Two Hangmen, One Scaffold Book II: In The Hangman�s Shadow

Chapter 3

11 C Chapter 3 ecause in the afternoon a technician took apart some components of the gold mill for maintenance work in the interim as terror reigned, the night was quiet aside from the cries of birds, especially owls. However, the community perceived the continued hooting of owls as an evil omen. Matipa lay in bed staring at the roof of their bedroom, wishing she were dead and six feet underground in that position. Dead, she would be incapable of worrying about Peza and seeing scary images of Bomani in her mind as she imagined him persecuting Peza relentlessly. The demon had talked about Sodom and Gomorrah. Her heart sunk whenever it crossed her mind the horde could be molesting her son. Vulgar images of Bomani and his team abusing Peza wrenched her heart. Her solace came from the possibility the brute had long killed her son. As she lay in bed, she discerned digging or ramming noises akin to one man working the ground near the compound. The noise was stronger when the wind became northerly. Whoever it was worked like an automaton. She was certain it was coming from the direction of the obelisk and the cemetery. The person had been at it for slightly over an hour now, having started his mysterious work at about 8 pm. Who could it be? No one in the compound worked late into the night on personal tasks. Besides, the northern side of the compound had nothing apart from the obelisk and the cemetery in a bushy veldt. To calm her inquisitive mind, she settled for the supposition it was perhaps an illegal gold digger working on an exposed seam. She resorted to pondering her changed circumstances, her sorrow and untold predicament. Matipa would’ve appreciated it if Bomani Kumanda had kidnapped her, instead of her son. She refrained from rueing the day she was born, which was blasphemous. Although at one point she had remotely cursed God and had shaken with an B 12 appalling resentment of the Creator, she consoled herself with the notion that blaming her misfortune on God was a natural reaction. She took it the All-knowing had forgiven her. The Almighty knew she had despised Him under unbearable distress and frustration. Sleep evaded Matipa. She saw Peza’s face on the corrugated sheets, on the naked bulb, on the walls, everywhere. Twice in the morning that day, she thought she heard his voice outside. Twice she opened the door to investigate the reality of her perception, only to turn back in frustration after discovering it wasn’t he but some boy passing or playing near their house. The image of Bomani pulling Peza back into the bedroom and attacking him ruthlessly tormented her. Again, she visualised him in the hands of Bomani, but as before, she thwarted the thoughts by accepting Peza’s death. Repeatedly, she told herself he was dead, that his body, perhaps decapitated and mutilated, lay desolate somewhere. Though concluding he was dead hurt so much that the pain palpably knotted her abdominal muscles, it somewhat soothed her that her son was beyond agony. This being 7 December, eight days had lapsed since the prophesied demon kidnapped her son. Christmas Day, eviction day, edged closer. Yet she guessed by 25 December, Akar would’ve returned. The longest he had been away was about a month. The demon in human form had promised to return. Her prayer was that Bomani’s return would coincide with Akar’s, or at least the evil one would find her husband home. The more she thought of her husband and where he could be, the more she chased sleep from her eyes. Her thoughts reverted on her son, from the day he was born and his first cry. She saw him crawling and learning to walk. She saw him waddling to her for protection when he felt threatened. As Peza grew up, bright and energetic, she had envisioned him excelling in soccer and at school. Often, she dreamed of him grown up and playing football for European clubs. Other times she saw him excelling academically to the point of receiving accolades and bursaries. In her imagination, he grew into a 13 responsible and notable man married to a God-fearing pretty woman. However, 29 November turned everything upside down. She hoped her husband would return sometime soon and there would be vengeance. He would know...