Jennifer Juniper: A Journey Beyond the Muse by Jenny Boyd

Author:Jenny Boyd
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Publisher: Urbane Publications Limited
Published: 2020-03-11T21:00:00+00:00

I am five years old and standing with my brother and sister outside our house in Kenya. My brother is seven and my sister is nine. We’ve been told to stand at the top of our gravel drive and to alert our parents when we see the visitor’s car. It was not often that visitors came to our house, but when they did we could see them for miles before they actually arrived, a whirl of dust would suddenly appear followed by a little dark speck slowly moving in the distance with the black and silver metal shimmering under the hot African sky. As this gleaming object grew in size, the chugging sound of the engine would drift lazily up the hill, blending with the songs of birds and cicadas. It was mesmerizing, something we children loved to do, often counting how long it would take for a car to reach the Jacaranda trees that stood either side of our house.

Once we had sounded the alert, and the greetings were over with, family and guests all trooped out of the mid-day sun and into the shade of our house for lunch. After the afternoon had rolled on and away, and it was time for the guests to leave, we all stood at the top of the driveway to say our goodbyes. I could see my brother and sister giggling and whispering to each other and I longed to be like them, longed to be part of their private games. The husband and wife opened the doors of their black shiny car and sat down in the hot brown leather seats. As the engine jumped into life my brother and sister ran to the back of the car and grabbed onto the silver metal bumper, giggling to each other as they pretended to push the car down the hill. As it inched forward, I ran to where they were, stood in between them and, like them, held onto the bumper. The clutch was let out and the tires crunched on the gravel. We squealed with delight as we watched our stumpy bodies in the chrome of the bumper, elongated arms, strange shaped faces, lips and noses jogging up and down. The car jerked and gathered speed and we ran faster, my bare feet running on the gravel. Another jerk followed, and then more speed. First my sister, then brother gave a final push and let go, standing up straight and away from the car. But as for me, and much to my horror, I was running too fast to be able to let go and so I clung on fiercely, listening to my parents’ screams as they mingled with the sound of the motor, “Let Go! Let Go!!” But I could only hold on tighter. Finally, my legs were dragging on the gravel, and my feet felt as though they were on fire. The car accelerated again, faster down the driveway while my hands remained glued to the bumper. “Let go!” was all I could hear.

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