Salt and Honey by Candi Miller

Author:Candi Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Legend Press
Published: 2010-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Summer was almost over by the time Marta felt well enough to sit outside. Deon placed a wicker chair in the deep shade cast by the old avocado tree and helped her to it. She leaned comfortably against him. Strange how her weakness had seemed to give him strength, she thought. It was as though Ingrid’s death had sobered him up, permanently.

He settled her in the chair and left. As she watched him move from the shade into the bright sunshine she realised that the change had probably begun with Etienne’s death; she’d just been too distracted to notice.

She gazed into the canopy of the old avocado tree nearby. It was older than the house, grew higher than the wind pump and was home to a colony of weaver birds. Hundreds of them. Every branch was festooned with their pear-shaped nests.

Marta had planned to write to Lettie that afternoon. She’d received a rare letter from her sister-in-law – was she still her sister-in-law, Marta wondered? – offering her commiserations. Lettie ended with a postscript urging her to bear in mind that grief was very ageing.

Marta chuckled. But how could she respond tactfully, especially when Lettie was so obviously worried about her son and Marta had the feeling a few words of reassurance would be very welcome. The trouble was, she didn’t think André would grow out of what his mother called his ‘wildness’. The boy was a brute and it could only get worse now that he had power.

She sighed. She didn’t feel up to being diplomatic yet. She preferred to just sit and think, about Koba mostly.

Perhaps Deon was right? Perhaps she shouldn’t keep Koba separate from everyone? But her wildness was special. Marta felt it gave the child an insight into nature that others had long lost.

She flapped irritably at a fly circling her head. Deon had accused her of treating Koba like something from a ‘Tarzan’ film – a noble savage. That was nonsense of course. If anything, she was probably treating Koba more like one of them, like a daughter perhaps.

Was that why Mannie had seemed so resentful when she’d mentioned at supper last night that she’d started teaching Koba to read?

“I thought you didn’t want to spoil her,” Mannie had snapped.

Feeling too fragile for confrontation she let his impudence go. “Well, I’ve been thinking that perhaps Koba was sent to us for a reason; perhaps I’m meant to educate her, get her used to Western ways. Then send her back to her people equipped to help them.” She smiled cajolingly at the two men. “You see, I’m beginning to agree with Pa that the Khoisan can’t stay untouched by civilisation for ever, even out in the desert. Soooo,” she wound a strand of hair around her finger “wouldn’t it be better if one of their own becomes familiar with Western ways and then goes back to help them…”

Marta had caught Deon and Mannie rolling their eyes at each other.

She found she was envious of the new closeness between them.

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