If I am found, this world will be helped immediately. I also want all my family brought back and linked. Just to clarify it for once and all, when I say family I always include Jakob and our baby Samantha.
We had a musician update it with better instrumentation and more thump to the beat and added in my message. The message was played at double the speed so that the casual listener would not recognise the words. I paid for the recording and had six hundred thousand copies printed as EP’s. The cover had a photo of the artist staring at a painting of a young girl on his easel. I was that young girl, or, as close to what I looked like as possible. I ordered that one copy be sent to every single library throughout the world at no charge. I kept the balance for them to be sold in record shops. I was surprised when it became a hit and laughed when I read that the squawking was part of the reason - they thought it was meant to be the sound of a little girl talking, her words being deliberately indistinct. The song was mostly popular with the younger teenage girls.
That led to another idea. I had agents go through strange songs, buy a copy of each and we opened a tiny museum of out of the ordinary songs. I chose a tiny shop in a popular and central area, close to Leicester Square, bought it freehold and donated it to a trust as a museum with the name ‘The Teller Odd Music Museum’ . I was now temporarily broke, but I felt I had taken another important step in securing my future and return to my loves.
My mild success with the song led to my expanding into the music business. I’ve read of how popular talent shows were after the second world war. Since television had put in an appearance earlier, I negotiated with the BBC and ran our own one hour talent show. I was not on the panel of judges, but if I heard a name I recognised as being successful in my reality I nabbed them, signing them up with recording contracts. I was accused of damaging the music industry as we were offering our singers and groups a higher share of revenues and yet we were making a huge profit. The name of our show is ‘Goldi Stars’ and the label of our records is ‘Candy Hits’. Right from the start we expanded Candy Hits into Europe and the USA and signed up every name I recognised, even sometimes suggesting for them the artistic name they have used in my reality.
Twenty two years. The year is 1930 and the music business has been taking up all my time and we’ve opened a French version of our talent show that is also a huge success and I am now concentrating on starting up German and Dutch copies of our show. We’ve also reserved the right to the name ‘Top of the Pops’ (I’m shamelessly stealing names and ideas since this reality is so different) and the BBC have agreed to allotting that show an hour every Saturday afternoon. That program runs on both television and radio, in particular on the station that broadcasts worldwide. It is funny that though pop music does not exist yet, no one has questioned the title, they only comment on my ability to think up new terms.
Jetrol has also done well during these years and is now Minister of Health. We meet him and his wife now and then, but we are not as close as we used to be. He is careful to maintain his contact with Jakob and through him with the Jewish community. We met at a party we both attended recently and for once his smile was warm and genuine.
If the economic cycle resembles ours in any way, we should start experiencing a boom that will lead to the Great Depression. I explained to Jakob with all the details and the explanations our economists came up with - in particular, information about the Rockefellers, the Rothchild family and a couple of their partners and how they will orchestrate the crash of the market so as to gain sole control of the banking and financial market. When I show such depth of knowledge of such matters he now does not blink an eye, accepting I know what I’m talking about, but the secret information I gave him disturbed him and I had to argue for him to agree to keep the information to himself. We now have a number of professionals watching for the signs. I explained why it was so important to me.
“We have to secure ourselves and be cash strong so that we survive, but I also need to prepare for the vast amount of human misery. We will need to open kitchens in all the major cities of our country, Europe and America. During the boom years we must stockpile and contract for massive tonnages of wheat and other food products. If we can also be in position to create jobs, all the better.”
“You cannot save the whole world!”
“My soul will sense each child crying of hunger Jakob, I have to do all I can. If we can minimise the despair we might also prevent the second world war from happening.”
He was embarrassed, but he too has his dreams and he asked sadly, “There will not be an Israel?”
“Perhaps we can find another way of causing that to come about? Let’s just promise ourselves to do what we can as and when it is time.”
We had a shipyard design ships especially reinforced for carrying logs and ordered three of them to be built for us. We sent people to Abidjan to purchase huge tracts of land and create tree felling operations, with strict orders that they plan for rehabilitating the forests we plunder. We have sent scientists with to study the forests and if they find we could be exterminating any plants, insects or animals, we work around that area. It is the best I can do at this time. We have signed contracts with German companies and they are buying most of our timber.
Jakob and Edti sat with me as our scrawny financial advisor sat uncomfortably on the sofa, trying to sit stiffly. He did not give up during the entire interview.
“Thank you for seeing me.”
“You are our financial advisor, you must call on us whenever you need to. Is something wrong?”
“Your companies are all healthy. I have a different reason for asking to meet you, though you might consider my proposal presumptuous.” He pulled out of the file he was holding masses of paper. “I have all the information here to prove my idea is feasible and would strengthen your companies.”
“Leave that for later, first tell us your proposal.”
He took a deep breath. “I think we should open our own bank.”
Matter of factly I asked, “Where should we open our first branch? Here or in America? I appreciate it would be more profitable opening it in London first, but the banking laws are easier in America.”
He was at a loss, having prepared his arguments to convince us. “Could we not buy an existing small bank? It should be a merchant bank.”
“Fine. Do a check on what is available and on the financial health of each one. Do any banks also own insurance companies. We should also expand into that sector.”
“Not that I know.” He shuffled through his papers and handed me a bunch of them. “These are the banks small enough for us to buy. I have their financial reports for you to examine.”
“Jakob, could you please look through them? Choose the best one, even if it costs more. Don’t forget that this was his idea so he should be rewarded. When we buy the bank enter two and a half percent of the shares in his name, but reserve the voting rights for our holding company. Thank you Mr Crawford and please do not hesitate to contact me or either of the gentlemen should you have any further proposals.”
The two men burst out in laughter when he left the room.
“You knocked him for a loop. He came prepared with hours of arguments to convince you.” Edti pulled a face. “You’ve certainly floored me. I never thought of having our own bank.”
“It was an obvious idea. Jakob, you get on well with our present bankers. Ask them whether they would like to buy an interest in our bank, say about twenty five percent. That way they continue to make a profit out of us and we can borrow their expertise.”
The ‘First Commercial Bank of London’ (FCB of London) opened its doors four months later and the press gave us wonderful coverage - we even made it onto the BBC eight o’clock news. We were analysed to death, but nearly everyone agreed it will be successful. We were delighted to find reports about our bank in newspapers in Europe and America.
Twenty three years. Still no attacks! I can’t believe my bluff worked so well. Is he waiting for me to become overconfident and let down my guard? Is he waiting for a gathering where everyone who loves me is close by me so as to kill all of them at the same time? It will be a long time before I relax and accept that he really has run off to hide from Robert.
Edti’s son, Pol, sees me often enough for us to be very fond of each other and he loves the stories I tell him of aliens and spaceships. He has a golden mop of hair, bright blue eyes and at nearly four years old I can see he will be slim and hopefully tall like his father. His colouring mostly comes from Sandi. He allows me to cuddle him or hold him on my lap for a short while, but has learnt he is not allowed to come near me if we are sitting in any of the outer rooms. I sat and studied him this afternoon and the realisation came to me that I was allowing my enemy to win by default. This little boy is special to me and I want him to be part of my life.
“Pol, put on your shoes and I’ll take you for a walk in the park.” Everyone else froze as he rushed off to his bedroom. “Are you willing to risk it?” I’ve infected them with my fear, so they hesitated before answering it was alright with them.
I watched him on the slide, played see-saw and ran after him while he screamed at my near misses as I tried to catch him. I took home a sweaty but happy little boy and we all breathed a silent sigh of relief once he was back in his mothers’ arms again.
I’ve returned to what I used to do during the first years here. I’m not trying to regain all my gifts, but I’m trying to strengthen my ability to sense others. If I can extend the range, I might sense his ‘blank’ mind if he is anywhere close by.
Three weeks of practice and I can sense a small difference. Perhaps it is because I do not believe I can, so I’m more relaxed in my efforts. Living in a city filled with emoting minds has made it more difficult to extent my sense, but today I felt someone about a hundred yards away. I’m thrilled and shared the news with my family and friends. I want to get it to at least one hundred and fifty yards.
I’ve never been so frightened in my life! Everyone else was relaxed and soon complained of being bored, but I was tense until we touched the ground again. They recently started flights to Nairobi so I convinced Minti to come with me and she convinced a friend of hers to join us. I refused to allow Edti and family to come with as we’d make too good a target. Being in a plane with four propellers instead of jets was what frightened me. After teleporting, any flight, even in the latest jets makes me uncomfortable. Being in something so primitive made it worse for me.
It was worth it. We had booked rooms at the Norfolk Hotel. I’ve now seen how it used to be in our reality and it truly is a lovely place to stay. When I return perhaps I can convince the ADFI to buy and restore it to its old beauty and charm.
Minti’s friend laughs too loudly, but it is infectious. Otherwise she is just a typical English woman of about thirty years old. She shocked a lot of her friends when she divorced, since divorces are still frowned upon and rare. She is slightly on the plump side, but I’ve noticed a lot of men take a second look at her. Her name is Viki.
The two of them share a room while I have one to myself. I made certain our rooms are not adjoining for a couple of reasons. For safety of course, but also so that the two of them feel free to do as they wish. There is one Englishman, Peetr, who dresses like a safari white hunter, who has been paying Minti a lot of attention and she seems quite taken by him. He arranged our trips to see wild animals and had her sit in front with him as he drove us around. I hid my smile when I saw them surreptitiously holding hands.
I walked around the parts of Nairobi where the Indian traders mostly have their shops and chatted with a couple I felt would deal with me honestly. They led me to an Indian trader who has financed prospectors.
“Have any of them found good ruby or emerald deposits?”
“They all say they have memsahib, but I have no proof.”
“Are any of them dependable and honest?”
“Most of them are Afrikaners, from South Africa. They are a blunt and difficult people memsahib.”
“Please stop calling me memsahib, my name is Jina. I’m staying at the Norfolk hotel, if one of the good ones comes into town within the next ten days, call on me with him or leave a message and I’ll come to you. Perhaps we can strike a deal that will benefit all of us.”
“I cannot visit you at the hotel, I am an Indian. It is only for white people.”
“I’d say to hell with that, but then you’ll have to live with the consequences, so leave a message for me.”
“There is a prospector I like, but he is younger than the others. He is in Nairobi looking for money.”
“Have him here tomorrow morning.”
Minti gave a wide grin when I told them my news. “I should have guessed you brought us here to do business. So, what about this young prospector? Is he good looking?”
“I’ve no idea. I’m more interested in the rubies he can find for us.”
I could hear an angry voice from the street as I arrived. The Indian gentleman was remonstrating with someone for not bothering to dress properly. I walked in and saw why. A man about thirty years old was sprawled over a couch, his one leg up on the arm, his clothes wrinkled and looking as if he had worn them for a week and slept in them. With about a week’s stubble on his leathery cheeks he looked at me insolently as I entered. At the sight of me I then noticed a gleam of amusement in his eyes. To be frank, he put my back up and I did not like him. Slowly enough for it to be an insult he straightened himself and came to his feet.
“What are the strata you would expect to find rubies in? What would the surrounding composition be? Do the gems lie loosely in pockets or are they enclosed within rock?”
“I suggest you return to England and take a course in mineralogy.”
“Thank you for your advice.” I turned to the Indian. “Let me know when you have someone who knows enough to answer my questions. Good day gentlemen.”
In a monotone the prospector answered me, giving details that convinced me he was not a bush prospector but had studied the subject. He ended off by asking me, “What is a pigeon blood?”
“Something like this stone?”
He looked at my ring and laughed. “That must have set you back some real dosh.”
“As real as it gets. You know, the kind you have to work for? Are you familiar with that kind of money?”
“No, only the kind I can cadge out of greedy people.”
I laughed. “At least that was an honest answer. Fine, you’ve convinced me you are knowledgeable and to a small degree honest. However I also need someone who is capable of acting according to my instructions - somehow I doubt that you are.”
“It depends on the instructions. I do not cater to the whims of fools, I’m not that desperate.”
I was not so much upset by his verbal sparring, I could sense his emoting and he was blasting me with his lust. I decided it would be better I avoid the problems a man like him would cause me before he starts causing them. I turned away from him. “Please let me know should you find someone suitable.”
I walked out and returned to the hotel. Minti raised an eyebrow as she saw me return so quickly. I explained and she found it amusing. “He might do you some good, it is about time you share your bed with someone. Have a fling while you can.”
“I’d rather share it with a black mamba!”
“Oh, that’s kinky.” They both laughed so I ignored them and ordered a lime juice with ice and sat scowling until it arrived, ignoring their comments.
The next day, late in the afternoon, we departed for the residence of the German Ambassador. We’d been invited for cocktails. A few of the men in suits and their wives seemed to know who I was and took turns at crowding me and trying to learn something personal about me. I fended them off easily and pretended not to understand them. For a while a man stood in the group without addressing himself to me and apart from noticing that he was dressed smartly, I ignored him and did not look at him.
“Miss Jonston, allow me to introduce Jan Van Deventer. He is a bit of scoundrel and finds ways to have himself invited to all diplomatic parties in the hope of seducing our women.”
I looked and saw it was the untidy prospector I’d walked out on previously, looking smart and handsome in a rugged way. “I hope they have the good taste to disappoint him?”
He grinned. “A few are too simple-minded to appreciate what is offered.”
“And what is that Mr Van Deventer? Your incredible vanity?”
“It would be foolishly modest of me to ignore that I am the best on offer in Nairobi. I especially appreciate women who can afford to wear real diamonds to such affairs as this one.”
“You are claiming to be knowledgeable about diamonds?”
He grinned again. “De Beers seem to think so, they have a task force permanently following me when I’m in the bush. They seem to believe God gave them a special dispensation, creating diamonds only for their profit.”
I smiled. “That must be the only point we see eye to eye on. Still, we shouldn’t discomfort our hosts by continuing this conversation. A pleasure to meet you again Mr Van Deventer.” I walk over to a different group.
As I left the party to join some people at a supper at the Gymkhana Club, a car pulled up and the back door was opened for me. Only after I’d sat and the door was closed did I notice who the driver is. “Am I being abducted?”
He smiled back at me through the mirror, but I sensed a tightness in him. “I was asked to drive you to the club. Would you mind if I did abduct you? I could take you into the bush and show you the surrounding strata where ruby deposits lie, among other things.”
“The club would do.”
“You embarrassed me back there. It is not often a woman succeeds at making me blush.” I kept quiet, not apologising as he expected. “What kind of instructions were you talking about?”
“You would only prospect exactly where I tell you.”
He grinned. “Somebody sold you a map?”
I could tell he thought he had crossed some kind of corner and was on the way to seducing me. “Mr Van Deventer, please stop the car, I have something to show you.”
As he pulled off the road and stopped I got out. He walked around to me, maybe expecting me to show him a map. Seeing me standing with my arms hanging down he misunderstood and reached for me. Dazed he looked up and quickly got to his feet, his face flushed.
“What was that for?”
“You never touch me, is that understood? I’m not looking for a cheap thrill with a second rate Casanova. My only interest is in opening a ruby mine.”
He was really angry and I was trying to provoke him. As I talked I tapped his chest with my finger. He made to grab me and found himself with his arm twisted behind his back. I let go and stepped away. He rubbed his arm, glaring at me. Suddenly he chuckled. “Jeezus, you’re fast! Do you have any other moves?”
“Enough to handle three of you. Now, if you, on your side, can handle orders without questions and are willing to work for a woman who can out-fight you, be at the Norfolk at eight in the morning. Shall we go to the club?”
He was waiting for me when I arrived and stood up politely. “No map?”
“Good morning Mr Van Deventer. No map, we have some talking to arrive at an agreement first. Join me for breakfast.”
He watched as I piled food on my plates from the buffet and I saw admiration in his eyes. I guessed he is a farm boy with a respect for those who eat well. As I dug into my pink grapefruit I asked him, “The Indian gentleman who introduced us, what is your opinion of him? Is he honest?”
“He’s bankrolled me two times. Each time I’ve double-checked the amount he gave me and it was correct.”
“Since you live here you must know more about him.”
“He’s a decent sort.”
“I’ll appoint lawyers to create a company. You will have fifteen percent and he will have three percent. My shares will be held by my company in London. I’ll provide the company with one million pounds as capital, much of it will be in heavy duty earth moving machinery. Prepare a list for me of what you’ll need. Do not forget to include the expenses of setting up a camp for the site management and workers. I’ll include a water tanker so that you can have a supply of clean drinking water as the site will be about one hundred and fifty miles from the nearest town. Do you have any problems with working in Tanganyika?”
“None.”
“Good, then let’s finish our breakfast first.”
We moved out onto the narrow verandah facing the street for our coffee. “Is it safe to talk here?” He nodded. “I do know exactly where you must dig. It will not be your job to mine it. Peg the area and apply for a permit in the name of the company. The attorney will have my Power of Attorney to sign. Once you have secured mining rights, get it started, employ someone you trust and move on to your next job. I have a good emerald site in Kenya marked out for you which I’ll make available once you are ready. Do not tread on the toes of De Beers or they’ll shut us down. Our first job is to become very strong in the gem markets. Once I feel we can afford to play their kind of games I’ll provide you with information for us to lodge claims for pipes with two hundred carats per hundred tons of earth moved. On all these projects your percentage stands if you decide to trust me and only do exactly as I say. If I say sell and you think my decision is stupid, you do as I ordered and argue with me afterwards. If I caused any damage, I’ll see to it that my partners do not pay for my mistakes.” I stared directly at him. “Yes or no? Are you in?”
“Have I got a choice, has anyone ever refused you?”
“Don’t be flippant. Your commitment has to be one hundred percent and for the rest of your working life. Nothing less will do.”
“I’m in.” I shook his hand.
“Once you get started I’ll form a security company that will specialise in transporting our uncut stones to Amsterdam. They will be a crack unit that would need an army to steal their cargo. I’ll also arrange that they’ll have their own planes so make certain you use a bulldozer to create landing strips at our mines. Place turrets and towers for guards. Anything further I’ll either fax to my attorney or send you the message through Mr Patel. What the one knows the other never does, only you will have the complete picture, is that understood?”
“You make it sound like a military operation.”
“How do you think De Beers work?” He nodded. “One last point I have to make so that we work well with each other. Do not plan to seduce me, that will never happen and an attempt will only break up our partnership. I’m not available, full stop.”
“You’ve already made that clear. Am I allowed to ask any questions? Where did you get the maps?” I could not very well tell him of Robert’s determination to foil Campbell and our studies of satellite photos and tons of geological data from our reality. I guess Campbell would feel sick if he knew that he was about to make me immensely wealthy.
“If I trust you implicitly, I promise to tell you in twenty years time. I will show you trust in one thing and I expect you to keep it a secret - even from your family. Get yourself something to read if you do not want to become bored, I need you to sit still for a minimum of one hour.”
He was curious but did as I asked. I placed my hand on his left hand and warned him not to break the contact. When I let go and he left, he did not ask any questions, he must have felt the changes within himself and I could sense a certain amount of awe in his mind. I knew it would not last, but it will start us off on the right footing.
Minti complicated things for me on the eve of our departure. She was almost in tears as she admitted, “I can’t leave Jina, I’m in love.”
“He’s not the kind of man who could settle in England, are you prepared to give up everything to move out here permanently?”
“I don’t know - it scares me.”
“Has he proposed?”
“He hasn’t, but I think he wants to.”
“When he does I want to be close by.”
“I was hoping you would. What about the magazine?”
“What about it? It is yours, but I’d suggest you appoint someone to run it for you and the two of you return to London at least once every six months.”
Peetr was either fooling himself or was in love with her, not her money. He does not look like the kind of man who fools himself so I gave her the nod and she accepted. Once they’d stopped kissing and trembling in each others arms as their commitment became real and frightened them, Minti called for me to join them. We discussed the problems and he surprised me by agreeing to spend a few months in London to see whether he could make a go of it there before uprooting her. It helped me like him even more. Since his mother lives in England he agreed to the ceremony taking place there and promised to fly out in two weeks. As I felt Minti, I wondered at how she’d managed to keep the depth of her feelings for him from me. I’d love it if it turns out she is gifted.
As soon as Peetr arrived, he spent a few days with his mother and when he came to London the parties started. We had an engagement party with a crooner from France to set the mood for all the women. The magazine sent photographers and it almost filled the society pages. They included photos of them in the bush and many readers wrote of how romantic they thought it had been.
I asked Peetr to visit me alone. He came to the office and I could see he was not impressed.
“On this paper is a list of the companies we own or run and what those companies do. Choose which one you find interesting. Peetr, do not choose one because of prestige or size, you must be happy doing your job so choose without giving consideration to anything else. If you do not like any of them or you want to return to Nairobi, consider representing us at our mining company there. We need someone we trust and who better to trust than someone who is part of the family?”
“I was not looking to be employed by you.”
“Nothing is being forced on you, I’m only giving you the opportunity to choose. Peetr, I’m rather old fashioned in some ways. The man I love, I must feel that he is the main provider and I must respect him for us to have a relationship that means something. Most women feel the same way. Minti is wealthy in her own right so you would not need to work if that is what you want, or you could continue with your safari business. If you choose the latter, I will have to keep my distance from both of you. I’m not against killing animals if it is to eat them, but a mind that enjoys killing for the sport of it is not something I can bear to be close to.”
“I’d never have taken you for a bleeding heart.”
“Have you not asked yourself how it is a woman could create such a fortune? I’m not that smart or daring, but I do have one advantage over most people. I have a strong sense of empathy and by placing myself in the shoes of the other person or of my customers, I am able to discover what it is that would motivate them to work with me or buy my products or services. With such a keen sense of empathy I am forced to sense the killer in you.”
“Is that why Minti was so reluctant to answer my questions when I asked her about you?”
“That, plus the fact that someone has tried to kill me a number of times and we do not know who he is. He blew up our house while her daughter Samantha was in my arms.”
“God! I did not know. I vaguely recall reading something about it, but I did not pay attention as I did not know any of the people involved. I’m sorry.”
“I’m only telling you so that you are patient with Minti when she is depressed or afraid.”
“Is that person out to kill her too or only you?”
“I cannot answer that with any certainty. As he has told me, he wishes to obliterate me without anyone left behind to remember me. I’m not certain that Minti understands that.”
“This certainly changes things, I’ll have to give it some thought.”
My heart sank all the way down into my stomach. Was he about to leave her and Minti endure another pain because of me? “You are planning to desert Minti?”
He flushed. “Good God! I was not implying that! I meant I must look to protecting her.” It took a long time for my hands to stop trembling.
A few days later he informed me he prefers to run our Nairobi office. As their wedding gift I gave them five percent of the company from my shares. Edti gave them another two and a half so that they are now substantial shareholders in a company I expect to pass the one hundred million pounds value within five years. Edti and I have retained the voting rights for the first twenty years.
We sold ten percent to friends of Jakob and he received fifteen percent. That means that the holding company belonging to Edti and I has over fifty percent of the voting, giving us the majority.
Jan Van Deventer has sent us a cable confirming the deposit of rubies and a valid mining permit and it was confirmed by the attorney. The mining equipment is being shipped in a few weeks. I toyed with the idea of ‘discovering’ tanzanite, but I decided the time is not right for that yet.
Twenty four years. We nearly lost mums. She’s been lax about giving me the time to keep her healthy so I panicked when they phoned to tell me she had fainted and had been taken to a hospital. I rushed over and arrived as the doctor was explaining to da that a tiny vein had popped in her brain. His look of relief when da saw me confused the doctor.
“Are you proposing any kind of treatment?” I asked.
“There is nothing we can do to repair the damage, we can only try to contain it so as to decrease the chances of it occurring again. I’m sorry but your mother is elderly and the body is starting to fail.” Elderly! She was only about sixty five! I still tend to forget that the life expectancy of Normals has not increased as it has in our reality. I thanked the doctor and said, so that da would understand, that I would be taking care of her. I went straight to her bedside and sat holding her hand for three hours. When I sensed she was well, I let go and took da home with me so that I could spend time making certain he is absolutely healthy. One good side benefit was that the entire family and Jakob allowed me to use my healer on them - except for Minti who is still on her working honeymoon in New York, where Peetr is opening an office for our marketing of gem stones.
The reminder of mortality brought the family closer for a while. I recall Arthur hoping he dies before any other of his family dies and though he said he was being selfish, I understand how he feels. I cannot bear the thought of any of those close to me dying. Since I have to die anyway, why stay to watch them die and feel the absence of their hearts. My sweet little Samantha, there is not a day I don’t think of you.
As the family drifted back to their routines and I was left alone for hours and days, I slid into a depression without realising it. The more depressed I became, the less time I was willing to spend with others. My misery became precious to me and I sort of felt they were intruding.
I received notice from those I’d employed to monitor the economy, that it was heating up, especially in America and Germany. It took almost a day for me to awaken from my lethargy. Even if it is a false alarm I must react to it. I called in my partners and our financial advisor.
“I need you to give us the latest net values of our companies and cash in hand. An estimate of what cash we could raise without endangering our assets must be included.”
He opened his folders. “As of end of last month, the value of our companies without the magazine total seventy four million six hundred thousand pounds. Cash on hand as of three days ago was eight million two hundred and fifty three thousand. As to cash that could be raised, I will have to return to you on that in three days time.”
“Could you give us a rough estimate?”
“I do not make guesses Miss Jonston.”
“Thank you. On your way out please ask Mrs Smithston to reserve two tickets to Nairobi and send a cable to Mr Van Deventer with my date of arrival. She should ask him to meet me in Nairobi at the Norfolk. I’ll require two rooms there, no, make it four rooms. Mr Van Deventer must stay there with us. Please ask her to also put a call through to New York to my sister for me. Thank you.”
As soon as he closed the door Jakob asked, “What’s going on?”
I explained. As I’d already spoken of it before with my plans to save as many people as I could, they quickly understood. “As soon as our cash reserves pass twenty million pounds, I will transfer to your private accounts one million each. I do not want you to be at risk because of my dreams.”
Edti answered heatedly, “If you do I’ll transfer it back.” Jakob nodded in agreement.
I smiled, “Please don’t, who’ll support me if I lose everything.” That stopped them all from arguing with me. “As from today my sole interests will be the stock exchanges and our mining operation. Edti, sell off our oldest ships and order new general cargo vessels and if available, grain carriers to replace them. We’ll look to finding employment for them later when the rates have shot up. Jakob, I need two million pounds to be transferred to our New York branch. Instruct our manager there that he must honour all my commitments to stock brokers as I advise him telegraphically.”
As they were about to leave I asked Edti to stay. “I want you to fly to Nairobi with me.” I stopped. “What’s wrong?”
He nearly denied anything was wrong but then, looking embarrassed, he said, “I’m terrified of flying.”
“Ask Mrs Smithston to cancel the one ticket and hotel booking. It was selfish of me, I only wanted you along for the company.” I grinned at him, “I wish Pol was old enough to come with, he’d be great company.”
“Once he’s eight years old I won’t mind.”
“Edti, there are a number of massive derelict warehouses, can you find which are for sale, negotiate the price to the bone and buy them. We need to start converting them for food storage and filling them.”
He took my face in his hands, “My weird little sister who wants to save the world - I love you very much.”
“I’ll keep the look in your eyes for those hours I need to remember I’m loved.”
We analysed the markets, as we used to say, 24/7, and we began to get an idea of which segments of the market were in favour. We bought shares and then bought until our cash finished. We sat back and watched them rise and sold them at a profit of sixty percent net. We bought in again, those shares only beginning to perk up and sold again. Day after day, week and month after month. Within eight months we had over fifty million in cash, eight warehouses being converted in England, eleven in America with another fourteen being negotiated. We had to be in every State, I did not want to waste money on transporting the food to the hungry.
America was in a frenzy of waste and we set up collections points where we purchased secondhand clothes, especially winter clothing for adults and children at a fraction of their prices and sent them to our warehouses. Clever accountants managed to have most of the costs of our purchases set off against our profits in the market.
Jan was shocked at the sense of urgency in me. I gave him a map for the emeralds and told him to hurry, peg the land and register our claims. “I’ve already consulted with the manufacturers of the machinery and they are being loaded onto ships to be sent here. Here is a map for a new kind of stone. Name them Tanzanite. Don’t worry about the marketing, we’ll handle that and they’ll fetch a higher price than diamonds. I’m sending you machinery for that also. Bring in professional mine managers from South Africa, offer top salaries, we cannot afford any delays and need the best. Jan, a crisis is coming and millions will starve. Without offering explanations, can you find for me or suggest someone to run farms for beans, maize and wheat?”
“Not much wheat is grown here, I’ll check. What size farms are we talking about?”
“I’m willing to invest one hundred million pounds for the land, cultivating it and the machinery and huge silos.”
He whistled. “A suggestion. Grow tomatoes also, we can sun-dry them. People cannot survive on the basics only. Chicken farms for eggs would also be an idea. The technology exists for turning the eggs into powder. You’ll also need it for the bread. I might have someone who’ll work for you if you can convince him to leave his own farm to work yours.”
“Get him, I’ll convince him.”
“Are you from another planet?”
I gave a grim smile. “All you have to do is learn how to read the statistics and data. I have a team of the best professionals advising me - if you’ve read our business newspaper you should know that.”
“Me read!” I laughed.
