Aurora

3

It's windy, I'm exhausted, hungry and I need to pee but the main goal right now is trying to keep upright while walking from the plane to the airport because this airport in Port Elizabeth seems to have missed the memo about the shuttles that take the passengers from the plane to the terminal.

And yes I know the UK has wind but that wind is child's play to this, I mean the granny in front of us needs one of the flight attendants to help her walk straight! Like shit! there no mercy even for the old!

After a few hundred meters we finally get to the airport doors, heading inside I walk straight to where the toilet sign is pointing.

After freshing up, I head out to meet mom and Henry at the baggage claim which already has bags moving on it and it doesn't take long for our bags to appear.. Joys of a tiny airport I suppose..

"I've already seen Jen in the waiting area!" Mom says with a big smile while Henry is loading our bags onto the trolley. 

This airport is one of those small ones, blink and you miss it kind of stuff. So spotting Aunt Jen through the sliding doors that arnt that far from baggage claim isn't too hard.. Especially since she is waving her arms around frantically like a lunatic, no wonder there is not many people standing near her.

"Mom, why don't you go ahead and say hello to her? I just need to get Beth's bags off, then we will join you." Henry asks mom. 

"Alright! Beth will you hold my handbag." she says happily while giving me her bag and heading in Aunt Jen's direction.. It wasn't really a question, more a statement..

"Thought we could miss some of the water works and loud greeting, it's nice to see her happy again, for a little while anyways." Henry says.

"Yeah, one day at a time I guess, as much as I'm going to miss England, I think the move will be good for her." I reply and start looking for my bags.

"Good for all of us, I mean the school we are going to has a good Rugby program so there's that at least . I saw they have a cross country team as well, you should check it out.."  

I'm gonna give that a miss.

"Yeah, I'll look into it. Hey that looks like mine." I say pointing at the bag and getting Henry's attention off the subject. He quickly moves to get it off the carousel and waits for my other bag which is not  far behind it. Carrying them over and loading them on the trolly, we start towards the door, hopefully most of the crying is over for now.

Walking through the doors Jen is the first to notice us who immediately starts coming towards me. "Brace yourself." Henry whispers just as She crushes me with a hug, "Ahh Beth, you have become such a beautiful young lady! Look at you! And you mister! stop hiding behind that trolly and give this old lady a hug, come on!" She's says while releasing me and just about pulling Henry over the trolly. "Ive missed you guys so much!"

"Hey Aunt Jen, it's great to see you again!" I reply back with a smile. "Ok we have plenty of time to chat on the way back, let's get all your bags into the car." She says as she starts heading towards the airports exit with mom following right next to her. Henry and I quickly start to follow them out the doors when the wind hits us again almost causing the trolly to topple over, guess the wind is something we have to get use to here from what mom tells us. 

We quickly cross the road towards the parking trying to keep up with Aunt Jen. After walking go past quite a few cars she finally stops at a white Toyota Hilux. " You can load all the bags on the back Henry, I had asked Charlie to come with me to help with all of this but all I get is eye rolls from him these days." 

Ahh yes Charlie, short story about him.

Charlie is a dick.

Or at least eight year old Charlie was a dick, but from the sounds of it nothing much has changed.

Henry starting loading the bags and I go to help him while Jen goes to pay for the parking. Which doesn't take too long because soon we are all getting in and pulling out of the parking lot.

"Alright, lets get you back to the bush for a warm family welcome shall we! Remind me again why you are making my poor godchildren live out in the middle of nowhere and not in town with the normal people ?" Jen says.  "Yes mom, why are we living with wild animals instead of in town?" Henry adds

"Oh shush both of you! Tommy fixed up old man Johns place on the reserve a few years ago and the tenant have just moved out so it was perfect! And for it being in the middle of nowhere it is only ten kilometres from you house Jen!"

"Yeah whatever, you always did love living on the reserve." Jen replies with a smile.

"Ok so you have an hours drive to catch me up on what's been going on in Longdale. How is the river looking? Are the waves still the same?" Mom starts..

I think I should explain a little about where we are moving to... So Longdale is a seaside town on the Southern coast  of South Africa, it sits between Long point, which is the tip of a bay on the coast and the Dale river, hence the name Longdale. The river forms a big part of the town as more than half of the town is built around canals that the river formed as well as many families live on the river and use boats to get around more than they use their cars. You know its an important part of the town when even the local high school has docks for students that come by boat to dock at, and the local grocer.

The river also runs through the game reserve with our new house bordering onto the river and all the other lodges in the park as well, so Henry and I will apparently be going to school by boat when the year start.. Which is a change.. 

Mom grew up spending most of her days helping on the reserve, spending them on the river or in the sea, she love swimming and surfing, I think she is really excited about returning.

Jen is busy telling mom all about the old hangout places on the river and which ones are still going so Im going to quickly catch some shuteye before she tries to interrogate me, she can catch Henry first.