Chapter 46: Who's your Daddy

The barracks room was a pretty rude shock after the luxury of the rooms in the lodge. It was a long building with rows of double-bunk beds extending down either side, at right-angles to the walls. There were twenty-five double bunks down each wall, enough place to house a hundred people. Each end of the building had toilets, showers and basins. The showers were open, with no partitions and the toilets were seperated only by low walls between them; no doors. I could see that the girls were curious about the place. "Like our new accommodation?" I asked and laughed as the girls turned on me with looks of dismay on their faces. "We'll move in here in a day or two, once things are organised. That is those of you who want to go through the training with us." I watched as Daise quickly made up her mind. Her expression cleared and she nodded at me, accepting that where I was, she wanted to be. Alina followed her lead. Bettina was obviously in two minds and Katy just seemed shy. "There's no pressure. If you don't want to join in, you can continue to live in the lodge. There's space there. I just want us to focus, and living together here, working and training together will build the team. We'll also do things at odd hours, and it's just easier. We are also hoping for a bunch more guys to join us, and we couldn't host them all in the lodge, never mind that we would have to turn away paying guests if we did so." Katy and Alina whispered together for a while, and I wasn't surprised when Katy told me that she would like to try to be part of what we would be doing. "Rupert," Bettina said finally, "I wouldn't mind being involved, but..." she rolled her eyes in Lisa's direction and shrugged. "Yes, I thought it might be difficult for you," I told her, "this is not exactly the best place for a child." Like all children, Lisa had long ears, especially when she thought that the adults might be discussing something that would effect her. She turned on her mother, a thunderous expression on her face. "Mom," she declared, "I'm almost eight. I'm not a baby any more. I want to be with Rupert and do this stuff." Bettina looked at me, and I shrugged, amused. Lisa watched this interaction, and then rocked my world. She reached out and took my hand. "Rupert," she said in a small voice, "I don't have a Daddy to look after me, will you be my Daddy?" Of course I had no defence against an appeal like that. I dropped to a knee and wrapped her in my arms. It had started out as a pretence, and as a way to get her own way, but when I hugged her, she started sobbing and clung to me fiercely. I looked up at Bettina and saw she had tears in her eyes too. She shrugged and nodded at me, and I bowed my head, putting my mouth right next to Lisa's ear. "Of course I will Darling, I'll look after you. You don't need to worry," I said quietly. I had surprising difficulty talking with the huge lump in my throat. "You better give your Mom a hug, I think she needs one." Lisa whirled around and Bettina swept her up into a crushing embrace, the two of them walking off to talk. Chapter 47 Home - My Library - Top [Bookmark Next Chapter] - More Info

Chapter 45: Paradise Explained

The next morning I woke with the sun. I was sprawled on my back and I had two bodies curled up and entangled with mine. I had a clear head, as I hadn't had very much alcohol at all the previous night, but my body was sore. It was a feeling I knew of old, the punishment extracted for physical exertion and adrenaline. I extracted myself, reluctantly, from the tangle on the bed and dosed myself with some paracetamol, and took care of the usual bathroom routine. I pulled on a bath-robe before pulling up a deck-chair on the balcony to watch the magnificent spectacle of the sunrise over this beautiful piece of African bush. The morning chorus swelled into its full-throated glory, while the hippos lumbered into the water to rest from their nocturnal exertions. After ten minutes or so, I heard sounds of life from the room behind me, and after a while Daise emerged, wrapped in her own terry-cloth robe, to silently hand me a cup of coffee. I nodded my thanks to her and she sat on my lap while we took sips and shared a silent appreciation for the peaceful spectacle. Alina emerged a short while later and stood behind the chair., resting her hands on my shoulders. "Beautiful morning," I finally broke the silence. "Is it always like this?", Daise asked quietly. "Mostly. Sometimes there is mist on the water then I think of Avalon." "The Lady of the Lake?" Alina asked. I twisted my head to look up at her. "Yes, you know the story?" "My father read to me a lot when I was younger. Mostly old Russian fables, but I also enjoyed the English stories. I learnt a lot of old-fashioned English words like that." "If you liked those, maybe you would enjoy some of the fantasy that I do." "Like what?" "Lord of the Rings?" "I have tried to read that. It was a very long book, almost as long as some of the old Russian stories..." Daise interjected I laughed when I saw the teasing smile on her face. "Tolkien was born here. Few hundred kilometers away, in Bloemfontein. We'll drive through there when we take a trip down to Cape Town sometime. We can stop and see the museum they have there. It's quite interesting." "Will we ever be able to just enjoy ourselves?" Daise asked sadly. "Yes," I answered definitively. "We'll sort all this stuff out and then we can live normal lives. I promise." "OK." Daise's voice was small and quiet. She was so tiny and vulnerable in my lap, it made me feel all fatherly and protective. I was slowly learning that she had moods like a cat. Sometimes fierce and aggressive, the Huntress, then the next moment sensual and demanding, then sometimes, rarely, showing a soft vulnerability that was particularly endearing, especially considering its rarity. "We need to go down to breakfast," I finally announced reluctantly. "There's lots to do today." "What should we wear?" Alina asked. "Jeans and T-shirt should be fine. We'll just explore a bit today spend a lot of time talking. We weren't the first to get to the dining room. Bettina was there with Lisa and Katy. When we walked in, Bettina looked up and saw me and responded to my querying look with a laugh. "You should know what its like to have kids. Up before Sparrow's Fart..." Bettina said smiling at Lisa. "What's that?" Katy wanted to know. Lisa was only too keen to show off her knowledge. "Have you ever heard a Sparrow Fart?" she asked Katy. "No," Katy answered with a frown. I could see that Daise and Alina were just as puzzled. "Then you haven't got up early enough," Lisa declaimed, then burst into giggles at the expressions on the three women's faces. I left them to gossip, and grabbed a plate, ordering two fried eggs from the on-duty chef, and piling my plate with fried mushrooms, pork sausages, bacon strips and four slices of toasted white bread. When my eggs were ready, I put them onto the toast, piled the bacon and sausages on top and dribbled a generous helping of Golden Syrup over the lot. I sat down to eat and after a few mouthfuls got a strange feeling, so I looked up to see four female faces staring at me with identical looks of disbelief. Lisa was the odd one out. She had approval and curiosity written large on her face. "Does that taste nice?" Lisa asked. "No," Bettina jumped in, "you're not trying that." At the sight of Lisa's disappointed face, I stage whispered to her, "Try some from my plate." Lisa shifted quickly to sit next to me, avoiding even a glance at her mother, and ate the forkful of food that I offered her. Bettina frowned at me, and I shrugged, "Little Girls, like butterflies, need no excuse." Bettina smiled and I could see her deciding to let it slide. Lisa was instantly a fan, but before she could start pestering her mother to allow her to have a plate of her own, I told her, "You can have a plateful tomorrow," adding after a frown from Bettina, "if your mother says you can." I ignored the beginning of the protracted mother-daughter negotiations as the guys started arriving. Once everyone was well breakfasted, I gathered everyone up and herded them outside. As we walked I pointed out items of interest, distracting them from where we were going and what we were planning on doing. My mind had been working furiously all the time, even waking me early to send me out onto the balcony, and the whole time I had been exchanging morning banter with the crowd, I had been thinking through what our next steps were going to be. I took a footpath up the rise to the right (south) of the lodge, with the rest following me to the top. Once we crested, I waited for everyone to catch up then pointed out what was in the valley below. "As most of you know," I started, to rolled eyes and grins from the guys, "the purpose of the farm is to run as a business. The lodge is only a minor part of what we do here. This is the major part." "What is it?" Daise asked, looking down into the valley, obviously puzzled. "That's what we call our 'Adventure Center'," I replied, "It's where we do the Team-Building and training that pays for this whole operation." "Can you tell me what we are looking at?" Bettina asked. "Sure. That's why we're here." I answered. "This building just below us to the right is the barracks, then over there is the obstacle course," I pointed out. "Where the trees and dense green bush runs is a small river where we have a bush-lane firing course. Up there where the river runs up into the hills, we have a standard firing range." "What's that funny set of ruined buildings?" Daise pointed them out. "That's the paint-ball range," I answered. Bird spluttered as he tried to suppress a laugh. "What's so funny, Bird?" Alina asked him. "Rupert's not telling you the 'Whole Truth'," he answered. "Have you played paint-ball?" "Yes," Daise and Alina answered, almost in unison. "OK, but not like this I guess. We have what's called Airsoft1 gear. It's called Milsim2 — Military Simulation — because it is supposed to be a game that simulates military operations. I get the feeling that you're going to find out just how intense and little like a game it is though, if I know Rupert." I grinned and said nothing about that. "What I've been thinking, is that we need to start putting some teams together and seeing if we can't hurt these arseholes. While we're waiting for things to happen, I figured it wouldn't hurt to start sharpening ourselves up, and running you ladies through some sort of training program," I told them. "Bird is correct, the Milsim weapons and training ... we've gotten to a stage that it's as close to real as we can go. Instead of firing at targets, we set up scenarios where your team has to fight another team, and it feels like the real thing. We do use real weapons for the range and the bush-lane course, with targets, but we'll train you on the Airsoft stuff first." "What are we going to wait for Rupert?" Johnny asked, emerging finally from his long introspection which I suspected had more to do with an excess of alcohol than with any natural philosophical bent. "My first priority is intelligence. I've called on an old mate, Gerrie. He's a Mil-Int type. He's driving down from Vrede. Should be here late today. Also put out the word that there's an Op happening and we'll see how many that attracts. You know how the bush-telegraph works." "Ja, might get no-one or hundreds rocking up," Johnny said with a smile. "Have to wait and see." "In the meantime, I want us all to move into the barracks and start working on fitness and weapons drill. Sharpen up on Urban and introduce the ladies to the game. Should be fun." There were groans from the guys and a few puzzled looks from the girls. I ignored both and headed down the hill towards the barracks. 1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft 2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MilSim Chapter 46 Home - My Library - Top [Bookmark Next Chapter] - More Info

Chapter 44: Paradise Explored

Once we were in the room, with the door firmly closed behind us, I fully expected to explore more fully the raging emotions that had erupted in the corridor. I should have known better, I was dealing with women of course, and what male can ever predict or explain their thought processes? Daise and Alina dropped me like a hot potato and, with squeals of excitement, began to explore our room. The first thing that they realised was that it was more like a suite or an apartment, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms including toilets, a kitchen and a small lounge. What really got them excited though, was the fact that all the exterior walls facing the lake opened up completely onto a balcony that ran along two sides of the building. There was an old-fashioned style bath, on claw feet and a magnificent view of the lake and surrounding bush. "Rupert," Daise said in an decidedly seductive tone, do you think we could fit the three of us into that bath?" "Well," I started, but was interrupted by Alina. "I'll scrub your back?" Alina promised. I conceded defeat gracefully. The time in the bath didn't provide much relaxation, and in fact led to some rigorous exercise. We had all three just finished showering when we got a call on the internal phone to remind us that Supper would be served in the lodge dining room. When I told Daise and Alina that we half an hour to get ready, they went into a full-tilt rush to get dressed and organised. I heard more than one muttered comment about how lucky males where, when I pulled on a clean set of jeans and a Golf-shirt and sat watching them get dressed. I agreed wholeheartedly, watching them get dressed was a pleasure and a privilege... When we got to the dining room, only slight later than we were supposed to, I was happy to see that the staff had really pushed out the boat. We were greeted with enthusiasm and led into the lounge. The fragrance of Frangipani blossoms filled the room, blown in by a slight breeze from the tree growing just outside the window. Some of the flowers were mixed in with the arrangements dotted around the room on side tables. A waiter took drink orders while we waited. As it turned out, some of the single men were even later than us. When everyone had arrived, and Moose had stammered out his apologies for having fallen asleep and waking up late, we moved through to the dining room. Everyone found a place to sit, and when they were settled, I proposed my favourite toast, "Here's to us, and those like us. Damn few left!" All the men downed whatever they were drinking, and slammed their glasses down, the we all sat and the waiters brought in the appetiser. The main meal was laid out buffet style, so that we could help ourselves without having anyone outside the group hanging over our shoulders. I spent some time making a bit of a fuss of Lisa, making her feel very grown-up to be included in the meal. The mood was strange: no-one referred to any of things that we had been through in the last few days, following wthout prompting the unwritten rule of the mess, 'no religion, politics or work to be discussed in the mess'. Most of the conversation revolved around sport, especially a general disgust that the Springbucks couldn't seem to get their game together on their European tour. There was also a lot of appreciation for Amla's double Test century against the English. When the last Irish coffee had been drained, and belt loosened to ease stuffed bellies, three hours had passed. I pushed back my chair and stood, before calling for a final toast. This time, it was at first only the men, but I insisted that Daise join us. I had arranged with the waiter before-hand they had set aside a tray of 'shooter' glasses and a bucket on the floor with a brick in it. When all the men and Daise had their glasses filled with Chivas Regal, I propsed the toast, "To Rfn Zondi and all those we left behind". Everyone responded, "those we left behind" then tossed their drinks back and one by one we each smashed our glasses in the bucket. Without another word, I led the way out of the room and took my ladies to bed. Chapter 45 Home - My Library - Top [Bookmark Next Chapter] - More Info

Chapter 43: Paradise Found

I basked in the reaction from Daise, Alina, Rebecca and the rest as they saw what we call "The Farm" for the first time. I turned off the engine, and climbed out, encouraging them all to do the same. We ended up in a line on the road in front of the Land Rover, staring down into the valley. The land dropped away in front of us in a wide valley. Just off the road to the right, about five hundred meters from the hill where we we standing, the lodge and guest-houses were nestled into the bush. They had a magnificent view down the valley, and overlooked a small lake. "What are those ... those ... animals in the lake?" Daise asked me, clutching my arm tightly. "Hippos ... Hippopotamus," I answered her with a smile. Alina was most taken with the sight of a troop of Giraffe grazing from the Acacia trees on the left of the road. They were no more than fifty meters from us, and completely unfazed by the fact that we were there. Once everyone had their fill, we climbed back into the Land Rover and drove down to the Lodge. I stopped outside the reception and everyone followed me into the lobby. The sandstone coloured walls stretched up for two stories to the exposed wooden beams under the thatch roof. There were large photo-prints some of the scenes of wildlife arranged on the walls. We were very proud of the fact that we had four of the 'Big Five' on the reserve, missing only Lions. I spoke to the woman manning the recpetion desk, and told her what I would prefer, then took everyone to show them the board that displayed a stylised map of the resort and surrounding area. "This is where we are now," I explained as I pointed it out on the map. "You can see the boundaries of the estate marked with a red line. This part of the boundary, marked in green, is where we border the Ihala Game Reserve. At certain times of the year we will drop the game fence to allow the animals to cross freely between the two reserves." "Why would you want to do that?" Daise asked. "For a number of reasons, a lot of them having to do with the management of the game. The most important reason is the use of water. We have some good water here and better access to the river, So in the dry season, the Ithala animals are allowed to come across. The other reason is breeding, we like to allow the various animals the chance at a broader selection of mates." "That makes sense," Alina responded. I was quite surprised by just how intensely foucused her and Daise had been during my explanation. I had the impression that the two of them were sponges feeling the first spring rains after the drought. On reflection, I decided that they were probably so committed to adapting that they wanted to absorb everything that they could. If that was the case then I was happy. That sort of commitment to their new lives meant that my emotional energy and financial resources weren't being wasted. Just then the reception lady called me over and we started dishing out keys to rooms and instructions about how to get there. It was fortunate that it was a quiet time of the year, so we had a very low occupancy and there was plenty of space to house everyone in luxury. Of course, it the resort had been full, then we could have put everyone up in what we called the "Backpackers Lodge". That was essentially a barracks in design; a long room with double-bunks spaced evenly against both sides. Daise followed me happily enough when I set off for our room, but I noticed Alina hanging back a little. She wasn't looking too happy. I rolled my eyes at Daise and pointed in Alina's direction with my chin. Daise frowned at me for a second, then glanced at Alina then back at me. I saw her expression change as she figured it out. "Alina," she said, "Rupert is worried about you. Are you OK?" Alina frowned at Daise, then looked at the expression on my face. We had stopped at this point, allowing the porter to continue on with our luggage. When Alina could see that Daise was correct, and that all she could see on my face was concern for her and puzzlement over the reason, she sighed deeply. "OK," Alina said softly, "I feel like a puppy that cringes all the time, expecting to be kicked. I was worried about where I was going to stay. I didn't know if you wanted me with you." Her voice had gotten very soft and trembly, and her whole posture seemed to lose rigidity. She drooped, and looked exactly like the puppy she had mentioned. I couldn't help myself, I laughed. Daise's head swung sharply, and Alina's face jerked upwards and I found myself speared by two very indignant stares. I raised both hands and started moving them placatingly. "Sorry ladies," I quickly started to explain, "it's just that Alina looked just like the puppy she said she felt like." The intensity of the stares didn't decrease, they increased in power by at least a mega-watt, and I found myself still on the spot. "Alina," I turned to her and said in my most serious voice, "I'm sorry, for laughing but more importantly, for not making this clear to you before." I reached out and took both of Alina's hands in mine, and waited for her to look me fully in the eyes. When her eyes met mine, I told her, "As far as I am concerned, you and Daise are sister-wives to me. There is no difference in status or anything else of the sort in my eyes. I had assumed that you knew that, my mistake. I was also holding back because I am concerned that you will think I am the same as one of those men." Daise had tears in her eyes at this point, and Alina had moisture streaming down her face, her tears and mucus from her nose joining together to drip from her chin. Her eyes were wide, and her head moved slowly from side to side, matching the soft sound of her repeating 'No' over and over again. "Rupert," Alina managed to get out at last, I thought I had made it quite clear that I trusted and respected you, and was starting to love you." She stopped talking, glanced at Daise for a second while wiping off her face with the sleeve of her shirt, then continued, "Obviously, just like most men, you prefer to be shown, not told." With that, Alina flung her arms around my neck and pulled my face down to meet hers for a kiss. When I surfaced from the tumult of emotions, and pulled gently back from Alina, it was to hear the amused voice of the porter announcing, "Your room is ready sir, is there anything else you need from me?" I smiled at him and shook my head, the tucked Alina into an embrace under one arm, Daise under the other, and we finally got to our room. Chapter 44 Home - My Library - Top [Bookmark Next Chapter] - More Info

Chapter 42: The Farm

As we turned off the tarred road, onto the deeply rutted dirt two-track road that led through the bush to the entrance gate to the farm, Daise asked "Are you sure we're going to be OK out here?" I glanced across at her and saw that she was really nervous. I figured that she was really coming down hard from the huge adrenaline surges she had experienced over the last few days. Never mind the huge culture-shock of leaving everything she had known and becoming a "Stranger in a Strange Land". I smiled to myself, and thought that she was doing a pretty good job of "grokking" what was going on. "I think so. We'll have a layered defence here. The first part of that is that it's unlikely that any of those arseholes will know about this place, but I also intend to gather a bunch of old friends together, and that should go a long way towards keeping us safe." "I find that strange. You said right at the beginning that you were lonely, but you have so many friends?" I was please that Daise was distracted into a different topic. As she frowned, her body showed that when she wasn't concentrating on her worries, she lost some of her tension. "I have been struggling a bit with depression I think. Nothing serious, but maybe just that 'mid-life' thing that so many men seem to go through, looking back and wondering if you've really made a difference, and wondering what sort of legacy will be left behind when you're gone." "Ok, that makes a kind of sense I suppose," Daise replied, but I could hear that she didn't really understand, and it underscored for me the fact that she was actually really young. I had been easy for me to admire her beauty and youth and forget that age was a major factor in determining understanding of other people. As I thought about it though, I worked out that Alina, while about the same age as Daise, was a lot more mature is some ways because of the experiences that she had been through. "I haven't had much female companionship though," I pointed out. Daise giggled, which drew my eyes to the delightful things is did to her chest. She blushed when she saw where my eyes had strayed and looked over her shoulder into the back of the Land Rover. "You seem to have fixed that problem at least." Daise's arch tone and raised eyebrows made it my turn to go slightly pink, and I welcomed the distraction of having to stop for the main gate of the farm. We had spent some time and effort to create a feeling of ruggedness and rustic charm in all aspects of the place, and the gate was the first indication that visitors got of this. The gate itself was made of raw timber from indigineous trees, and had a gate-house attached to it that was covered in thatch. The person on gate-duty was dressed in a smart looking khaki uniform that had the name of the farm on embroidered sleeves pulled onto his epaulettes. He carried only a knobkerrie, as we didn't want to create the impression of an armed camp. He had obviously heard the sound of the vehicle as he was waiting for us with a clip-board and the sign-in form, but as he realised who it was, he stepped back with a smile and a wave to me and opened the gate. I waved back at him as I drove through and turned my head to speak over my shoulder. "Bird, we need to think about some more substantial security now." "Yes, my thought exactly," Bird replied. "I think an OP on the rise over there to give overwatch capability and maybe a sand-bag wall on the inside of the hut to provide cover from fire?" "I'll leave it to you," I told him. I knew that it was as good as done. "What about perimeter security?" "We'll set up some patrols, but I think the wild-life will provide a pretty good deterrent for the outer perimeter. I'd like to concentrate on the inner perimeter for actual defences." "Sounds good," I replied, satisfied for the moment. "Daise, Alina, watch this," I warned. We followed the road as it wound through the bush and finally topped out on a small rise. I stopped the Land Rover, knowing what an impression the first sight of the place normally had on visitors.

Change of Site

I have decided to move my blog/story to http://mailorderbride.penhouse.co.za/ I am slowly reposting the story there and I soon as I have caught up, the new chapters will be available. Thanks for reading.. Update: Making the move was a mistake. The site proved to be unstable. Shifting back here, at least until something better comes along!

Chapter 41: Change of Direction

I woke with someone shaking my shoulder. It took me a few seconds to orientate myself. I looked out of the window of the Landrover and recognized Westville hospital.

I sat up and thanked Rifleman Mkize for driving us, then clambered out the passenger door. All the rest of the bunch climbed out after me and Daise and Alina stuck close to me as we walked. I got the sense that the relationship between the two of them had changed significantly over the past few days.

Alina had been the stronger; the more worldly of the two, and Daise had given off a sense of innocence and naiveté. That had changed subtly with Daise definitely taking the lead and Alina following her. I suddenly occurred to me that Daise had killed two men in the last week and been exposed to combat for the first time, and I hadn't really given all that much thought to how it had affected her. From what I could see, she was just fine, but I knew how deceptive that could be. I resolved to ensure she got professionally 'debriefed' as soon as possible. The last thing I needed was for her to join the ranks of the combat-related PTSD sufferers, and I knew, from bitter experience, that the likelihood of dealing effectively with the stress was directly proportional to how soon after it happened she got counseled or debriefed.

The bunch of us entered the lobby of the hospital and I got everyone to sit in the couches provided for waiting. Daise wouldn't leave me alone, of course, while I went to find out where Roy and Sharon were.

We found Gill on the third floor, sitting quietly on a couch worn shiny by the many worried people who had been there before her.

She looked pale and drawn and her worry and fatigue were written large across her face.

"Hello Gill," I greeted her quietly, "how're they doing?"

Gill started, caught by surprise. She looked up at me and I was wracked with guilt at the sight of the pain in her eyes. "Hi Roy, the doctors say they'll heal well physically. There is some question how well Sharon will handle the mental aspects."

"I'm not surprised to hear that Gill. Relieved to hear about the physical. I know some other girls who've gone through some similar stuff with the same gang, maybe they can help by talking it through with Sharon later on?"

"Whatever helps," Gill shrugged in reply. "At this point I'm still trying to get my head around it all."

"Just let me know if there is anything I can do. Anytime. OK?"

Gill just nodded and dropped gaze to her lap again. I turned to look at the policeman guarding the door to the ward. "Ok if we go in to see them?"

He looked at me for a second, then, obviously recognising who I was, stood aside and gestured me to enter.

---

Half an hour later we were back on the road, headed for Johnny's place. I was simmering quietly, but my tension must have been as readily apparent to Daise as hers was to me. Hearing the story from Roy had not been easy, especially when the physical evidence was so clear.

When we got to Johnny's place, he showed us where he had piled a stack of blankets and pillows and we spread out over the lounge and the spare bedroom. I ended up being very warmly snuggled between Daise and Alina, and before I knew it, the stresses of the day caught up with me and I was fast asleep.

---

In the morning, the consensus was that there was no way we could feed the hordes in Johnny's tiny kitchen, so we all headed out to the Wimpy nearby. We got there just as they opened so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Everyone place their breakfast orders, and once the immediate hunger pangs were satisfied, we started talking through our options. There were lots of declarations of intent, but no concrete ideas. I kept quiet and just listened. Eventually, Johnny turned to me and asked, "So what's going through that brain of yours? I can see the wheels turning and smell the rubber burning..."

I smiled at his joke, and didn't say anything, but the whole table got very quiet as everyone turned to me, waiting to see what I had come up with.

"Ok, I'm not too clear on the details yet, but I have a vague idea. Essentially there are two basic principles. Firstly, we have been waiting for them to come to us, and we all know that the best form of defense is attack. We saw what happened when we took them on directly yesterday, we cleaned their clocks. The second is that we've been playing to their strengths. I think we need to take advantage of the fact that this is our home ground, and use that to our advantage."

"Don't get all philosophical on us now, just point us in the right direction and pull the trigger," Bird said between bites of his third helping of breakfast.

"Relax Bird," I smiled, "the one part of our advantage is that we have time. That's sort of the point I was trying to make. We have no need to rush, they are the ones trying to set up an operation to be ready in time for the World Cup. Our only timetable is the one we make for ourselves. I think what we need to do is take some time out to rest and recover, plan properly and train. Once we are ready, then we can execute our plan."

"So what do you want to do Rupert?" Johnny asked.

"As I said yesterday, I want to move everyone out to the farm. There's plenty of space for us all to stay, and as you know, some nice training facilities."

"What farm is this?" asked Daise, puzzled.

I smiled at her. "It's our other business. Johnny, Bird, Sgt. Maj. Dhlamini and I are joint owners of a farm out towards Cato Ridge. We have an adventure center out there. A lot of corporates use us for team building events, and we get quite a few school groups and Scout Troops going through our various activities. We normally run it on demand, when someone requests a particular package. Bird handles most of the day-to-day stuff, the rest of us get involved as we are needed."

"What sort of 'adventure' stuff is this?" Alina asked.

"All kinds of stuff. We have a pretty good paintball setup, with urban and bush arenas, kayaking, abseiling, rock-climbing, an obstacle course, a quad-bike course and a very tough 4x4 track. We also keep some game there, not much just a small herd of Zebra, some Giraffe and quite a few Springbok and a couple of Eland. We recently got some Ostriches and a pair of Warthogs moved in on their own. We suspect that they escaped from the Ithala Game Reserve, which borders our property on the eastern side. Their fence through the river is always giving trouble, so some game slips through."

"That sounds wonderful," Daise said. I was astounded by the look of adoration and wonder on her face, and it made me feel all squishy inside. "But aren't the animals dangerous?"

"One of the things we do is a mini-survival course, where we teach people about the bush, how to treat it with respect so that they can stay live in harmony with it. Nothing in the bush is really dangerous if you are well prepared and act correctly."

"Except for Hippo," Bird muttered darkly.

I laughed. It was an old joke, but one that always managed to tickle me. Daise looked to me for an explanation. I rolled my eyes at Bird and explained.

"Forget everything you've heard about how dangerous Lions and Elephants and things like that are. Other than disturbing a Mamba or a Puff-Adder, the most dangerous animals in the bush are the Hippos and the 'Flat Dogs'. They kill more humans in Africa than any other animal."

"Flat Dogs? What are those?" Daise asked again.

"Crocodiles. Bird hates hippos cause he was chased by one once. Bit his Klepper boat in half. Him and his partner were very lucky to get out alive."

"So, do you hunt these animals?" This time from Alina. I could see Lisa waiting for the answer to this question, and guessed that she had the typical kid's misconception engendered by their 'Disneyfication'.

Johnny, Bird and I shared a look. Both of them shrugged at me which I interpreted to mean I could tell them or not.

"The short answer is no, we don't hunt the animals. We realised a long time ago, that the only animal that is dangerous and wily enough to hunt, is another human being armed the same way you are. What do you think Daise, after today, do you think you would get as much of a rush from shooting a buck?"

Daise looked startled and I could see she didn't know what to say.

"Don't answer that. We're not against hunting, especially for food, but it's just not something that we do. If other people want to hunt, not on our land, that's not a problem to us."

Daise's expression turned thoughtful, and I could see she was starting to process the events she had been part of in a slightly different way.

"Make no mistake, it is not something that I would wish on anyone else, but combat has to be the greatest rush you can experience, even though we've all had to wash our underpants out at some stage..."

I could see that Bettina was uncomfortable with the conversation taking place in front of her daughter, so I checked to see if everyone had finished eating. Everyone, except Bird, had, so I got up and paid for the meal at the cashier's station and we all trooped out to the vehicles. I ignored Bird's mutters about having to leave food uneaten.

We drove back to Johnny's place, where we loaded up the little we had managed to salvage of our possessions and hit the road. We detoured via the Pavilion Mall where it only took two hours to outfit everyone with the basics, before heading out to the farm.