Boy who Spat in Sargrenti's Eye by Herbstein Manu

Author:Herbstein, Manu [Herbstein, Manu]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manu Herbstein
Published: 2018-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

This evening the first subject they talked about was the high cost of food.

‘Mutton, a shilling a pound. Can you believe it?’ said Mr. Stanley. ‘And it tastes of all the rubbish their sheep scavenge from the roadside.’

‘And two shillings for a scrawny chicken,’ complained Mr. Henty.

‘Outrageous,’ Mr. Prior agreed.

By the time they had eaten the fish course and the chicken course and drunk a glass of whiskey and two bottles of the wine called claret, their tongues had loosened. Mr. Prior, who is the youngest of the three, told the others that he is 28 years old and has a wife in London, but no children.

‘Tell us about your work,’ said Mr. Stanley.

‘As you know, I’m an artist,’ said Mr. Prior. ‘We artists see things in a special way. We have to keep our eyes open all the time, especially when our subjects are moving. It’s easy to draw subjects when they are still, but capturing those in motion, especially human beings, requires special skill. That, even if I say so myself, is my speciality.

‘What I’m most looking forward to, once I get settled, is drawing the women here. The human form, especially the female form, is the most rewarding subject for any artist. In England, the female body is concealed behind voluminous clothing. What I love about African women is the way their scanty clothes reveal their rounded shapes. They make my fingers itch. I mean for my pencil, of course.’

‘Prior, Prior,’ Mr. Henty laughed, ‘what would your wife say if she heard your talk about your itchy fingers?’

‘Oh I tell her everything when I write to her. Writing it down keeps me on the straight and narrow, out of temptation.’

‘Prior, my boy,’ said Mr. Stanley, ‘One day I must tell you about my adventures in the Congo when I was searching for Dr. Livingstone.’

Mr. Prior went on as if he hadn’t heard, ‘I don’t want you fellows to misunderstand me. This is an aesthetic matter. I’m only sorry that my work restricts me to drawing in pencil. I would love to try to render the bright cloth these Fante women wear and their chocolate skin in colour, but I didn’t bring any oil paint with me. Some of them are anything but ugly, don’t you think? Take Esi, for example, the girl who brings us our food. Isn’t she quite beautiful, in spite of her woolly hair, flat nose and thick lips?’

‘You’re right,’ said Mr. Stanley. ‘I wouldn’t mind getting my own fingers on her.’

They were talking about my sister Esi. I was shocked. I was surprised to hear that these white men might like our black girls. I wanted to go to the kitchen to warn Esi to be careful, but just then she came with two empty trays and told me to help her to take the dishes back to the kitchen.

As we carried them across the road, she said, ‘Ei, Kofi, I’m tired. There is just too much work, hairdressing, cooking, washing clothes and dishes.

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.