Scatterlings by Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe

Author:Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

A Traveling Man

Miss Josephina said the northern tribes were Sun people. They told time by the sun, planted their seeds by it, and counted their years in summers and other sun things.

Dido asked her: “Have you ever been to the south?”

“No,” said Miss Josephina, chuckling. “But my husband has visited many times with Baas Joubert. He buys nice things there, my husband.”

“Oh. Mr. Joubert has been there?”

“Oh yes. He came from there. He is a southern person,” Miss Josephina said, smiling. “Baas is a traveling man, you see.”

“Is that how he met the chief?”

“The chief?”

“He said he went north and met a chief whose daughter was stolen by the Rain People.”

“My Julius . . . my husband has not spoken of a chief,” said Miss Josephina. She walked around Mr. Joubert’s bed, neatly tucking in the sheets. Then she rested her hands on her hips and heaved. “Maybe there is a chief and Baas met him.”

“Mr. Julius will know, won’t he?”

Miss Josephina laughed until her merriment was interrupted by a soft cough. “My husband will know, maybe. But many things my husband knows and does not say.”

Dido was not sure she understood. She smiled anyhow, and shrugged, in case Miss Josephina thought it was strange that she didn’t find Mr. Julius’s secrecy amusing.

“Please hand me the pillows,” said Miss Josephina.

Dido did as she was told. “Has Mr. Joubert told you the chief’s story?”

“Baas tells many stories. But I am an old woman and sometimes I do not remember.” She spoke distractedly, her attention on the pillows. “Come, we are finished here. We must pack your things now.”

Dido followed Miss Josephina. She checked around corners and over her shoulder to make sure that no one was around to see her leaving Mr. Joubert’s room. Since their meeting in his library, she had successfully avoided him and the scolding she had been dreading.

“Do you think there will be people like me in Rhodesia?” she asked Miss Josephina, taking care to keep her voice soft.

Miss Josephina didn’t answer immediately. She opened each door and closed it, steadily marched on, then opened and closed another, until they reached Dido and her father’s quarters. Just when Dido lost hope of an answer, Miss Josephina sighed. “I knew a man who went to Uganda. He promised to come back to tell me of his adventures. But time is short. I don’t believe he has finished the adventures.”

“He was also Black and white at the same time, like me?”

“He was Indian.”

“Oh,” said Dido, feeling disappointment wash over her. “When did he go?”

Miss Josephina sighed again. “It was long ago,” she said. “I had all my teeth.”

“Did the man have a daughter too?”

“He did not. But like your father, he was a fugitive of his past.”

Dido was not sure she understood that either, but she nodded. “I think Baas Joubert will give better answers than these,” said Miss Josephina. “You must ask him.”

“No, thank you,” Dido whispered to herself. “Where is his wife? Does he have one?”

Josephina was then carrying Dido’s suitcase, which she almost dropped onto her feet.

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