A Guide to the Beasts of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

Author:Nicholas Drayson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Africa
Publisher: For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Published: 2011-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

18

As raindrops wash away the leopard’s spots, so wishes blunt its teeth

What he really needed, thought Mr Malik, was an umbrella. He looked out of the tent – no, make that twenty umbrellas. The rain that started just after lunch had turned into a steady downpour. Not that there was any problem with the tents. They were fine and waterproof – just as Godfrey Amin had promised they would be. It was getting between them that was the problem. But everyone seemed to be taking the bad weather in good spirit. Seated round one end of the table that had now been cleared of lunch things, Petula was discussing events international, national and domestic with several of the other women. Had Mimi Hassan really gone to the UK for a distant cousin’s wedding, or was it for another facelift? When would the Nairobi City Council do something about parking near the central market? If you sew six kangas together can you really call it a sari? At the other end of the table young Henry Vanshu had brought out a pack of playing cards and was instructing some of the other children in the finer points of Bombay hold ’em. Over in the seventh tent a noisy crowd of teenagers had started up a game of team billiards. Some of the girls were surprisingly good.

The duet of snores that could now be heard coming from the men’s tent suggested that Messrs Gopez and Patel had each achieved a satisfactory state of post-prandial somnolence. What with their chorus and the noise of the rain on canvas, Mr Malik didn’t hear the Tiger’s Range Rover arrive.

“Hello, Malik.” Tiger Singh closed his striped umbrella and leaned it against the side of the tent. “I’m glad I made it before dark. Wouldn’t want to drive at night in this kind of weather. I would have been sooner except something came up at the club. And what’s all this rain, anyway? It was blue skies all the way up, then as soon as I got through Chuka – splosh. I thought it was supposed to be the dry season.”

“Oh. Hello, Tiger. Yes, sorry about that. Just a summer shower, I expect.”

Mr Malik was not far from the truth. Though they were fifty miles from Mount Kenya, the massive mountain can still affect the weather. Local downpours are common even in the dry season. One theory is that they are caused by warm wet winds blowing in from the east meeting cold air that flows down from the top of the mountain. The other theory is that Mr Malik should never have touched that juali.

“So, Tiger, sit down. Can I get you a tea, coffee or anything? But you were saying something – something about the club.”

“Yes, strange thing. The manager phoned me this morning just as I was about to leave. Would you believe it? The lion’s disappeared.”

“The lion – the Kima Killer?”

“Yes. Just a prank, no doubt. Are the Bashu boys here?”

“No. Sunny said they couldn’t come this year.

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