavy work boots, and had a jaunty look about him, totally at ease in the exotic setting. “How was your trip? Other than ridiculously long? It took me forty-two hours to get here when I came, with delayed flights.”
“I made it in thirty-six.” She smiled at him. “Thank you for meeting me.” She looked at him gratefully. It was nice to see a familiar face, even if she didn’t know him well.
“Be careful of the monkeys, by the way. Some of them bite, or they grab your wallet and run up a tree. The perils of Africa.”
“Better than snakes,” she muttered, as he looked at her bags and explained to the porters that there was a truck outside to take them to a chartered plane waiting at another part of the airport. He must have tipped them well because they all bowed and thanked him and gave him a thumbs-up, and headed outside to load her bags into an old truck waiting for them with a driver. Gemma had followed Rufus out of the airport.
“I’m afraid you’ve got another short flight ahead of you. This one will be easier, to Victoria Falls. From there, it’s about an hour’s drive to the main camp. It’s very comfortable and quite civilized. It was a Swiss colony at one time, so there are even chalets. But we’ve put everyone in the main building. We’ll drive out from there to film with the animals. But we wanted everyone in the most agreeable accommodations we could get.” He helped her into the truck, and they headed toward a remote part of the airport, and drove onto the tarmac, where an old cargo plane refitted for charter was waiting, and the pilot waved and smiled in greeting when he saw them. “This won’t take long,” Rufus assured her. The pilot loaded her bags and she saw sandwiches and biscuits set