Flirting with Fifty

He helped her into the jeep. She took a seat behind him, but where she could still see him easily.

“Sometimes we must chase the animals off the runway. Once there was a rhino, and he did not want to move.”

“What happened?”

“The plane had to circle until the rhino decided to move.”

As they drove away from the airstrip, Baraka asked questions. His English was superb, but with just enough of an accent that she had to lean in and listen closely to make sure she understood what he was asking her. It was noisy in the open jeep, and after a while her answers became shorter and shorter.

Yes, she just flew in from Arusha.

No, she didn’t live there, she was working with one of the universities there.

Yes, she was a teacher.

No, she’d never been to the Selous Game Reserve before.

No, she’d never been on a safari before.

They drove and drove, and she wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but certainly not this, not an hour of traveling deeply rutted roads into the bush while her driver pointed out animals. Impala. A lone male giraffe. A warthog scrambling through a scrubby plant. They stopped at one point and her driver lifted his binoculars, scanning the horizon. “There was a cheetah earlier,” he said.

Paige tried to appear excited, but on the inside, she felt bereft. It struck her that this was a mistake, traveling to southern Tanzania just to be on her own. She liked wildlife as much as the next person, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wasn’t one of those people who had ever pored over brochures showing beautiful people dining on a deck overlooking a hippo pool, their meal lit by heavy candelabra. She’d never wanted to sleep in a tent and listen to lions roar outside. She’d come here because she couldn’t bear that Jack and Camille would be together all weekend. It didn’t matter that they were both attending a conference. They were still together. Working together. Speaking together. Taking meals together.

Hopefully not sleeping together.

But who knew?

The fact that Jack hadn’t told her about Camille coming, the fact that he’d planned on Paige being away with the students on their excursion, spoke volumes. He hadn’t wanted her to know. He’d intentionally kept Camille’s visit a secret. The subterfuge sickened her, reminding her of Ted and how he drank before he came home, and would stay out late, sometimes even checking into a hotel because he’d already had too much to drink and couldn’t come home. He’d spent years hiding himself from her. Years acting like one thing when he was behaving differently away from her.

Eyes gritty, a lump in her throat, Paige leaned forward and asked where the camp was. The driver answered that they were almost there.

Paige asked if he’d taken the scenic route.

Baraka laughed. “No, this was the shortcut. But you are in luck, we should hit the camp with just enough time for you to freshen up and go out on the night drive.”

Stunned into silence, Paige eyed the back of his head. There was going to be a night drive?

“What about dinner?” she asked, her stomach growling. She hadn’t eaten much last night, and then she’d skipped breakfast. She was starving now. The last thing she wanted to do was climb back into a four-wheel-drive vehicle and hurtle over dried potholes.

“Dinner is after night drive. Usually at half eight, sometimes nine. It depends on the animals, and if we’re far from camp.”

She’d decided to come because she’d wanted some quiet, and nature. Her idea of quiet and nature had been resting, lying in a hammock, or maybe in a lounge chair by the pool, reading. Wasn’t there a pool?

“What if I don’t want to go on the night drive?” she asked tentatively.

Baraka shot her a look as if she’d lost her mind. “But you’ve come on safari. You’ve come to see the animals. We have the Big Five, we have it all.” They rounded a bend and he stretched his arm out, pointing to a large body of water, a shimmer of silver against the lavender and rose sky. “The Rufiji River,” he said with pride. “Our river camp isn’t far now. We don’t have many guests. I think there are just two other couples, which will make it a very nice stay for you.”

No wonder she had gotten such a good rate.

The River Camp director came out to the jeep to meet Paige. Shani was tall, slim, and impossibly beautiful. She thanked Paige for choosing River Camp, and thanked Jabari Mkapa for sending her. “Mr. Mkapa’s brother was a ranger here,” Shani said. “He was very popular. We miss him.”

“Where is he now?” Paige asked, feeling grimy next to Shani.

“He is at another camp. He is a manager now. He is a rival now.” But Shani smiled as she said it. She gestured and Paige’s bags were whisked away. Shani presented her with a hot, lavender-scented hand towel. Paige signed paperwork, was given a tall aluminum water bottle that was icy cold and already sweating, and was led back outside to a larger jeep, this one with three rows of staggered seats, rather like theatre seating.

Shani introduced Paige to her guide, Kafil, who was also the driver for the night safari. Kafil was very polite and happy she was joining him and the other couples for the evening. The couples hadn’t appeared yet, and she asked if it was possible to get a small snack to take with her. Kafil left and returned almost immediately with two scones as well as cheese and an apple. “I am sorry this isn’t more,” he said, handing the food to her. “But chef assures me there is a very good dinner tonight and he doesn’t want to spoil your appetite.”

Paige tried not to be offended, but she was bone weary, starving, and in desperate need of a shower and sleep. Instead, she waited next to the jeep to be introduced to her traveling companions, who were just now making their appearance. The first couple was an older man with a much younger woman. They were European. He was heavyset and balding, while she was blond, tan, curvy, and fit. The second couple was from England, and they were both in their late twenties. They’d gotten married a week ago and were one week into a three-week honeymoon.

Paige kept her introduction brief. She was a professor in California, in Tazania for work.

They welcomed her and since they were couples, she let them choose their seats. The Germans took the high back seat. The British couple took the middle row. She sat in the row right behind Kafil.

They drove for hours looking for wild dogs Kafil had seen earlier, only slowing when they approached a herd of elephants. One of the elephants stood off to the side, near bones on the ground. The elephant’s trunk lifted, touched the bones, almost a caress.

“She is paying her respects,” Kafil said. “We don’t know if the elephant that died was part of this herd, or another, but as elephants pass these bones, there is always interest, and you see the matriarchs stop and stand there, exploring the bones with their trunk.”

Paige felt a wave of intense emotion, almost grief, at the idea of an elephant possibly mourning the death of another elephant. She held her breath, worn out, fighting tears.

They stopped for cocktails along the edge of the river. Kafil told everyone to stay close to the jeep, just in case there was a hippo close. Paige chose to sip her wine in the jeep, wanting to play it safe. Kafil passed her some crackers and salted nuts. She thanked him and finished her wine. The wine gave her a pleasant buzz. She liked feeling relaxed, almost numb. Better to be numb than overwhelmed with emotions.

Back at camp, a long table had been set on the deck overlooking the river. Torches were burning, illuminating the space. The tablecloth was white. There were candles flickering down the middle of the table. She heard the roar of lions in the distance.

“I wonder if they’re going to walk through camp tonight,” she heard the European man say to the young British man. “That was something, eh?”

Paige suppressed a shudder. She couldn’t imagine a pride of lions walking through the camp, but then, she didn’t want to see a hippo, either, and she’d heard that there was a hippo who did just that. Not every night, or even every week, but he liked to poke around, look for something to eat.

Paige envied the couples who got to walk to their cottages as a pair. Baraka kindly offered to accompany her, and then return in ten minutes so she’d have time to freshen up.

She thanked him profusely.

It was one thing to see big cats, hippos, and elephants at the zoo, and another roaming outside her door.

Dinner was wonderful—a starter, a salad, a main course with many sides. Everyone ate a great deal, and drank even more, but the moment dessert was served, Paige excused herself. She ached everywhere, her head throbbed, she was desperate for a proper shower, her pajamas, and sleep.

Once again Baraka walked her to her cottage, his flashlight on, making the path visible. Her cottage seemed quite far from everyone else. He told her there would be a six a.m. wake-up call, then breakfast. The morning drive would begin at seven sharp. “Animals are most active early in the morning,” he said.

She smiled weakly. The morning Yellowstone drive with Jack came to mind. Her smile faded. She did not want to think of him. She did not want to remember anything with him.

Baraka waited while she let herself into her cottage. She said goodnight and then secured her door. After a fast shower, Paige brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas. She turned off the overhead light and was just about to slip between the mosquito nets when she heard a knock on her door.