In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

9 9 D DE EU US S E EX X M MA AC CH HI IN NA A Joseph knocked off earlier than George so if he wasn’t away drinking with his friends, he could be relied upon, most nights, to make a fire, and get the sadza going. George, exhausted to the point of collapse, joined him at the fire. His portable wooden crate was already in position. He and Joseph exchanged greetings. George settled his worn-out body on the upturned crate and listlessly watched Joseph stirring porridge with a long wooden spoon. He felt another nasty twinge in his gut. They occurred more regularly these days, but they passed and he chose to ignore them. Reaching into the capacious pocket of his khaki shorts, he withdrew a small cabbage-leaf parcel. In it were the scrapings of four dinner plates: the bones of a chicken (those which had not been fed to the dogs), half a potato, two pieces of carrot, and several green beans. Sadly not a single crumb of stuffing had survived the voracious appetites of the four Nyamayakanunas . But its mouth-watering scent remained on the scraps. Next to the sadza pot was a smaller pot, which George and Joseph used to make relish. The pots were supported by a wire grid, which was in turn supported by two cement breeze bricks on opposite sides of the fire. The smaller pot was half filled with merrily boiling water, and into this George tipped the leftovers. The cabbage leaf went in too, piece by torn piece. He felt in his shirt pocket and withdrew a paper pellet. He held it over the relish pot and shook out a mixture of salt and ground pepper. Then Joseph made his contribution, a ripe bird’s-eye chilli from a bush growing next to his shack. The gallimaufry began to give off a distinctly pleasant aroma, and George felt his appetite awakening. The houseboy and the garden boy made desultory conversation while their supper was cooking. George moved his box to the other side of the fire so that he could watch the moon rising, ‘with how sad steps’. It used to bleed copper through the tangled branches of a monkey thorn tree, but that tree had recently succumbed to the demands of maize, already be57 ginning to tassel… a divinity killed and planted to become the food of man. Recalling the legend of Mondawmin, was it? George tried to metamorphose , in his imagination, a mealie stalk. Turning Wilhelmine into a grasshopper was easy by comparison. He would need help. He remembered reading about the legend in Longfellow’s poem but he didn’t have a copy. He did, however, have several of Joseph Campbell’s books, and as Campbell had been a world authority on Native American mythology, there was bound to be a version of it somewhere. Not now, though; there was insufficient light for reading even with such a full moon. George had been half-listening to Joseph’s complaints, about Beauticious , about the economy in general, and about the political situation. Joseph was a Karanga from the Zaka district of Masvingo. For years he had been an ardent supporter of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, but now he wasn’t so sure. For years he had denied Gukurahundi, the massacre by Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade of thousands of rural Ndebele, but now he wasn ’t so sure. For years he believed that the whites were responsible for all Zimbabwe’s woes, but now he wasn’t so sure. It was from his tribe that Ian Smith had recruited the bulk of the soldiers, which were known as the R.A.R. (previously the K.A.R.), who fought for the Rhodesians against the Freedom Fighters, ZANLA based in Mozambique, and ZIPRA based in Zambia. For years Joseph had been ashamed of this fact, but now he wasn’t so sure. “Let’s eat, Joseph,” said George, “is the sadza ready?” “It is ready.” George stood up painfully and went into his room to fetch plates and tea things. The only utensils they needed were their fingers and a spoon for the relish. Joseph took the plates and dished out a generous helping of stiff porridge for both of them. Then he took the relish off the fire and placed it on the ground between them. He mashed the potato and the carrots and the beans, and stirred them into the liquid. The men...

Share