Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon

David looked down into the passionate little face and laughed. “You probably could have.”

Mollified, Kate allowed him to pick her up and carry her into her house. She liked being in David’s arms. She liked everything about David. He was the only grown-up who understood her. Whenever he was in town, he spent time with her. In relaxed moments, Jamie had told young David about his adventures with Banda, and now David told the stories to Kate. She could not get enough of them.

“Tell me again about the raft they built.”

And David would tell her.

“Tell me about the sharks…Tell me about the sea mis…Tell me about the day…”

Kate did not see very much of her mother. Margaret was too involved in running the affairs of Kruger-Brent, Ltd. She did it for Jamie.

Margaret talked to Jamie every night, just as she had during the year before he died. “David is such a great help, Jamie, and he’ll be around when Kate’s running the company. I don’t want to worry you, but I don’t know what to do with that child…”

Kate was stubborn and willful and impossible. She refused to obey her mother or Mrs. Talley. If they chose a dress for her to wear, Kate would discard it for another. She would not eat properly. She ate what she wanted to, when she wanted to, and no threat or bribe could sway her. When Kate was forced to go to a birthday party, she found ways to disrupt it. She had no girl friends. She refused to go to dancing class and instead spent her time playing rugby with teen-age boys. When Kate finally started school, she set a record for mischief. Margaret found herself going to see the headmistress at least once a month to persuade her to forgive Kate and let her remain in school.

“I don’t understand her, Mrs. McGregor,” the headmistress sighed. “She’s extremely bright, but she rebels against simply everything. I don’t know what to do with her.”

Neither did Margaret.

<!—nextpage—>

 

The only one who could handle Kate was David. “I understand you’re invited to a birthday party this afternoon,” David said.

“I hate birthday parties.”

David stooped down until he was at her eye level. “I know you do, Kate. But the father of the little girl who’s having the birthday party is a friend of mine. It will make me look bad if you don’t attend and behave like a lady.”

Kate stared at him. “Is he a good friend of yours?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go.”

Her manners that afternoon were impeccable.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Margaret told David. “It’s magic.”

“She’s just high-spirited,” David laughed. “She’ll grow out of it. The important thing is to be careful not to break that spirit.”

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Margaret said grimly, “half the time I’d like to break her neck.”

 

 

When Kate was ten, she said to David, “I want to meet Banda.”

David looked at her in surprise. “I’m afraid that’s not possible, Kate. Banda’s farm is a long way from here.”

“Are you going to take me there, David, or do you want me to go by myself?”

The following week David took Kate to Banda’s farm. It was a good-sized piece of land, two morgens, and on it Banda raised wheat, sheep and ostriches. The living accommodations were circular huts with walls made of dried mud. Poles supported a cone-shaped roof covered with thatches. Banda stood in front, watching as Kate and David drove up and got out of the carriage. Banda looked at the gangling, serious-faced girl at David’s side and said, “I’d have known you were Jamie McGregor’s daughter.”

“And I’d have known you were Banda,” Kate said gravely. “I came to thank you for saving my father’s life.”

Banda laughed. “Someone’s been telling you stories. Come in and meet my family.”

Banda’s wife was a beautiful Bantu woman named Ntame. Banda had two sons, Ntombenthle, seven years older than Kate, and Magena, six years older. Ntombenthle was a miniature of his father. He had the same handsome features and proud bearing and an inner dignity.

Kate spent the entire afternoon playing with the two boys. They had dinner in the kitchen of the small, neat farmhouse. David felt uncomfortable eating with a black family. He respected Banda, but it was traditional that there was no socializing between the two races. In addition to that, David was concerned about Banda’s political activities. There were reports that he was a disciple of John Tengo Javabu, who was fighting for drastic social changes. Because mine owners could not get enough natives to work for them, the government had imposed a tax of ten shillings on all natives who did not work as mine laborers, and there were riots all over South Africa.