Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Author:Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction;Africa;Uganda;Britain;Family;Belonging;Immigration;Short stories;Literary;Award-winning
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2019-05-01T15:05:28+00:00

Our human carried me from the vet’s clinic and laid me on the back seat. Orora jumped in with me. She licked me. It’s fine, car rides are fine, just relax, you’ll get used to it and start to enjoy them. She couldn’t stop bouncing on the seat, yelping, My world isn’t torture, just different, there were things she couldn’t wait to show me, she couldn’t wait for me to meet other pets. Me, I was busy sensing out the pariahs in Manchester, plotting how soon I would escape and find a pariah family. I needed to locate where, what and who was who so I could map myself on the territory, but I was getting nothing. The air felt so dry my nose was parched. At first, I thought it was the medicines the vets had injected into me. I feared they had killed my senses. Finally, I confessed: Orora, I think I’ve lost my sensing, I don’t feel this place.

She laughed so hard she fell off her seat. You’ve not lost your perception. Compared to Kampala, which – with all due respect – is an assault on everything sensory, Manchester is tame.

So how do you find your way home in case you run too far in the night?

Why would I run too far in the night?

When you’ve been out exploring because humans are sleeping or you run into hostiles who chase you far from your familiar.

Orora looked at me funny then laughed. It won’t happen. She must have seen the worry on my face, for she added, Maybe the car’s moving too fast for you to register things? You’ll soon get used to the sights and sounds around our area, don’t worry.

We arrived at the house. Car door unlocked, Orora bounded out. I stepped out unsteadily. Orora was already impatient at the entrance door. Our human opened and Orora bounded up the stairs. Me, I lingered below, looking up. Orora, up on the landing, said, Come on. I claimed wooziness but I was lying. I wasn’t woozy. I was entering pet-hood. Our human lifted me and we went up two flights. Once again, Orora was impatient at the door.

But once inside, my pariah instincts kicked in and I nosed every inch of the house. It was carpet, carpet, coats hung. Only one human scent. Door, carpet, carpet, chairs, table, wall, sofa, gadgets, wall, carpet, carpet, linoleum, bathroom – humans drop dung in a bowl indoors! Strong sleep scents in the bedroom. My nose led me to the last room. Another trunk, empty but distant smells of snake, rhino horn, lion, cheetah, elephant lingered. Before I could say I would love to sleep in this room, Orora pulled me out by the ears: Never, ever go sniffing in that room again.

Apparently, one time our human saw her sniffing and gave off the foulest fear. Then he sniffed everywhere comically. Then he sprayed the house with that nauseating stuff. You won’t believe what humans call air-refresher, she said. Most revolting.

I returned to the living room and Orora showed me my couch.

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