Chapter 21

On the way home Craig stopped at seven-eleven to buy a newspaper. He got home around seven. Delicious flavours greeted him when he entered the front door. Sarah must have been cooking food for the entire coast. It was one of the many things she was good at. As Craig entered the TV room, he noticed Patrick and Andrew sitting on the couch playing cards.

'Evening sunny boys,' Craig greeted and placed his laptop down on a chair closest to him.

'Hi dad,' Patrick greeted. 'Why so late?'

'Ah well, first day and all. Wanted to put in a little extra just to get on top of things. Where's mom and Em?'

'They're in the kitchen,' Andrew said.

'How did it go with the window frames today?' Craig asked.

'Almost done. There's one more but that we'll do tomorrow morning,' Patrick said.

'Good, good, thank you guys,' Craig said. He headed towards the kitchen and landed a playful punch on Andrew's right shoulder when he was within reaching distance.

'Ah, what was that for?' Andrew frowned rubbing his shoulder.

'You were the closest,' Craig chuckled. 'You are next.' Craig pointed at Patrick.

Patrick chuckled.

As Craig approached the kitchen, the smell was almost irresistible. He realised how hungry he really was.

'Good evening my favourite two ladies in the world,' Craig greeted walking directly to Sarah. He hugged her briefly and kissed her on her mouth.

'Hi dad,' Emily said getting dishes from the cupboard.

'How was your first day?' Sarah asked.

'Not too bad. Loads of things to learn, but the people seem nice.'

'Did you tell them we are not moving again?' Sarah mocked with a smile.

'In fact, I did,' Craig said. 'My new boss, Rodger seems to think this job was destined for me. I told him we bought a house in Saldanha. He was quite impressed.' He looked at Emily for a moment. She placed knives and forks on the table. 'Em, how's my honey bunch?'

Emily chuckled, 'Dad's in a good mood.'

'Just happy to be home again,' Craig said. He hugged Sarah again and headed back to the TV room.

Craig noticed Andrew and Patrick still playing cards.

'What are you guys playing?'

'Rummy, want to join us?' Patrick asked.

'Nah, you guys cheat,' Craig said. He remembered the newspaper he bought at Seven-Eleven on his way home.

'It's not our fault you can't play rummy,' Andrew said.

'Yeah right.' Craig walked towards where he had placed his laptop. He sat down on the couch and opened the newspaper. He was searching for something particular. He wanted to know if there was news involving the unfortunate fellow they found on their way to Saldanha. He was particularly interested in what had caused him to be in such a bad way. He scanned the newspaper but found nothing of the incident at all. Impossible, he thought and scanned the newspaper again from the start. He noticed a report of an accident on the R27 which involved a truck that had jack-knifed. Two people were killed. There were several general reports about domestic violence and one rape case. Surely the poor fellow they found that day would be within the first three to four pages. Craig read all the smaller news reports just in case he had missed it on the first attempt, but his efforts turned out futile. No report from the police or ambulance service, not even from the hospital.

'Are you hungry,' Sarah interrupted?

'Starving,' Craig said, folding up the newspaper. He was disappointed and confused at the same time. Craig realised he was probably being paranoid about the whole thing. Maybe the guy they found was okay after all, badly hurt, but okay. What if the poor fellow was too scared to report what really happened? Why would he be scared? What if he never made it to the hospital at all? Craig shook his head, got up and headed for the kitchen.