Never walk alone- Walk on - 20. Chapter 20

The muted 'click' of the bedroom door opening woke Ryan and he peered at the bedside alarm clock. 5.58am. He heard small feet padding across the laminated floor, as well as the 'tick, tick, tick' of paw nails, before the sounds were dead-ened as they reached the carpet on which the bed stood. Although he could see a glimmer of dawn through the drawn curtains, the room was still quite dark, but he was able to make out the little face of his youngest son as he stopped at side of the bed followed by Rascal's pointed snout as he stood on his hind legs with his front paws against the bed. A small hand reached out and patted his face.

"Dad, dad!", the Scottish accented voice whispered. Ryan smiled. At the same time he felt Andrew stir beside him.

"I'm awake Jay, what are you doing up?"

"Can I sleep with you please?"

"Yes , of course you can", Andrew answered him and Ryan watched with amusement as Jamie's sad face blossomed when he heard his daddy's voice. He did a double take and then scampered around the bed as Andrew rolled over. Jamie clambered up onto the bed and threw himself at Andrew. Rascal was not far behind.

"Daddy, you came back", the joy in his voice was unmistakable. "I thought you were going to leave us like mommy did", he said, throwing himself on top of his daddy, with his arms around Andrew's neck and cuddling close to him.

"Hey there, little man. Of course I'm back. I told you I was coming home", Andrew replied, his voice thick with emotion. "I arrived home very late last night and you were sleeping already. So I didn't want to wake you".

"Daddy, I'm so happy that you are back. I was so scared we weren't going to see you again, like mommy", the little boy said softly.
Andrew rolled gently so that Jamie was laying on the mattress next to him, and stoked his hand over his son's head, gazing into his eyes. He felt Ryan move against his back and glanced around as Ryan put his chin on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I went away Jay. I had to. It was business. But I promise the next time I go away, and I will have to, I will leave in the morning and be back in the afternoon. Maybe when you and Fiona are a bit older and you've been here a bit longer, we can change it back. But for now, I promise, I will be home every night. And dad Ryan will be too".

Andrew saw Jamie's eyes flick upwards, looking at Ryan and Andrew felt Ryan nodding in agreement. The smile that bloomed on his son's face took Andrew's breath away, while Ryan was amazed at the transformation in the little boy. Gone was the sad, insecure boy Ryan had seen the previous day. Now, his husband's mini-me face shone with unbridled joy and happiness. All was right in his world again.

Seconds later, he squirmed out of his daddy's arms, slid off the bed and ran out the door, yelling at the top of his voice, Rascal running after him.

"Fi, Fiona, daddy's back! Daddy's back!", with Rascals excited barking adding to the mayhem. He was back seconds later with Fiona, followed shortly after by Cameron and Elizabeth, and in very short order, the big bed was full, the four children, and one puppy, comfortably ensconced between their dads. The alarm clock going off at 6.30 brought the family cuddle time to an end, as Cameron and Elizabeth had to get dressed for school. Ryan was going to take them to school, but Jamie and Fiona would stay with Andrew. There would be no school for them that Friday. Instead, they would go into the office with their dads and spend the morning being spoilt by the staff at The Cameron.

They were all downstairs, dressed and ready for the day, when Yvonne arrived, much to her surprise. The twins were already eating their breakfast which she normally made as soon as she came in.

"Mr Andrew, good morning. You're back", she said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Morning Yvonne. Yes, arrived back just before midnight. Given the situation here, I thought it best to get the first available flight home", he explained.

"Well, I'm glad. We had two very unhappy little ones here yesterday. I felt so sorry for them. And for MrRyan. He was so worried about them. They seem to be much happier today"

"Yeah, that's why I decided to come home. I'm going to have to make some changes to my trips until they are more settled. They won't be going to school today. We'll take them to the office with us. Luckily, it's Friday. So it's only a half day for us anyway".

"Good, I'm glad. I see Cam and Elizabeth have got breakfast. What about the rest of you?"

"We'll have breakfast when Ryan gets back from dropping Cameron and Elizabeth. Just some fresh fruit and yogurt, and cereal for Jamie and Fiona. We'll just have toast and tea or coffee, thank you"

"I'll start getting that ready for you. Will you eat here at the breakfast bar?" He glanced out of the big front windows.

"It's such a lovely morning, I think the patio will nice. I'll get the table set up"

Ryan left a few minutes later to take the twins and they sat down to a simple breakfast when he got back. Then they made the quick drive to the office, Ryan dropped Andrew at the front door and then went to park his SUV in the garage. He took Jamie and Fiona with him because they wanted to walk up the turret staircase. Helen looked up in surprise when Andrew walked in.

"Andrew! Good morning. I wasn't expecting to see you today", she said when she saw him.

"Morning Helen. We had some drama yesterday with Jamie and Fiona". He explained what had transpired, getting sympathetic clucking noises from the older woman.

"Oh, those poor little mites. So young and been through so much. I'm so pleased that they have you and Ryan. I'm sure that eventually they will be fine. It will just take some time and a lot of love". She looked round as excited chatter was heard coming down the passageway. "They seem to be on top of the world now".

"Oh, they are. Jamie woke the whole house up this morning when he found out I was home. But I really think, at some stage, we're going to need to get them some professional help. What happened to Beth and Nicky has affected them for deeper than we had thought", he told her and then smiled as Jamie and Fiona came through the doorway. Jamie ran to him and hugged his leg.

"Daddy, there you are. Dad let us walk up the stone stairs. It's very nice", he said. Fiona came and held her arms up to him. Andrew hoisted her up with a grunt, which made her giggle.

"You're getting so big", he told her. "Soon I'm not going to be able to pick you up". She just clasped her arms around his neck and lay her head on his shoulder, relaxed and happy.

For the rest of the morning, they stuck to Andrew like glue. The only time he didn't have two shadows was when he went to the cloakroom. He got them settled at the round table in the corner of his office that he used for small meetings, but if he so much as moved to the door, they were both there with him. He had a bit of relief when Ryan took them to the pool patio for a milkshake and he used the opportunity to place a call Dr. Morgan, the psychiatrist who had helped Ryan after his assault.

After explaining the situation, Andrew enquired whether he knew of a child psychologist, specialising in grief coun-selling for children, who he would recommend. It transpired that one of his partners was just the person to help, but she was unfortunately in consultation, so Dr Morgan advised Andrew that he would pass on his details to her and she would give him a call. Feeling very hopeful about their situation, Andrew joined Ryan, Jamie and Fiona on the patio and less than twenty minutes later his mobile rang. He stood up and walked to the railing overlooking the pool and answered the call.

"Andrew Devlin-Major, good morning"

" Mr Devlin-Major, good morning. This is Dr Rebecca Lownie. Lance Morgan requested I give you a call. You need some help I believe?

"Dr Lownie, good morning. Thank you for the prompt call. And please call me Andrew"

"Thank you Andrew, and I'm Rebecca. Now what can I do for you? Just a brief outline. I can get more detail when I see you", and Andrew gave her a brief account of events over the previous few months while she listened without inter-ruption until he was done.

"Okay, I get the picture. I would like to schedule an appointment for Jamie and Fiona for Monday afternoon at 2pm. I would like both you and your husband to be present as well. I will assess Jamie and Fiona, give you my opinion and we can take it from there. My initial thoughts are that they are definitely traumatised by what has happened. Their entire little lives have been upended so it comes as no surprise that they are feeling afraid and insecure. But I will be able to give you a better idea of just how deep the trauma goes once I have seen them on Monday".

Andrew and Ryan lavished love and attention on all four children over the weekend and on the Monday, for the following six months, a new routine was established for the family. Every Monday and Thursday, Andrew and Ryan would take Jamie and Fiona to their counselling session with Dr Rebecca, as the little ones called her. Over that period, Cameron and Elizabeth joined them once a month, Rebecca concluding that although far more well adjusted than their younger siblings, they too were experiencing some small measure of stress from the tragic events in Scotland.

The second change was that Jamie and Fiona began their swimming lessons on the Friday of that week as well, with Andrew or Ryan taking them in the afternoon straight after school.

And finally, Andrew's new upcountry schedule kicked in. He would leave very early morning every Wednesday , fly to either Johannesburg, Durban or Port Elizabeth for the day, and be back home by 6pm at the latest, providing he had no flight delays, which did occur, but fortunately, very rarely.

'MY Lady Janice' was progressing well, and it was planned to launch her early in October, do a couple of shakedown cruises during October, weather permitting, and have her ready for the summer season starting in November. Several people had picked up that 'MY Lady Janice' was on the Devlin-Major Charters website and that 'MY Amira' was not being offered for charter beyond the end of the Mediterranean summer season, leading to a number of enquiries as to the status of 'MY Amira'. Andrew was obliged to post a notice on the website clarifying the status of 'MY Amira', which, to his and Ryan's surprise, led to a handful of requests for more details with an eye to a potential purchase of the yacht. Ryan, in turn, passed the information on to the yacht brokers who were handling her sale, and they were very encou-raged that even though not yet officially for sale, there seemed to be some interest in the Sunseeker.

The second half of April and the start of May was a busy one.

'MY Amira' arrived as scheduled and was promptly put into dry dock to have her hull cleaned and repainted. Her crew were sent off on vacation for two weeks until she could be refloated and loaded onto the yacht transporter.

'SY Belle Catherine' too, had reached the end of her summer season and was hauled out as well for her annual checkup and refurbish. Darren and Kerry were also sent off on vacation, and as a bonus for all their hard work, and for being with the company for five years, Andrew and Ryan granted them one of their wishes and packed them off to the Greek Islands, and specifically Santorini, for two weeks, covering their airfares to Athens and back home and the week on Santorini in the same B&B that Andrew and Ryan had used. Their savings from their annual dividend payout from Devlin-Major more than covered their other expenses.

On the last weekend of April, the Devlin-Majors, including David, Janice and Rascal packed their bags and finally made the visit to the Drakensberg resort.They had originally planned to do the trip over the previous long weekend, but the resort had not been able to accommodate them.

They flew up to Durban on the Thursday evening, arriving just after 7pm and checked into the Ballito lodge that Devlin-Major managed for the night. After a good breakfast, they returned to the airport where Andrew had decided to splash out and charter an aircraft to fly them up to the resort. They felt like seasoned pro's when they announced their arrival to the CSR at the FBO reception desk. Within minutes they were being ushered across the tarmac to a Beechcraft King Air 350, a twin engined turboprop aircraft with a seating capacity of 8 passengers and two pilots. Both pilots met them at the boarding stairs at the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft was by far the smallest one that any of them had ever flown in, having four rows of , very luxurious leather upholstered, seats, one on either side of the aisle, in two, four seater club style arrangements with tables between the facing seats. Large round windows allowed in masses of bright sunlight which also made for excellent viewing while in flight.

Jamie and Fiona were bug-eyed as they boarded and got themselves comfy in their seats next to Andrew and Ryan. David, Janice and the twins sat down in the club arrangement behind the boys and the younger ones. Rascal stayed with Ryan. The captain moved through the cabin to the cockpit and began preparing for departure, while the co-pilot secured the door, ran through the safety briefing, told them about the cloakroom at the rear of the cabin, and showed them where the refreshments were located.

The starboard engine emitted a high pitched whine as the propeller started to spin, eventually settling down into a throaty drone as the port engine was put through its start-up procedure. The co-pilot checked that they were all properly belted in, rechecked the rear door and then took his seat in the cockpit. Both engines were run up at full power for a few seconds, before being throttled back and they moved slowly away, heading for the end of the runway. A short stop, the engines were powered up, and they began the takeoff down the runway, quickly soaring up into the blue sky over verdant green cane fields.
Andrew was amazed at how quiet the cabin was. Not quite as quiet as the Gulfstream or Bombardier, but quiet enough to have a normal conversation.
The aircraft was equipped with wifi, so the children were soon engrossed in their tablets, Jamie and Fiona having only recently got theirs, the twins having already got theirs for the Disney trip, while the adults just chatted and gazed out the windows at the views below. Rascal had jumped off Ryan's lap after takeoff and was curled up at his feet under the table.
The fifty five minute flight passed quite quickly and before long the co-pilot came back to advise that they were starting the approach into the airstrip and to check that they were all secured in their seats. Apparently sensing that something was about to happen, Rascal shook himself and the jumped up against Ryan's seat to be picked up.

Pretty soon, they were flying down the valley towards the resort, low mountains on either side of them, with substan-tially higher peaks filling the windshield ahead of them. As the made a slight turn to starboard, the gravel airstrip came into view, looking uncomfortably short. The pilot flew down the length of the runway at low level to check it and then turned steeply to port to fly over the resort to alert them of their arrival, just in case they had not heard the engines, raised the nose again to fly back down the valley before doing a 180 and starting their final approach. As they neared the airstrip, a 4x4 and a minibus could be seen waiting beside the small hut that served a terminal. They sank lower and lower,roared over a gravel road and a wire mesh fence and touched down right at the very beginning of the runway, the pilot puting the propellers into reverse almost immediately due to the short runway, producing a throaty roar as they decelerated and raising clouds of dust.

At the far end of the runway they cautiously turned around to taxi back the way they had come but, although fairy smooth and hard, the gravel raised clouds of dust and they had to stop for a minute for the light wind to clear the dust. They parked in front of the hut and the engines whined to a stop, the co-pilot left the cockpit to open the door and lower the stairs, and the travelling party unbuckled their seat belts.
On disembarking, a stocky grey haired gentleman stepped forward with a smile, his hand extended to Andrew.

"Mr Devlin-Major, Lawrence Goodman, general manager. Welcome to the Drakensberg Valley Resort".

"Good morning Lawrence. Andrew please! Good to meet you at long last. Thank you for the welcome. You certainly have a stunning location here. Just gorgeous!", Andrew said looking around him at the rocky, vegetation clad slopes on either side. He turned back to Lawrence and indicated Ryan. "Allow me to introduce Ryan, my husband and business partner, his parents David and Janice Major, and our four children, Cameron, Fiona, Elizabeth and Jamie. And our fifth child, Rascal"..

"Hi Lawrence", Ryan said steeping forward and shaking Lawrence's hand. "Looks like our arrival has attracted some attention", Ryan added, nodding at the sizable crowd of guests and locals who had gathered at the fence. Lawrence grinned.

"Please call me Larry. Yeah, we don't get many guests arriving by plane, so it normally causes quite a stir in the valley. I can assure you, as the news gets out, when you leave the crowd will be even bigger! Right, let's get you folks into your rooms so that you can get settled. Even though this is a business trip, I hope you will get time to at least have some relaxation time. After all we are a resort!"

"We intend to do some relaxing. That's why we came up for three days", Andrew replied. "I'm hoping we can get most of the business done today so that the weekend is fairly free".

"That suits me. Let get you to your rooms and take it from there", Larry replied, handing Andrew four sets of keys.

A porter was already loading their luggage into the 4x4 as Larry led them to the minibus that was idling nearby. He spoke to the driver as the were taking their seats.

"Okay, Jeremiah, take Mr Devlin-Major to Aspen. They will be using the whole block. I'll follow with the luggage and drop the pilots at their rooms once they've secured the plane".

He slid the door closed and seconds later they were driving away. The route to their rooms gave then a very good insight into the layout of the resort. As they drove through the main gate with its guardhouse, and up a slight rise, they passed a double storey structure with bedrooms, situated on top of the rise. Ryan counted ten rooms on each level. A little further the tarred road passed the rock clad facade of the main building housing the reception area and offices, main buffet dining room, patio and a small souvenir store. The building housed more guest facilities that they would explore later. Passing several four, five and six bedroom structures scattered through the extensive gardens, they eventually came to a stop in front of a long, low ranch-style building fronted by a full length veranda with wide rock steps leading up to it.
A sign over the entrance to the veranda proclaimed the building to be 'Aspen'. The four bedrooms all opened onto the covered veranda, on which stood four sets of patio tables and chairs.
The driver opened the side sliding door and once they were all out he led them up the stairs onto the veranda.

"These are your bedrooms for your stay with us. These are our newest rooms and also one of the family units", he explained, taking the keys from Andrew and unlocking all the doors and handing the keys back.

"Thank you Jeremiah", Andrew said to him, "We'll sort ourselves out from here", handing him a gratuity.
As he drove away, the family explored their lodgings for the next two nights. The bedrooms were all essentially exactly the same, the only difference being that the two outer rooms, 1 & 4, were furnished with queen beds. The middle two had twin beds, although they would later discover that they could all be configured as requirements dictated. The rooms were all interleading for family family use in whatever combination was needed, or each room could be isolated into a separate unit with two doors between each room. Even on the veranda, ingeniously designed folding doors could separate the veranda as required. But for the Devlin-Major family group, all the interleading doors were open.
Andrew and Ryan kept Jamie and Fiona close and had them in number 2 next to their bedroom while David and Janice were in number 4 with the twins in 3.

Decor had a typical country, family feel with bright colours and a mix of florals and stripes in the soft furnishings. The bathrooms were functional without being overly luxurious.
But in Andrew's opinion, the main selling point of the resort was the sheer beauty and tranquillity of the place. He stood on the veranda after Larry had dropped their luggage and just listened. Once the drone of his 4x4 had faded away, the only sounds heard were the birds singing in the trees, the rustle of leaves and the faint gurgle of a river close by. Only once had he experienced anything similar, and that was when they were at sea on board 'Belle Catherine' with the sails up and motors silenced.

By the time they were unpacked and more or less settled, it was almost lunchtime, so they took a slow stroll through the lovely gardens back to the main building. Climbing yet another set of stone stairs with a wrought iron balustrade, they arrived on the huge patio sporting a dozen sets of patio tables and chairs, shaded by large parasols. A snack bar serviced the patio with a good selection of meals, while one of the bars was close on hand as well. Service was quick and efficient, although the resort was still fairly quiet, the weekend rush only due to start arriving during the afternoon.

Their mix of salads, toasted sandwiches and burgers were tasty and well presented, so there were no complaints on that score. Andrew was a bit puzzled and he turned to Ryan.

"Ry, everything we've seen so far tells me this place should be doing well. Yet, we know it's battling. I cannot see why. What am I missing? Or is it just bad management?".

"The thought had crossed my mind as well, babe. I think we will just have to wait until we have seen everything, so that we have the full picture before coming to any conclusions. But, yeah, I do agree with you".

After lunch, a big moment arrived when Larry arrived to take them on their tour of the resort. David and Janice had agreed to watch the children, who all wanted to go for a swim in the pool. They had no idea how Jamie and Fiona would react if Andrew and Ryan left them with their grandparents, but to their delight, the two youngsters were absolutely fine which gave their dads hope that the therapy sessions, as few as there had been so far, were helping.

And so, for the remainder of the afternoon, they had a good look at every aspect of the resort, the boys taking turns to film everything on Andrew's video camera. The facilities were exceptional. Apart from the hotel, which had 103 bed-rooms, there was two self-catering complexes as well, one consisting of very luxurious two and three bedroom duplex units under thatch with stunning views of the mountains, the other more contemporary situated close to the river. Both developments were relatively new, and were consequently in better condition than the older hotel.
There was two further restaurants and bars, two conference rooms, an almost new spa facility, two swimming pools, kayaking, horse riding, tennis courts, a squash court, bowling green and croquet. A games room in the rear of the main building had two pool tables, a full size snooker table, dart boards and tables to play cards or chess. However, the problem soon became very clear to them, Andrew experiencing a sense of deja vu.

Apart from their bedrooms and one or two other locations, the rest of the resort was looking old, dated and tired, particularly in the bedrooms, and to a lesser extent, in the public areas. Worn, threadbare carpets, bathrooms that were modern in the 60's and 70's, scuffed, stained outdated furniture and tired decor. The one saving grace was that the mattresses on the beds had been replaced ar regular intervals.

Upon enquiry to Larry once they were sitting in his office, they learned that the owners just weren't interested in supplying the finances to keep the rooms in tiptop shape. As far as they were concerned the facilities provided were more than adequate for the rate they charged and saw no reason to upgrade the rooms . Reading through a stack of guest comment forms confirmed the problem. While the guests raved about the recreational facilities, the food and the resort itself, the main gripe was always the bedrooms and the public areas. Cleanliness was not a problem, the house-keeping department were doing everything right. But they, and the entire resort, were being hamstrung by the lack of foresight from the , as they discovered, now very elderly owners. It was a very similar situation to when Andrew had purchased Blue Bay. The resort had fantastic potential, it was just being badly neglected by the owners.

Larry showed them the latest financial results, and although better than the first set Andrew had seen, having just come off the summer season, they were still not fantastic. Before they ended the meeting, Andrew requested Larry to provide him with a breakdown of what he felt needed to be done to get the hotel up to scratch and a cost estimate for the work. Larry undertook to send it to him by the end of the following week as he had done a similar proposal for the owners in January and it just needed to be updated. One aspect that gave Andrew and Ryan food for thought was that the land that the resort occupied was not owned, but leased from the National Parks Board on a 99 year lease, which only had 33 years left to run.
But they were both feeling pretty upbeat when they returned to their rooms.

For the remainder of their stay they just relaxed and had fun with the children, even taking them horse riding for the first time. On the Saturday night, instead of the usual buffet in the main dining room, the hotel had arranged to have a braai, or BBQ, in the open air boma next to the river. The mountain air was quite cool, so everyone dressed warmly and they took a stroll down the hill to the boma. The structures were common amongst the rural, indigenous inhabitants who built bomas to house and protect their livestock from predators. Usually circular in shape, boma were traditionally surrounded by a wall of thorny bushes and livestock were herded into the protected area for the night before the 'door' was also closed with bushes.

On the resort, the boma was slightly oval in shape, surrounded by a wall of tall reeds that had been tied together between stout poles to support the structure. A torch burning citronella oil was attached to each pole to chase away the bugs, and several dozen solar lanterns hung on the reed wall and from the branches of the two massive trees that stood at either end. Close to the entrance, situated just to the left of one of the trees, four BBQ s had been built out of rock and it was here where three chefs now toiled, grilling rump steak, boerewors (farmers sausage) and chicken sosaties (kebabs of chicken marinated in Malay spices) A long buffet table draped on white cloths with checked overlays displayed an array of salads and breads, while foil wrapped baked potatoes, and a selection of hot vegetables including corn on the cob, were being kept piping hot in chafing dishes. Right on the end was an impressive selection of desserts, both cold and hot.

A massive bonfire within a rock border, blazed in the centre of the area, surrounded by round tables of four, six and eight, all dressed with cream tablecloths and brightly coloured overlays in red, blue, green and yellow, with matching fabric serviettes. Each table was laid exactly as those in the main dining room and each had a candlelamp. Soft music played from a sound system somewhere in the darkness. The overall effect was breathtaking. Rustic, yet classy at the same time. Andrew was impressed and the evening was easily the highlight of the trip. He would later learn that the same thing took place every Saturday evening, weather permitting. If it was raining or too cold, the event was held in the main dining room with the meat being grilled on portable BBQs on the patio.

They didn't linger after an excellent dinner - the long busy day had exhausted the children, as well as David and Janice, so they returned to their rooms fairly early, at 10pm and they all slept very well.

On Sunday morning after another good buffet breakfast, they checked out and Larry drove them to the airstrip and the time came to head back home. Andrew shook Larry's hand as David and Janice herded their grandchildren up the boarding stairs and into the aircraft.

"Larry, thank you the lovely weekend. You really have a jewel here in my opinion. Ryan and I have got some big deci-sions big to make, but you need to get that proposal to us as soon as possible. I give you my word that once we have that, I will give you my decision within 72 hours".

"Thank you both for taking the time out to come here. I realise you are very busy, so I really appreciate it. This place has been my home for ten years. I hate seeing it slowly decaying, and not really being able to do anything about it. It's just so frustrating. I will admit to some creative accounting to keep things going as long as possible, but the problems just keep piling up and I can only do so much. So I'm really hoping that you will have some good news for me. I've only heard good things about you two and Devlin-Major", he told them, then looked a bit guilty.
Ryan raised his eyebrows.

"Interesting! If I may ask, who have you been talking to", he queried.

"Oh hell, I told him I would not say anything. You came to my attention via my half brother, Michael"

"Who, Michael Bester, the captain of our yacht 'Amira'., Ryan asked with surprise. Larry nodded.

"Correct! He was the one who suggested I approach you. I hope it's not going to get him into trouble".

"No, not in the slightest", Andrew replied. "I'm just surprised he hadn't said anything".

"He didn't want you to know and have our relationship possibly affect your decision. But Michael tells me he has never been happier.and that you are a pleasure to work for. And quite honestly, I want some of that as well. For myself and my staff. They deserve it. Many of them have been on this property all there lives. Been born here. Their parents worked here. This is their home. And while I know about your profit sharing scheme, I am enough of a realist to know that is still a little way away. But I would love to see The Valley reach its full potential. And I truly believe that it can be done with your expertise"
Andrew and Ryan both nodded. Andrew replied,

"Thank you for your confidence in us. But it's not a done deal yet. Get that proposal to me and if we think it's viable, then we can talk again"

With final handshakes all round, Andrew and Ryan boarded as well and got settled as the co-pilot closed and secured the door. He moved to the cockpit door, once again ran through the safety briefing and then seated himself in his seat. Seconds later first one engine and then the other whined as they started up. The captain let the engines run for a few minutes, checking that all was as it should be and them advanced the throttles to get them moving.

The wind had changed , blowing from the opposite direction to their arrival, so they trundled down to the far end of the runway, once again leaving clouds of red dust in their wake. The pilot performed a one-eighty so that they were facing the way they had come, and throttled back for a while to allow the dust to blow away.
From where Andrew was seated, he could all the way down the runway and for the first time realised just how short it was. The engines howled as the captain moved the throttles forward, keeping his feet on the brakes. The entire aircraft vibrated and bounced as he brought the engines up to full power. The plane lurched forward as he released the brakes and within seconds they were hurtling down the runway. They roared past the terminal hut, where Larry and a large group of observers stood watching, and with the fence now looming ahead of them, the nose lifted and they skimmed over it and up into the blue sky, heading straight down the valley. The hydraulics whined as the undercarriage was stowed and only then did Andrew realise he was holding his breath.

Except for the hair-raising takeoff, the flight back to Durban was routine and comfortable. After landing at King Shaka they had to wait less than an hour before they were once again in the air, this time headingback to Cape Town.
Andrew's to-do list was getting shorter!