Part 1 of Jackie Phamotse’s new series takes us to 2005 in the rugged
Cederberg mountains. Cameron Coal is struggling to save his family’s
rooibos farm from bankruptcy while grieving his wife’s death and raising
his blind daughter. As his father, John, fights to save the farm from a
hidden enemy, Cameron's brother, Sole, harbours a secret that could
destroy everything. Amidst the chaos of a veld fire, Cameron meets
Luna Parks, an enigmatic nurse with a mysterious past. As secrets
unravel, Cameron must decide whether his choices will save or doom
his family’s future.
Chapter 3
To live a full life, we have to outlive our past
An acrid smell filtered in from the open window and irritated Luna’s nostrils. She lay in bed attempting to sleep, grateful for the linen they had received from the other girls she had met earlier. Although her body was weary from travel, her mind would not settle.
‘Can you smell that?’ Luna called out. Amora stood up and peered through the window. An overwhelming flash of heat and smoke covered most of her view.
‘It’s coming from up there! The houses on the hill, Luna!’ Luna rushed to look. An angry inferno of flames licked up the mountain, quickly consuming most of the land. The town was blanketed by smoke and they couldn’t see much. Then, the piercing screams of women and children erupted.
‘The houses are on fire, Amora. Wake the ladies up; I will check downstairs. I don’t even know if we are safe here. Let me call Mr Fourie and see what’s going on. He said he lives down by the dam.’
‘Do you know where that is?’
‘No, I didn’t see it earlier. Hurry, wake up everyone!’
‘Get up! There’s a fire! Lucy, where is Bree? Get her.’
Amora ran to each room, screaming at the top of her lungs. Although the girls did not greet Amora in the afternoon when they passed her outside the house smoking, Luna had insisted that they needed to be cordial. When they gathered outside, there was a flurry of activity. The community had been alerted to the fire and some men were racing up the hill. The local police rushed past them, and, as more people came out of their homes, the police requested that they bring water buckets and whatever else could be useful. Luna, Amora and Lucy followed while the others stayed put. They wandered the streets, trying to figure out where they could go. People were running amok.
‘Go up there!’ Bree called out. Luna heard her and began running. Luna tried to stop a lady with two children but couldn’t find the words. Terror and panic were etched in each wrinkle on the lady’s face. The girls ran towards the hill, but Amora lagged behind. She was unfit and complained that her feet felt heavy with every step.
‘We don’t have to go up there, Luna. We don’t know if it’s safe. Let’s wait and see if we can’t be stationed at the clinic. Maybe that’s where we should go. That old creep said it’s down this road, not up there.’ She was bent over, trying to catch her breath. Her top was already drenched in sweat.
‘We have to go help; we haven’t been to the clinic and we don’t know how things work around here. Our best bet is to follow the police. I can see their lights up there. Just keep walking,’ Luna called out. Amora started gasping for air. The smoke was billowing around them, reducing visibility as the minutes ticked by. They wouldn’t have enough oxygen if they went straight into the smoke. Amora, Lucy and Bree pulled their tops over their noses to reduce the smoke inhalation. Luna always insisted on wearing her long nightgown; this time, it gave her the extra material to cover her mouth and nose.
‘Walk on the side of the road; you don’t want to be run over,’ Luna told everyone on the way. She was still trying to get answers, but talking to people in that state was pointless. The cacophony of sounds created a very charged atmosphere.
‘Go back inside! Get inside!’ a man called out in the dark. Luna panicked when the smell of burning flesh assailed her senses. People were burning to death, and she felt helpless. How many burn victims would need to be treated? Would anyone survive the fire? Was the clinic adequately resourced to handle the influx of patients?
‘Jump in!’ said a white man with dark stubble who had come by in a wagon and was heading towards the fire. It was disorientating having so many people shouting and not knowing who they were addressing. Luna turned towards the wagon and was rendered speechless. The man was breathtaking.
How could a man in the dark be so alluring?
Luna looked at the girls for approval, but Amora was already trying to jump in. She would waste no time getting a free lift and would not spend another minute in the smoke, walking on a dirt road. The women were all shivering from the chill in the air.
‘Ladies, are you getting in, or should we accept this man’s offer?’ asked a wily-looking man wearing overalls covered in soot. He wanted to push the women out of the way, but the bearded man gave him one long stare, and the man scurried away. The bearded man wore a Navy uniform: dark blue pants, a sky-blue shirt with black epaulettes on the shoulders, and a black cap. He was alone in the wagon except for crates of vegetables and some chopped firewood. He would be a great help and looked like he knew what needed to be done. Luna figured he’d be specially trained in emergency evacuation procedures. And besides, it wasn’t safe being in the choking smoke without any sense of direction.
“The fire is up there; it won’t reach your home. Just prepare yourselves. These people will need you.”
‘Will you ladies be able to help? I hope you’ll survive the smoke.’ The bearded man felt a warm rush as he glanced at Luna. He took off his black cap as a sign of respect when he spoke to her. She quickly noticed his gaze and moved closer to the wagon.
‘We can help, please, sir,’ Luna beseeched.
‘Well, then, jump in. You have to be careful out there; this fire is beginning to burn out of control. Hold onto your seats. We have some way to go. I was at the market earlier. Apologies, my lady,’ he said as he pushed a bag of apples from the seat. Amora was struggling to get into the wagon; it was too high, and her body mass too heavy. Lucy tried pulling her up, but Amora kept falling back. The bearded man turned to see what the problem was. His eyes softened as he saw what the hold-up was.
‘Hold these. Don’t let these boys overpower you,’ he commanded with ease and shoved the horses’ reins into Luna’s hands. Luna stopped staring at him as he got off; his features were so pleasant, even in the murky darkness. He rushed to help Amora, lifting her quickly and helping her get onto the wagon. Luna giggled, the horror happening around them momentarily forgotten. She admired the man’s kindness and willingness to help anyone in distress. He rushed back, and Luna handed him the reins. The fleeting touch of his hand sent tingles through her fingertips. Her reaction surprised her, considering they were all in a precarious situation.
The bearded man steered the wagon onto the road and ushered the horses towards the hill. Violent flames were dancing in people’s homes and wails filled the area. Despite attempts to extinguish the fire with water buckets, it was not enough to contain it. The fire department was nowhere in sight. It did not seem like the fire could be extinguished in time to save lives. The wind whipped their faces as the wagon raced up the hill. The foul stench of burnt vegetation and flesh clung to the air. Most of the town’s buildings were made of wood, which did not bode well if the fire could not be contained. It was an old country town with few streets and limited resources. Desperation coloured the eyes Luna looked into. These were traumatised people, staring death in the face.
‘Sir, you need to cover your face with a wet cloth. I can’t even breathe and you are heading straight for the fire. Do you know where you are going?’ Luna called out nervously, trying to hold on as tightly as possible. The wagon was moving too fast.
‘Field fires are common around here, especially because the weather’s been hot and dry with the coastal winds blowing into the mountains. Don’t worry about me.’
Luna noticed a flash of teeth in the darkness and realised he had smiled at her.
‘Look at the house on the hilltop!’ Lucy pointed, straightening up in the wagon. Smoke plumes were escaping from the broken windows and open door. It would be difficult to get up there on foot or with the wagon; a helicopter would’ve been more efficient.
‘Hold on, ladies. The wagon will tip you over if you don’t stay in your seats,’ the bearded man called out.
‘We will need gloves; how will we handle the burn victims?’ Luna’s mind was sharp amidst the chaos and was already in problem-solving mode. The man pointed at his brown leather bag at her feet. Luna snatched it and rifled through it. It had everything, from heat protectors and gloves to water packs. She glanced at him with gratitude and kept the bag with her; he nodded.
‘There is no way these horses can get up there. You are sending them to their slaughter,’ Luna called out apprehensively. There had already been carnage at the bottom of the hill, where some horses had succumbed to burn injuries. It broke Luna’s heart to witness so much pain, suffering and death in a single night. It was so much worse than the Bellville clinic at its busiest. Amora and Lucy had already covered themselves with coverlets they found on board. They sat side by side, observing the crowds as they raced past.
‘They are well trained, Miss …’
‘Luna Parks.’ She turned to look at the man. There was insufficient light to make out his facial features, but his deep, resonant voice lingered on her skin.
‘Well, no time for introductions. Do you need a hand with those?’
Luna shook her head. ‘I am a nurse; we are all nurses here.’ She glanced around at the girls. ‘We live at the nursing boarding house. I hope and pray it hasn’t burnt to the ground.’
‘The fire is up there; it won’t reach your home. Just prepare yourselves. These people will need you. Stay close to each other; we can’t afford to lose more people.’
‘What do you mean? Are people dead? How do you know?’ Amora asked, shaking violently. She held onto Lucy for comfort. Despite being a qualified nurse, Amora was squeamish. Whenever she was allocated to triage, she always swapped with another nurse.
“The fire had a life of its own; it was impossible to contain.”
‘Unfortunately, we have lost seven people already. I was just at the clinic when I came across you ladies. There’s a doctor from the Navy attending to them. I am surprised you didn’t know this. We have been trying to kill this blaze for an hour now.’
‘Oh no, sir, we were not aware.’
‘I will have to leave you by the side of the road. Do you have family up here? I mean, in one of those houses?’
‘We just got here, so we don’t have family around. I have seen this uniform before. I was supposed to work in Simon’s Town, but I couldn’t change …’ He cut her off with one look.
‘Then you will help these people. I have a few necessities in the back and have called for help. Our officers will be here in no time. The smoke will block the trails soon. I have guys on the other side of the mountain working on bringing us soil from the farms. That will kill the fires faster than water. The water tanks won’t help much in this situation. If you look to your left, three homes are already gone.’’
Her eyes roamed over the villagers using buckets to put out the flames.
‘I don’t see any medics here,’ Luna murmured.
‘Everyone in this situation is a medic; we don’t have time to waste.’
‘You sure know a lot about fires,’ Amora chimed in.
The man didn’t respond; his eyes were stuck on the danger they were approaching. The fire had moved from the top of the hill; the houses near it were built far apart. If they had any chance of stopping it, they would have to work together and pile up sand near Mr Rassie’s house, the headmaster of the school, the bearded man explained. This would save the other houses, but how many other lives could be in danger? There were no streetlights so high up; people walked with handheld torches and paraffin lamps. This was incredibly dangerous due to the flammable nature of paraffin.
The man got off the wagon and assessed the damage. Two men came and joined him; they blocked off the roads and began to work. Lucy and Luna rushed from house to house to see if anyone was injured. It was hard to move around, but Luna helped the police separate those who were dead and those who needed medical care. The local school bus transported the injured to the clinic and those without shelter to the nearby school for the night.
The fire was still creeping closer to the houses, consuming everything in its path. Luna knew this could end their lives, but when she heard the piercing scream of a little child, she could not ignore it. The dense smoke compromised her visibility, but she crouched low and tried to follow the sound. Although the community fought valiantly, the fire was consuming most of the hilltop homes. Most people stood by silently, watching the roofs of their houses cave in, resignation etched deeply on their faces. All they could do was watch their entire lives die in the flames.
The bearded man and his friends worked tirelessly, saving more people, animals and valuable items. They moved fast and as a pack.
‘That girl will burn to death; get her out of there!’ one of the men called out. More people rushed to help, but flames danced wildly all over the back of the house. The wind exacerbated the fire and made the smoke denser. It felt like everyone was in the middle of an erupting volcano. With faces covered in soot and seared hands and feet, exhaustion was evident in their gait and faces. The fire had a life of its own; it was impossible to contain. They gasped for breath, trying to find oxygen amid the pungent and suffocating smoke.
Two men managed to pull the three-year-old from the Wendy house behind the main house, where she had been trapped. Luna rushed to the girl’s side and felt her pulse. Luna sighed in relief as she felt a faint tap against her fingers.
‘She’s still alive but is unconscious from smoke inhalation. Let me see if I can revive her!’ Luna said to the two men. She started performing CPR on the child, praying while she did so. After a while, the child’s chest inflated, and Luna lay her on her side and she started coughing and crying. Her breathing was rapid and shallow.
‘Get her to the medics!’ One of the men picked the girl up and ran towards the medics stationed inside the school bus that Mr Rassie had lent to the rescue team. As some men fought the inferno surrounding the house with buckets of soil and water, Luna started looking inside the house through the broken windows and doors. It was carnage inside, with charred furniture and melted plastic. There was a bitter smell and Luna covered herself more fully with her gown. In one room, which seemed like a bedroom, she saw a crib, and although the curtain railing had fallen across it, there was a wrapped bundle inside it.
Extracted from The Tea Merchant by Jackie Phamotse, out now.
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