Part 2.
I stepped from the bathtub and, wrapping myself in a bath towel, went downstairs to the kitchen.
Jenny was already dressed in jeans and a blouse. I could see the outline of her bra-straps as she turned away from me to place two more slices of toast in the toaster.
"I didn't know your Grandfather was going to South America." She suddenly said.
I must have had a blank expression on my face for she continued.
"It's in Michael de Vane's letter."
I picked up a teacup and sipped the hot liquid inside. That was better. Get something warm inside you. That's what my Scout leader had always said when we were out camping in foul weather. Get yourself inside something warm should have been his motto from what we subsequently found out about his tangled love life.
"I didn't know he was." I said buttering a slice of toast.
I looked at the top of the cooker. The frying pan wasn't in use. It looked as if it would be just toast for breakfast.
"I thought he was spending the next few weeks in Spain." Jenny said, collecting the fresh toast from the toaster and sitting at the table opposite me.
"I thought that." I agreed through a mouthful of toast.
"Michael de Vane says that he is going to South America with Roddrego to visit their Ruby mine."
Jenny picked up the flimsy sheets of airmail letter and, placing her glasses on her nose, read part aloud.
"I received a telephone call from Roddrego yesterday evening. Their income from the mine has been steadily falling over the past few years and they were concerned that the new manager was cooking the books in some way. They decided that the only way to get some straight answers would be to go and see the man for themselves."
"Well." I said, pouring another cup of tea. "Mines don't last forever. They have had a good income from this one for nearly thirty years. And it isn't as if they need the money."
"Hmm." Jenny looked doubtful. "Michael is concerned that they should be going at all at their ages. They are both over seventy."
"One last adventure." I looked down at the pile of clothes she was pushing across the table towards me.
"Your Grandfather isn't well."
No, he wasn't well. He hadn't looked particularly good since Grandmother had died three years before. That anniversary would be in a few weeks.
Jenny and I hadn't been down to see him much since Millie, my Black Labrador, had died in the summer. I didn't feel comfortable there anymore. Too many memories. I knew that Jenny loved the house and I supposed I still did deep down. It was just too soon for me.
The telephone was ringing.
"I'll get it." Jenny said standing up. "You get dressed."
It looked as if our staying in bed at least until lunch had gone. I did as I was told.
"What!" Jenny exclaimed through the half-opened door. Then she laughed. "That'll teach him."
"Yes, we know." She continued after a pause during which I could see she was concentrating on the voice at the other end.
She looked at me as I made my way into the hall tucking my safari style shirt into the top of my jeans.
"I don't think we can." She said into the mouthpiece. "I have exams on Thursday and Friday. I'll ask him."
She covered the mouthpiece with her hand.
"Your father has fallen into a new bunker they are building on the Golf course. He's broken a bone in his foot and dislocated his knee."
"How did he do that?" I asked.
"I don't know." She replied. "It was while he was still playing."
"Ok." I nodded. "Shall we go down and see him?"
"Yes. No." She looked at the telephone receiver. "Your mother want's us to go to South America and bring your grandfather back. I've told her I have exams."
"I can't just walk out of my job."
"She said David will fix that for you."
I thought for a few seconds.
"You mean I should go alone?"
"Yes."
I could hear my mother's voice coming from the earpiece of the phone.
"We're just discussing it." Jenny said briefly into the mouthpiece and replaced her hand over it.
"Well?" She continued. "Do you want to?"
"I don't want to." I said, this could be a lot of effort for nothing, "what if they don't want to come home?"
"What if they don't want to come home?" Jenny asked into the phone.
She listened.
"Your mother said that she sent a telegram to them yesterday telling them to stay in their hotel until you get there on Wednesday." She listened at the earpiece again.
"She received a reply this morning and they agree."
Hmm. That was strange. Why travel on the way down there to meekly agree to come home? Why couldn't they come home on their home?
Jenny was listening again.
"Your mother says she doesn't trust them. She thinks they will just tell her they are coming home and then go off into the jungle. They won't if they think you are going out there to collect them."
"I'm not so sure about that." I said. "When do I leave?"
"There is a plane on Sunday with an overnight stop in New York. Then down to Miami, change planes and you will be there late Tuesday evening." Jenny was listening at the phone again. "There are planes back to Miami on Wednesday and Friday."
She pulled open the small drawer in the front of the hall table and took out the small writing pad and pen we kept in it for taking messages. She started writing.
I looked over her shoulder and placed my hand upon her hip. She kissed my cheek.
She was writing down a man's name and a telephone number.
"When you get to London you are to ring this man." She said, laying down the pen and tearing the piece of paper from the pad. "You'll need your passport."
"Alright." She said into the mouthpiece of the phone. "I will."
She put down the phone and looked up at me.
"She said I'm not to worry. You will be safe." She frowned. "What did she mean by that?"
I shrugged my shoulders and went back into the kitchen. There was still some tea in the pot so I poured it into our cups. It was just warm.
Jenny sat and opened the newspaper.
"Ah!" She exclaimed.