“Ag, no. You cannot wait here on the road. Come with me. My farm is just down that road. You can dry off, have some nice warm coffee and a rusk and then leave when the storm is over.”
“That’s so sweet of you, but we wouldn’t want to be an imposition,” the ever-polite Noah said.
“Nee, man, no imposition.”
Noah shook his head. “Really, that’s very kind. But we’re okay.”
“Come. I insist.” She sounded determined.
“Uh . . .” Noah looked a little stumped now.
“I can’t leave you two out in the rain like this. Besides, we don’t get any visitors out here, Tiaan will be so happy to see someone other than me! Follow me, it’s just down here. I’ll drive slowly. I absolutely insist!” She wound her window up and began to drive.
“She seems to be insisting. Shall we go?” Noah asked.
“I mean, she seems nice. She doesn’t seem like—”
“She keeps a woman called Chloe tied up in a cage in the corner of her room?” He laughed at this.
“No! She doesn’t seem the type. And . . . I kind of need the toilet too . . .” I felt utterly embarrassed saying this, but was relieved when Noah agreed with me.
We followed her down a dirt road that had turned to mud. Huge puddles of dirty brown water flew up at us as we drove. After another muddy five minutes, we arrived at a small farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.
“Wow, this is amazing,” I said, gazing at the old sandstone farmhouse in front of us. “D” for double cab indicated for us to park under the car port with her, and when we finally did, I realized just how loud the rain had been.
“Come inside!” She climbed out of the car. “It’s warm and I’ll put the kettle on. TIAAANNN!” she screamed, so loudly that I flinched.
“LIEFIE!” An equally loud shout came from what looked like a workshop at the back of the car port. “What’s wrong?” Tiaan emerged from the workshop. He was portly and wide, holding an equally wide and portly-looking knife. His other hand was covered in a dark liquid and he wiped it across his blue overalls.
“Shame, these poor people were sitting on the road in the car, waiting for the rain to pass.”
“Ag, shame, man. They must come inside, for some coffee, liefie!” It was strange to hear such a large man—really, he was huge, well over six feet, calling his wife “lovie.”
“Yes, that’s what I said!” And then she turned to us and smiled. “I’m Mienkie, by the way. And this is Tiaan.”
“I’m Noah, and this is Zoe,” Noah said quickly.
“Come now, let’s get you inside and warmed up,” Mienkie said.
“Give me a minute,” Tiaan shouted. “I have to finish Susie off.” And with that he disappeared back into the workshop with his knife . . .a knife?
I looked at Noah and my eyes widened. “Finish Susie off?” I mouthed.
“Come! Come! No point in staying out in this terrible weather.” Mienkie waved her arm at us and then disappeared into the house.
“Who’s Susie?” I hissed at Noah. “What does he mean, finish her off?”
THWAK!A loud sound, so loud that we heard it over the rain, came from the workshop and Noah and I both jumped.
“Um . . . what’s going on here?” I asked.
“I don’t know . . .” Noah looked around the place, and so did I. And that’s when I noticed all the chainsaws lined up against the wall.
“Why do you need so many chainsaws?”
“I don’t know,” Noah whispered back to me.
THWAK!And another sound, followed by another.
