Our House In Arusha by Sara Tucker

Author:Sara Tucker
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-06-17T04:00:00+00:00

“You say you were hunting.” The sergeant glowered from behind his desk. Outside the window, Lusaka baked in the sun. In a corner of the small office, a junior officer was taking notes, struggling to get everything down in longhand with a stubby pencil.

“That’s right.”

“Crocodiles.”

“Yes.”

The sergeant, a burly man with jowls, shifted in his seat. “Your friend said you were fishing.”

Overhead, an ancient ceiling fan turned, rustling the papers stacked in untidy piles on the desk. The room was stifling, the air thick with the fine red dust that drifted in through the window. Patrick’s head pounded, and his eyes smarted with fatigue.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. The plan they’d made while driving Isaac to the hospital in Lusaka was for Patrick to leave the country as soon as possible. Once he’d had a couple of days to get away, the other two would report the accident to the police. They were fishing, they’d say, and a man fell overboard. If the police wanted to blame somebody, they could blame the white man.

At the hospital, however, February babbled on nervously to the woman at the front desk. It didn’t take long for hospital personnel to learn that there was a missing man. A police cruiser arrived with four cops inside, leaving just enough room for the two suspects, one in front and one in back. The cops drove to the nearest precinct house, confiscated wallets, belts, shoes, and papers, and escorted the prisoners to a crowded cell, its centerpiece a brimming latrine.

February was the first to be questioned. He was gone for over an hour, and when he returned, setting off a chain reaction of shifting bodies as he squeezed in next to Patrick, his face and arms were covered with bruises the color of eggplants. One eye was swollen shut, and a gash on the side of his head oozed blood. Patrick made a quick decision to cooperate with the police, sticking to the truth and divulging as much of the story as possible without implicating the friends who had helped set him up in business.

“Poaching is a serious crime.” The swivel chair squeaked angrily as the sergeant rose.

“I’m sorry.”

“Poaching is stealing.” The sergeant came around the desk and stood directly in front of the prisoner, his holster at eye level. He motioned to the stenographer to hand over his tablet. “Sign it.”

Patrick penned a shaky signature.

“Now you will tell us the real story.”

Patrick’s belly began to twist itself into a knot. “But sir, I have told you the truth.”

The first blow knocked him off the chair. He tried to get up but a kick sent him sprawling.

The other detainees fell silent when the guard returned Patrick to the cell. He slumped to the floor next to February and rubbed his wrists where the cuffs had been. He could feel the eyes of the men as they took in his bruises.

So far, he hadn’t been officially charged with any crime, although he’d confessed to several. The sergeant appeared to be tormenting him for sport.

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.