The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Farmer Nancy

Author:Farmer, Nancy [Farmer, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-three

After Rita had woken up enough to listen, Tendai told her about Myanda's visit. Rita made a face and hid the little bag of chicken droppings inside her dress. "You say Myanda knows Father? Why doesn't she call him?"

"She took a vow of silence."

"It's all stupid. This whole village is stupid. If Myanda wants to turn herself into a slave, that's fine by me. But I don't have to hold out my wrists and ask someone to snap chains on them." Rita found the pot of stagnant water and began drinking.

"Try to make it last," said Tendai.

"Boys are stupid, too." Rita drank as much of the water as she could manage.

She reminded him of Granny on one of her bad days. But she's been through a lot, he reminded himself. I can be patient a little longer. How much longer? he thought. Tonight would decide their fate. They might find themselves trapped in this village forever.

The drum went on incessantly. Father's spirit medium needed a drum to go into a trance. When Father had to make a difficult decision, the whole family took the limo to the Mile-High Macllwaine. They went to the one hundred fortieth floor, where the spirit medium's secretary made them all comfortable with cups of tea. After a few minutes, the man came out to discuss the problem with Father and to name a fee. A drummer settled himself in the corner and got to work.

Very quickly, the medium went into a trance. His eyes glazed. Sometimes he fell out of his chair. The secretary helped him back and dusted off his suit. The mudzimu of the Matsika clan would possess him and give Father advice from the ancestors. After a while the mudzimu would go back to his world, and the spirit medium would become his old, cheerful self. Tendai noticed the visit took about fifty minutes, neither more nor less.

If Father had a really big problem, involving state matters, he went to an entirely different person, the Lion Spirit Medium, who was able to contact the mhondoro, the spirit of the land. Only two people in the country were qualified to do this, and Tendai was never taken to one of these possessions. Lion Spirit Mediums looked down on ordinary mediums, the way great concert musicians looked down on people who played the harmonica.

"I feel sick. The water was dirty," moaned Rita.

"You can't vomit now," Tendai told her. "You have to, you know, save it for later."

"Oh, leave me alone!" cried Rita. She curled up by the wall with her back to him.

Then it got dark. The hut had no windows, but a few glimmers of light had shone through the gaps between the thatch and the top of the wall. Now it was totally black. A stealthy rustling told Tendai they were not alone. He began to feel things walking across his body. The rapid ones were probably roaches. The ones that tickled were ants, and the one that took a long time to cross his hand (which he held perfectly still) could have been a centipede.

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