“You’re good at this game.” He turned in his seat to face me, and I turned too.
“No, you’re just bad at it.”
“That’s a matter of opinion. I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘W.’ ”
“Water! You are bad at this!”
“Fine. I’ll try harder this time. I spy with my little eye something beginning with . . .”
I watched Noah, amused as his eyes flicked around the car.
“Stop looking at me, that’s cheating!”
“And you clearly need all the help you can get.” I put my hands over my eyes and let him continue.
“I spy with my little eye something beginning with, with . . . uh, with . . .” He paused, and I smiled as I imagined his eyes working overtime, scanning every inch of the car for something to grab a hold of. “Uh . . . ‘D,’ ” he finally said.
“ ‘D’?” I pulled my hands off my eyes.
“Yes. ‘D.’ Right next to us. Pointing at us.”
“Huh?” I looked out the window to where he was pointing.
“Double cab. Winding down its window.” Noah and I both leaned across the seat in an attempt to look through the blanket of water coating the window. And there it was, a big double cab with an elderly lady who looked like she barely peeked over the steering wheel, pointing at us and indicating that we wind our window down too. Noah cracked the window ever so slightly, and the rain took the opportunity to burst into the car.
“Helloooo!” she shouted at us. “You alright?”
“Thanks, we’re just waiting the storm out!”
“Here? On the road?”
I leaned over Noah to get a closer look at her and a spray of water hit me on the face.
“Oh no, look, you’re getting wet,” she said.
“Hi!” I waved.
“Ag, no. You cannot wait here on the road. Come with me. My farm is just down that road. You can dry off, have some nice warm coffee and a rusk and then leave when the storm is over.”
“That’s so sweet of you, but we wouldn’t want to be an imposition,” the ever-polite Noah said.
“Nee, man, no imposition.”
Noah shook his head. “Really, that’s very kind. But we’re okay.”
“Come. I insist.” She sounded determined.
“Uh . . .” Noah looked a little stumped now.
“I can’t leave you two out in the rain like this. Besides, we don’t get any visitors out here, Tiaan will be so happy to see someone other than me! Follow me, it’s just down here. I’ll drive slowly. I absolutely insist!” She wound her window up and began to drive.
“She seems to be insisting. Shall we go?” Noah asked.
“I mean, she seems nice. She doesn’t seem like—”
“She keeps a woman called Chloe tied up in a cage in the corner of her room?” He laughed at this.
“No! She doesn’t seem the type. And . . . I kind of need the toilet too . . .” I felt utterly embarrassed saying this, but was relieved when Noah agreed with me.
We followed her down a dirt road that had turned to mud. Huge puddles of dirty brown water flew up at us as we drove. After another muddy five minutes, we arrived at a small farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.
“Wow, this is amazing,” I said, gazing at the old sandstone farmhouse in front of us. “D” for double cab indicated for us to park under the car port with her, and when we finally did, I realized just how loud the rain had been.
“Come inside!” She climbed out of the car. “It’s warm and I’ll put the kettle on. TIAAANNN!” she screamed, so loudly that I flinched.
“LIEFIE!” An equally loud shout came from what looked like a workshop at the back of the car port. “What’s wrong?” Tiaan emerged from the workshop. He was portly and wide, holding an equally wide and portly-looking knife. His other hand was covered in a dark liquid and he wiped it across his blue overalls.
“Shame, these poor people were sitting on the road in the car, waiting for the rain to pass.”
“Ag, shame, man. They must come inside, for some coffee, liefie!” It was strange to hear such a large man—really, he was huge, well over six feet, calling his wife “lovie.”
“Yes, that’s what I said!” And then she turned to us and smiled. “I’m Mienkie, by the way. And this is Tiaan.”
“I’m Noah, and this is Zoe,” Noah said quickly.
“Come now, let’s get you inside and warmed up,” Mienkie said.