An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah

Author:Petina Gappah [Petina Gappah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571254583
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2009-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

On the flight to Amsterdam, he dreams of a new geyser for their house in Harare. The last time he called home, his brother’s wife said the old geyser is giving problems. He must remember to ask his brother to call Tregers’ for a quotation, he thinks. Then he remembers that with a million euros, they can buy a new house, houses, for him and his brothers. And each of their children. And their children’s children.

He works out how much a million euros is in Zimbabwe dollars. Each euro is two million dollars, on the parallel market, of course. 2,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwe dollars. His mind cannot expand enough to take this in.

Twelve zeroes make a billion, according to the United Kingdom system of counting. Twelve zeroes make a trillion, going by the United States version. Two billion or two trillion. One-fifth of Zimbabwe’s last annual budget. A lot of money, in any country. In a flood of thanksgiving, he plans all the things he will buy for his Lord’s representative on earth, their pastor in Harare.

A new cellphone, for sure.

A stove and a fridge.

A suit for the pastor.

An outfit (with a hat) for the pastor’s wife.

Toys and clothes for their children.

In his mind he sees the pastor’s children on his farewell visit, peering at the black-and-white cartoon images hissing from their fourth-hand television.

‘I will buy them a new television,’ he vows. ‘One with a flat screen.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.