Goodbye, Africa by Desmond Bishop

Author:Desmond Bishop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publish on Demand Global LLC

Chapter 22

“JENNIFER, COME INSIDE, and get yourself cleaned up and looking like a Christian!” That was Mrs Sparrow, next door. She and her family had recently arrived from Persia and had these wonderful rugs, vases and daggers. I used to visit her and her daughter, Jennifer, who was several years older than me.

“Pour me a gin will you, love… with lots of ice. And help yourself to an orange.”

I went over to the drinks cabinet and did what I could. But I'd never even smelt gin before, let alone poured it.

“My God! Do you want to kill me? Show him how to do it, Jennifer. If he's going to visit us he'll have to learn how to do these things. By the way, Raymond, I've got some stuff for your next play. There's a courtiers outfit that Jennifer used for some dreadful fancy dress on the boat. And there's a whole lot of “kaffir sheeting” you could use for curtains, if you're interested. We're finished with it. How do you like our new curtains? We'll be moving into the new house any day now. But I couldn't wait to get that trash down.”

“Mmmmmm, they're lovely…..um, yes, the other ones will be useful for us,” I replied. The black, gold and red stripes of the new curtains had a satin sheen and made a full drop to the floor almost overwhelming the small temporary lounge room. They seemed incongruous with the softer pastels of the Persian carpets.

“The costume will be just right for the play. I'll have to give it to the king though.”

“Oh you've got a king have you? And who is he?”

“Desmond plays the king.”

“Well, there you are then,” she said enigmatically.

There was a big turnout for the meeting at Nigel's house. Apart from the cast of “The Wizard of Zee” Nigel had invited a whole lot of his friends.

Nigel ushered all of us into his lounge and addressed us, “Because “The Wizard of Zee” was such a good show we need to do things properly now. So I think we should have a chairman, so everybody can have a chance to talk. Is that okay, Raymond?”

I shrugged, “Ummm yes. That's fine,” I said quite mystified by it all.

A friend of Nigel took the chair and I was asked to give a progress report on the last show. I proceeded to do that and elaborated on the gift of a costume and curtaining from the Sparrows.

“Well,” interjected Nigel, “I think it would be better if we used that kaffir sheeting to make costumes with. Because if we are going to have better shows we will need to start making costumes.”

“Hey! That's for curtains. That's what Mrs Sparrow said it was for. And we need curtains. If we cut it up for costumes then it will be useless for the show after that. And it will be wasted. The curtains were given to me and I want to use them for curtains. And I'm the producer!”

The issue generated a lot of feeling and was put to the vote.

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