They paused at the gatehouse, where Scholie and the guard exchanged a laugh in lieu of cash. The Land Rover surged on, the guard leering through the dark at her as they passed.
The Land Rover was open on the sides and it was soon submerged in the sounds of the park: spiralling calls and burps and gurgles. The breeze grew satiny. An ongoing buzz sometimes whined louder and then thin wings would flick Thandi’s cheeks. She held her blanket up over her mouth and stared out into the night. There would be animals out there. But she saw no signs of life, and if the headlamps now and again caught beady flashes on the horizon, she could not distinguish them from the stars. Her eyes were beginning to get tired when the Land Rover stopped, so abruptly she almost careened off the back bench. Scholie held his hand up and said, ‘Shhh.’
Thandi reached for his shoulder but before she made contact, she was flung back in her seat as the vehicle leapt ahead at top speed, bumping up and down, the canvas roof scraped by low branches. Insects catapulted off her body. Her hair weave, carefully pressed that morning, tangled in the wind. But she was exhilarated by the momentum, the blast of speed and air. She felt a sting in her right eye and rubbed at it. It only grew worse, coming in progressive stabs. Her blinking became like a seizure. Tears looped over her cheek, buffeted into odd paths by the wind.
Thandi screamed with frustration, and the wobble in her voice made her realise that she was shaking. Scholie glanced back, slowed the Land Rover to a halt and turned off the engine. He climbed swiftly over the division between them and turned on a small torch hanging from his key ring. He shone it in her face.
‘Stop blinking!’ he said.
‘I can’t!’
‘I can’t see what’s wrong unless you stop blinking.’ Torch in one hand, he used the fingers of the other to stretch her eyelids open, exposing the pinpricks of pain.
‘There’s an insect in your eye.’
‘Oh God,’ she stuttered, ‘it’s biting me from the inside!’
‘Keep it cool, he’s the one that’s gonna die.’
He stretched her eyelids wider, pursed his plump lips, and blew against her eye with quick force. She blinked uncontrollably. Again, he tugged her eye open and his breath rushed against the tender cornea. The moment grew still and wide, so wide she could almost feel the individual beads of his saliva spray. She shuddered, tears welling from her eye socket.
‘Why were you going so fast?’ she snapped. Her eye was sore but the stinging was gone.
‘I heard something,’ he grinned. ‘Can’t be too careful in the bush.’
* * *
When they got to the camp, Scholie helped her off the Land Rover in a showy way that annoyed her – as if she were not herself in the hospitality business. She stepped away huffily and promptly stumbled. He raised an eyebrow at her high heels and left her, striding towards the bonfire. She stood there, wishing she hadn’t dressed up, eyeing Scholie as he slapped palms in greeting, his teeth glinting in the firelight. By the time she had navigated the ruts in the ground, he was sitting next to a white girl, an open beer bottle between his legs. Thandi paused, taking in the canvas tents that circled the circle of people, and the darkness that circled them all.
There were a dozen or so tourists, and scattered among them, three other Zambian game guides apart from Scholie. Thandi waved hi to them over the fire. They all knew her from JollyBoys, the new backpackers lodge where she’d been working this year – part of her job was to ring the guides to arrange drives or hikes for the guests. There were two local girls here, too, whinnying and tossing their plaits. Thandi was grateful for their presence – her outfit was tame by comparison – but she went to sit by Scholie nevertheless. She didn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression.
Scholie didn’t look up as Thandi levered herself down, negotiating her tight jeans. He was already in conversation with the white girl, whose laugh was surprisingly deep and throaty – a grandfatherly laugh. Thandi leaned forward to catch Scholie’s eye. He smiled and winked, except the wink fluttered, teasing her. She shook her head but her pulse raced with the memory of his breath on her.
‘Little TandyCandy,’ he said. ‘You were so cute. Shaking