She had won! WON! 1st prize! An African safari, it was more than luck, it was 50 entry forms filled out in constant hope. "I wish, I wish." SHE HAD WON!
The juice from the pear dripped from her mouth and dribbled down her chin but she didn't seem to notice. Her hand shook. She stared ahead, she was somewhere else, tortured, the pear held in her hand as if it were something else...
Camera in hand, passport in the other, she departed the plane. Her backpak bobbed up and down as she weaved her way through the crowds. Someone was meant to meet her here! Then it would be the safari - she couldn't wait. She idly fingered her ring. no, she WOULDN'T wait.
Caught up in a queue she became impatient and started to push her way through. The other queued people increasingly became annoyed at her but she didn't notice, she was almost there!
Suddenly she cleared the crowd and spotted a black man ahead. He was leaning casually against the wall and holding a sign that said 'Veronica Liopolt'. That was her. She started to walk towards the man.
The man looked to be in his late twenties and was a bit scruffy. He didn't appear to care what he wore and had probably thrown on the first things he'd seen that morning. He hadn't had his hair cut for a while either.
"Veronica?" he asked as she neared him and she nodded.
"Won the African Safari? Welcome to Africa." He noticed her fiddling with her ring again. "Nice. Ivory?"
She nodded dumbly, not sure what else to say.
"Occupation?" he asked.
She thought it over and decided not to tell him so she shook her head.
Content with that he appeared to look her over and suddenly grabbed the camera and passport from her hands.
"Hey!" she protested, thinking he was going to nick off with her stuff.
"Easy," he said, "these would be safer here." He put the camera straps over her head and put the passport in her bag. "Pickpockets," he explained, "find them in every country." He gave a lop-sided grin and she nodded again.
"Name?" she asked and then wished she'd asked, "What's your name?"
The grin not once leaving his face, he chuckled and said, "Walter." Then he started to lead the way to Baggage Claims to get her luggage.
"Walter?" she muttered to herself.
Walter pulled up in front of a large lodge. They'd been driving in the middle of nowhere for ages and all of a sudden they'd come across the group of buildings.
"This is where you'll be sleeping," said Walter, "Each day a small bus'll take you out. 'Zat your idea of an African Safari or should we change the schedule for you?"
"No it's fine," she said a little disappointed though she didn't know why. What had she been expecting?
Nervously, she wiggled the ring around her finger.
"And here," said Walter, "is your cabin. Meet in the courtyard at eleven if you wish to take the first bus trip. All the cabins around you are occupied so don't do too much poking around 'kay?"
"Ok." She opened her suitcase.
She finished the pear and just let it drop to the ground. With a dull splat, it landed and a small spray of juice caught her pant legs.
"I don't know," she said, "leave me alone."
The bus was rather crowded but somehow everyone managed to fit on. Sitting next to Walter she looked out the window at the blank landscape.
Walter winked at her. "Pretty dull huh? We see more later, we haven't even got there yet."
A shout from the other side of the bus turned her head.
"Well maybe we are nearly there," said Walter as the cause of the commotion was revealed - a group of monkeys had decided to investigate the slow moving bus.
Further on a pride of lions was discovered and everyone 'oohed' and 'aaaahed'.
More and more animals seemed to pop out of nowhere and the bus trip didn't seem so broing anymore. The bus driver stated facts about different animals and made bad jokes that everyone laughed at anyway. A lion roared at them and a small child shrieked.
Driving around the corner they came to a group of elephants which stampeded away from the bus which had come to a stop. One elephant was lef tbehind and lay, moaning on the ground.
Walter perked up and looked a bit confused.
"What's wrong?" Veronica asked him.
"I dunno," he replied and got up. He and the bus driver talked in whispered voices for a few minutes and then both left the bus.
All the passengers crowded to the left side of the bus to see what was happening so Veronica decided to go outside to the source.
The elephant had stopped moaning and as she neared she realised it was totally still.
"What's wrong?" she reapeated.
Walter indicated to the elephant's mouth. She looked and didn't notice anything strange so she shrugged her shoulders.
"No tusks," said the bus driver.
"Poachers," Walter explained, "It kills the elephants, disgusting stuff." And he shook his head.
Tears came to her eyes. "That's terrible," she said, "killing a poor defenceless animal like that just for its tusks."
"What about that ring?" Walter asked, "It's ivory."
She looked down at her fingers, she had been fiddling with the ring again. On impulse she pulled the ring off and threw it far, far away. Disgust was written all over her face.
Walter sighed, "Let's go."
