This morning was all about beginnings for her. She brushed her copper hair from face, and stretched beneath the sheet. The light behind the curtain went from dim to bright as if someone had turned up a rheostat—a typical start to a mid-summer African dawn. Sophie began her summer job today. And it wasn’t just any job. It was a plum position as conservationist on a private game reserve two hours outside the city of Cape Town. A real gem. And an enormous challenge; exactly what got Sophie’s blood fizzing. Her father always told anyone who would listen, his theory about why adrenaline had such a positive effect on the youngest of his four children. Sophie’s mother had gone white-water rafting, not knowing she was pregnant with Sophie at the time, and to this day he was convinced the experience had affected his daughter’s ability to cope positively with stress. Sophie always added: ‘That, and growing up with three older brothers.’ Conservation was Sophie’s passion and she now had a wonderful opportunity to indulge herself.
