SA_F_2015_04_

28 SA Flyer

COLUMNS - JIM DAVIS

sings can kill you. I’m going by B.O.A.T.” For

newer generations, B.O.A.C. (British Overseas

Airways Corporation) was the previous name

of British Airways.

Anyhow, while he was away, Myrtle, Piet’s

wife, breezed into the hangar. She had sleek

black hair in a Jackie Kennedy style and was

stunningly beautiful.

“How much is my husband paying you?”

she asked.

“Forty Rand a month,” I told her. At the

time this was about half of what an acne

infested first-year postal clerk was earning.

“But you have a wife and child to support.”

I admitted that this was the truth, but

explained that my salary more than matched

my worth to the company. I sensed that she

was not happy with the situation – she had

the air of one who is about to poke a stick into

a hornet’s nest, so I begged her to leave well

alone. I explained that I had already been fired

once and feared that the mere mention of my

name could bring on another sacking attack.

“I’ll speak to Mr Piet about this,” she said,

and glistened out.

A few days later, I was in the hangar

applying black shoe polish to the tyres of a

new Comanche when I heard the clatter of

Zingi opening the window which connected his

office to the hangar. Previous experience told

me that when I heard Zingi’s window clatter,

trouble was not far away.

“Davis,” he bellowed, “what the hell have

We were trailing full flap for take-off at Komatipoort.

Thankfully, the runway goes on for miles and we were

able to get airborne once the mistake was corrected.

Piet expected me to do some unorthodox

pre-flight inspections and cockpit preparations

before he would climb in and blast away.