Under the Same Moon by Kelli M. Donley

Author:Kelli M. Donley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: travel, africa, arizona, public health, mozambique
Publisher: Kelli M. Donley

22

Mama Luciana listened to the rain drops fall gently above on the metal roof. The heaviest downpours had sent gushing water under the door, making her small kitchen and bedroom area damp and fresh. The scent of wet earth reached her nose as she struggled to wake. The most recent tropical storm had left nearly a foot of water in her fields. At this age, she’d grown thankful it was only a foot. Last year, her cow drowned in the cyclone. It was a lifetime of savings gone within a matter of hours.

Swinging her feet to the side of the raised mat, she yelped in surprise when her feet hit the ground.

“Cha, mud,” she said hoarsely in a morning voice. “Damn mud. Always brushing it out, always swimming back in.” She watched several droplets of water run down the circular wall of the room. Above, a perforation in the tin allowed the moisture to enter. Storms had long been part of Mama’s life. They’d swept away her parent’s crops, kept her out of school for months at a time in between repairs, and kept her on her toes as an adult. She’d long respected the power of nature and long feared the power of water.

Water in the house meant something was wrong. She could feel it in the bottom of her stomach.

“Always crying Mama,” she said looking down at the earthen floor. “Always upset. Always need something.” She walked over to a small altar in one edge of the round room. On a dusty orange clay tray sat a large metal bowl containing a bottle of milky white alcohol, a cup of greasy rust-colored oil, two green mangoes and a bunch of ripe bananas. She picked up a nearby piece of driftwood she’d gathered from the beach and lit the top of it with a match. Blowing softly, she watched the flame gather strength, turning red, orange and finally a bright blue. Drifts of gray smoke curled toward the roof and surrounded the crouching woman with an ethereal haze. She shook the wood and its smoke over the bowl while saying her morning prayers. Closing her eyes, she listened for Mother Earth to respond.

Deep in thought, Mama Luciana saw the elephants of her childhood on the plains north of Dondo. She heard their heavy feet pounding the earth as they ran together in games of the plains. Their gray bodies, lined with deep wrinkles, and adorned with creamy ivory tusks traversed the green meadow with an inherent force and grace. Small noisy birds hovered above, swooping down for the occasional rest on the giant’s backs. Tsetse flies buzzed in her ears. She smelled the pachyderm’s musk and heard their panting breath as they raced in their play.

Mama Luciana was suddenly standing on the edge of the plain, in her 73-year-old body, when the bull elephant turned the group toward her. She felt her body being pulled toward the center of the plain, into the path of the advancing army of giant beasts.

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