Clare Houston - An Unquiet Place

Hannah felt the drift into passivity, like an insect being drawn into a swirl of water to a drain. ‘What do you know about archaeology anyway, Hannah? Why not stick to your strengths? Come. In the morning, I’ll help you pack. We can drive back together.’

‘I have a job, Todd, I can’t just walk out.’

He lifted his head and his handsome face was suddenly ugly. ‘It’s a shop assistant job. How hard can it be to give notice?’

Hannah wished she could summon the guts to push him away, fire the words to tell him to get out, but they simply wouldn’t come. She couldn’t tell Alistair that she wanted to be with him and now she couldn’t tell this… this bully to get out of her life. What was wrong with her?

Just then, keys sounded in the lock, and Joseph pushed the door open.

‘I thought you were staying on the farm,’ said Hannah with relief, extracting herself from Todd.

‘I changed my mind.’ Joseph’s gaze came to rest on Todd, whose mouth was curved in a self-satisfied smile. ‘It’s been a while, Todd. What are you doing here?’ It wasn’t often that Hannah saw Joseph unfriendly, but now it rolled off him.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ said Todd, snagging a strand of Hannah’s hair and bringing it to his lips.

‘Did you come to apologise?’ said Joseph, still standing.

Todd curved his other hand around Hannah’s hips. ‘Apologise for what?’ She looked nervously at Joseph but his stare was only for Todd.

‘I don’t know, for being an arrogant, unfaithful prick, perhaps?’

Todd pushed Hannah away. ‘Just hang on—’

‘Joseph, enough,’ said Hannah. Joseph raised his hands in mock apology, and turned to the sink, pouring himself a glass of water.

‘Are you heading back tonight, Todd?’ said Joseph with his back to the room.

Todd looked across at Hannah. ‘No, I was thinking of staying a few days, actually.’

Joseph turned and leant against the sink. ‘There’s a small hotel down the road. I can show you where it is now, if you like. Unfortunately, this place is pretty cramped with Hannah and me here,’ he smiled, not looking in the least apologetic.

Todd stood and picked up his attaché case, leaving the newspaper on the table. ‘I’ll find it myself, thanks. Hannah?’ he raised his brows at her. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow?’

Joseph opened the door for him and shut it firmly, locking it before Todd was even off the deck. He turned back into the room to see Hannah scrubbing her face with her hands.

‘What the hell is he doing here?’

‘The dig has somehow made it into the paper – look.’ She passed the paper over to him. ‘How did the press find out about it? Joseph, it was a condition of Alistair’s that it stays out the media.’

‘I’m not worried about Alistair,’ said Joseph sitting down at the table and examining the article. ‘Why is Todd the Sod here?’

‘He says we’re digging up old Nationalist propaganda and it’s going to ruin his career with the ANC.’

‘Good.’

‘No, Joseph, not good. What if he causes trouble? He’ll be able to pull all sorts of party strings – what if he sabotages our application?’

‘And the bastard wouldn’t think twice. Damn! Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rude.’

‘Ya think?’

‘Did he actually threaten you?’ said Joseph, looking up at her.

‘No, he wants me to pack up and go back to Cape Town with him.’ Hannah stared at her hands on the table.

‘With him, with him?’

She felt terribly tired. ‘I don’t know, Josey. He’s a bully, I see that. But he did have a point. What am I doing here? I don’t know anything about archaeology or running a shop or being a farmer’s wife for that matter.’

‘Whoa.’ Joseph leant back in his chair. ‘You’ve got ahead of me, a farmer’s wife? When did that happen?’

She stood and pushed in her chair, smiling sadly at him. ‘Nothing’s happened, that’s the problem. I’m exhausted, Jose. I’m going to bed.’ She left him sitting at the table, staring at the paper.

Hannah slept fitfully. She awoke with a headache and somebody’s words ringing in her head… You haven’t even begun to discover your strength . Pushing them from her mind, she had a shower. Then, feeling marginally better, she went through to the kitchen where Joseph was standing at the sink, finishing his coffee.

‘Morning, Sunshine,’ he said, turning as she came in. She felt the farthest thing from sunny, and muttered under her breath as she put the kettle back on to boil.

‘I think I know who our leak is,’ said Joseph, putting his mug in the sink. ‘I think one of the students took this picture. I’ll interrogate her this morning.’

‘Why do you think she did it?’

‘I don’t think she’s malicious, just not the sharpest. I laid out the rules before we started, and no media contact was one of them. But this girl is permanently on her phone – she probably didn’t think that Facebook counts as media. It would just take one journalist friend to ask her some questions and there we are, Hannah and Joseph, famous at last.’ Hannah smiled at his effort to cheer her up. ‘Have a good day, Han. I’ll call you later to check what the Sod is doing. If he’s still around, I’ll come back here tonight.’

‘Joseph, you don’t have to hover, you know. I am a grown-up. I should be able to look after myself.’

‘You are perfectly able to look after yourself; it’s just more fun this way.’

‘You just love a pissing contest.’

‘Oh, you know me so well.’ He grinned, stopping at her chair on his way out and bending to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

‘Not so well, apparently. I had no idea you were sweet, Joseph Harrison.’

He threw her a smile over his shoulder as he left.

Hannah opened the shop at eight o’clock, glad for the routine to distract her from her thoughts. It was quiet, and she managed to catch up on admin she’d let slide over the busy Christmas period. Barbara came in at nine and they worked companionably. Hannah felt herself relax, the only demand being that of her admin systems, and she found creating order there therapeutic.

At ten o’clock, the doorbell tinkled and she looked up to see Todd come in, followed by Moses Motala, the mayor. Moses smiled kindly at Hannah, nodding his head in greeting. Hannah’s stomach immediately cramped. Todd had a familiar, triumphant smirk on his face.

Barbara, taking one look at Hannah’s face, whispered that she would deal with the shop. ‘Take them into the reading room. I’ll be right here if you need me.’

Hannah nodded gratefully and led the men across the passage. Todd sat down immediately, setting his attaché case on the table like a lawyer about to interview a witness. Moses remained standing, waiting for Hannah to take a seat before he pulled out a chair for himself.

Todd launched into a monologue about the ANC party’s vision for a united South Africa, about the dangers of divisive history, and how pursuing a dig like this, resurrecting the concentration camp narrative, would be contrary to the cause of nation building. When he at last stopped and turned to Moses, he was puffed up with satisfaction.

‘Moses is, as you know, a senior ANC party member in the Free State. He has much political clout in the area, and I brought him here to convince you that continuing is not an option. What if Leliehoek becomes the centre of something ugly? What if this turns the communities against each other? If this dig upsets the tenuous balance between blacks and whites again? In fact, Moses has enough connections with SAHRA to halt the process altogether, if it be in the country’s best interests.’