Zara's Safari

Chapter 18

The owl might have actually grown by the time we’d finished kissing. I’m sure it was at least a cm taller.  In fact, when we finally managed to extract our mouths from each other, I’m quite sure that we too had aged and that a whole millennium had past and that the fashions of the outside world were now wildly different. It was one of those kisses that seemed to tell a story, only the two of you can read. It starts slowly, and then the pace picks up as the story builds to a climax, it ebbs and flows and wanes as the characters journeys take shape and the story unfolds. In parts it is moving and beautiful but in others it is the kind of kiss that makes you want to rip off your clothes- and his- get naked, get on top of him, under him, around him and just have all of him. It’s the kind of kiss that when it’s over, it changes everything. We had been taken on a journey together, a private journey that only we'd been on. It brings you closer, but makes you want more.

We walk off into the night together, Riaan cradling the now middle aged owl as if it is a newborn baby. I marvel at him, and the bundle of wonderful contradictions he is. He’s the camel man who can wrestle an anaconda and tie a giraffes neck in a knot and also the man that pulls the thorns out, keeps me warm and feeds the owl with a dripper. I chuckle to myself as it dawns on me that he is the dream guy. The guy that comes home at the end of the day, throws his big tool belt on the ground, washes the grease off his hands, embroideries his granny a thoughtful gift, plaits his daughters hair, cooks a healthy meal and then fucks your brains out later, before cuddling you in bed and telling you that you’re the most beautiful alive.

“What are you thinking about?,” His voice snaps me back to reality and when it does, I realized that I'm smiling like an idiot I’m so amused by my thoughts.

“You.” I say faintly, not able to hide the curling lilting tone that the smile is giving to my voice.

“Good things I hope,” His tone is light and fluffy, but there’s also something anxious and expectant about it.

“Only good things,” And without thinking about it, I wrap my arm through his and we walk together like that in perfect unison.

The light from his torch is only able to illuminate few feet in front of us and I clutch onto him tightly. The wind picks up and creates icicles in my blood stream.

“Nearly there,’ He says wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer for warmth.

We walk a few more minutes before coming to a large tree at the edge of what seems to be a wooded area.

“Here we go little one, “ he takes the owl out of the box and places it gently on a branch of the tree. The little  thing immediately scuttles up the branch as if it knows this place and is happy to be back.

“It’s mother will be able to find it here, their nest is in this tree.’

It’s quite a thing to see something coming home like that, the sense of happiness I felt, even though I hadn’t even rescued the bird, was overwhelming. I looked at Riaan and I could see it on his face too. But something else was there as well, he looked at the owl so protectively and with such a pride. Almost like you might look at your child. He was the kind of man who would make a great father one day.

The moon was only a silver sliver in the sky, but it illuminated Riaans upturned face just enough that I could almost see him in the darkness. He really was one of the best looking men I’d ever seen, especially when he was like this. A hoot broke my thought train.

“Come, that’s the mother, lets give them space.”

We backed away as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the happy reunion. And then, as if this was something we did all the time, we looped our arms together like high school sweethearts might. We walked like that in total silence, just enjoying the closeness between us. The night around us hummed and buzzed with the sounds of insects, distant animals and the wind rusting through the trees and grasses. The sounds of our rhythmic walking snapping twigs and moving the gravel around underfoot somehow combined with the other sounds, and soon it seemed like we were creating our own kind of music.

It felt magical- the feeling of being so connected to someone else and to your surroundings. I felt so close to Riaan, and to this place, Africa. The magic that my mother had always spoken of was evident to me now. The way the place gets under your skin and into your heartbeat.

The music came to an end when the walk ended and we found ourselves back in the real world. A world where there were two rooms with two different beds. Suddenly we were in that awkward moment of not knowing where to go.

That uncomfortable moment when a relationship is just becoming one. Where you hang in a kind of strange limbo where everything you do or say is so guarded, for fear of showing all your cards at once and taking it too far too soon. It’s deliciously awkward and nail bitingly anxious. Highly intense, you hang on the other person’s words waiting for the moment that they confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that they feel the exact same way about you as you… that they are also falling in love. That they also want to come back to your room and spend the night with you.

We stop outside his room and both bask in the awkward glory of the moment.

“Do you want some coffee?” He asks as he fiddles with his keys.

“Is it going to be a traditional African experience?”

We laugh at the shared joke. The fact that we even have a shared joke, one of those in- jokes that no one but us can understand, warms me and causes a strange little sound to exit my mouth. A coy giggle.

“Sure.”

While he makes the coffee, I'm able to have a proper look at his room. It has that quintessential bachelor look to it, but not in that dirty-jock-strap-on-the-floor-next-to-the-porno-and-the-tissue-box kind of way. It’s bare and essential. A few personal touches; some books next to his bed, a few magazines, a few bottles of vitamins gives the impression that someone actually lives there.

“I only bring out the real milk for special guest,” He says handing me the coffee.

He pushes a newspaper off his couch and we both sit sipping our coffee in silence.

Our heads bob up and down, looking at each other like those novelty head shaking dogs and cats that people put on their dashboards. It felt like we had been transported back in time, I was Jane and he was Darcy. No touching. Just looking. No staring.  Just discreet glances followed by a turn about the room. There seemed to be a giant question mark hanging above our heads, an expectation- it was physically palpable.

“Okay.” He broke the silence, I could have hugged him, “Since I’m the animal guy, should I be the one to address the issue of the giant elephant in the room with us?”

 “Sure,” I said, “That’s definitely more part of your job description.”

“I don’t know how you usually do this, but I’m not going to have sex with you tonight, even though I want to.”

I almost spat my coffee out at the mere suggestion. "Uh-hu." Was all I was able to manage in response. 

“I’m kind of old fashioned that way. I’d rather we took this slowly.”

 “I’m prepared to do that,” I said blushing like a tomato. I felt like I had just agreed to meet the boy behind the hall for a quick kiss on the cheek at break. I’d never been spoken to like this before. And it made everything feel so new, as if I was doing it for the first time.

He reached over and took my hand.

 “Well in that case,” I said, “Since we’re taking things slowly, I’ll finish my coffee and go back to my room?”

Riaan laughed, “Will you manage on your own. No snakes? Be able to use the heater? Warm up the water?”

“I think I can sort myself out,”

When I walked back to my room that night, I felt very adult for perhaps the first time in my entire adult life. That night I climbed into bed and fell asleep - and for the first time since I could remember, my alone thoughts didn’t make me feel lonely.