Short Story – Helicopter Drills

Short Story – Helicopter Drills

“Today, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this woman proved, to me at least, who she really is. At about 3:30pm I was walking back to my Hut after spending from 6am in the bush. An un-marked, or very badly marked helicopter appears, flying low over the bush, it starts circling the property. Man, it was so low I could have hit it with a handgun, if I had one.
I immediately sms Lize, my so-called PA, I have very little airtime. I ask her to paste this information on the Save Our Rhino page. I know that will get a lot of attention and very quickly. It will also alert any Rhino owners in the Waterberg as I know it will jump in seconds to all the other pages. Without a weapon this is the best plan I can think of in such a hurry. Surely the cavalry will come? I race back on foot, un-armed to where I know my Rhino are, a few kilometers away. I have no plan, I will have to see what is what when I get there. I am cursing and imagining all sorts of horrid things. What the hell am I to do if they fire at me from the chopper? What happens if they have armed, with AKs, guys on the ground. I run anyhow. I am in the bush where the Rhino were last seen when I get an sms from Lize. The chopper is an unannounced drill organized by Selomie. Oh, Fuck it! I am too angry to explain it in mere words, the anger and hatred roll over me. Even writing this now the anger is back and intense. The anger then was fuelled by delayed reaction of fear, fear of losing the Rhino, fear of getting wounded badly or killed myself…. Fear and anger, not a happy combination. I sit panting on a rock, I send an sms to Lize stating how STUPID this was.

Lize sms’s me back, she obviously told Salomie about my last sms, that Selomie has posted on facebook that the first helicopter drill were successfully done in the Waterberg with the comment, “Wayne thinks this is silly.” Silly, silly!? It goes way beyond silly, it is bloody criminal. I wonder how many other people nearly had a heart attack over this showboating. One does not do bloody drills in an operational area, full stop. I then calm down and start thinking. Who owns that helicopter? One night after quite a few whisky’s Neil mentioned that Selomie is so good she even got Groenewalt to let them use his helicopter in the “Phila” film. Is this true? Was this Groenewalt machine again?  All sorts of things are going on in my mind. I swop a few more sms’s with Lize, but as Selomie will be her boss soon and she will be stuck here on the farm she has to remain loyal to Selomie, I understand this. I have walked back to my Hut, I need coffee, the white Landcruiser comes barreling down the road.
Selomie jumps out the cab, she is furious. She directs a tirade at me. How dare I put up a post on facebook, SHE will be the one that posts anything. How dare I post anything about Palala? I get even quieter when I am this angry and tell her very softly that I put a post about the Waterberg area, not Palala. She yells that I should have called her, SHE has the radios and the guns. I think, “I know that, don’t rub it in.” She then goes off how SHE knows all the people in the Waterberg, the APU’s, the police, she is even on first name basis with the head of anti-poaching in the Hawks. I tell her I also know people, hence the warning on facebook. This just makes her more angry. She yells at me asking why I did not call her, so I explain since I really do not like the way she speaks to me I try talk to her as little as possible. That did not go down well either. She goes on how everyone else in the area called her and how many missed calls she received, I am the only one that did not re-act she states. I point out that this is incorrect; I am the only one that did not re-act the way SHE would have liked me to.”
From The Chronicles of the Mexican Horse Thief