The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (22 page)

"No baby is evil," sobbed Rita.

"One must die and be buried under the floor of the hut where it was born."

"So of course it's the
girl
who has to go," cried Rita. "Let's throw the
girl
away. She's no good! She's worthless! You're all a bunch of
vicious!
—
rotten!
—
ignorant!
—
pigs!"
She was screaming now. Myanda pushed through the crowd and snatched the infant from Rita's arms. The Spirit Medium raised his walking stick, but Tendai wrenched it away before he could strike his sister. The medium was so startled, he let go without a struggle. Tendai flung the stick into the heart of the fire. It burst into flames at once.

The villagers gasped in horror. They pounced on the children and stretched them out on the ground. Someone handed Garikayi a club. Oh,
Mwari,
he's going to kill us, thought Tendai. Garikayi stood over them a long, long moment. Tendai gritted his teeth as he waited for the first blow. But the old man's face suddenly contorted with anguish. He threw the club away and tottered back to his stool. His face was etched with deep lines, and he seemed to have aged ten years.

"Take these little hyenas to the punishment hut," hissed the Spirit Medium. Tendai and Rita were carried off by many hands — it was as if the whole village had risen against them with one thought and one purpose. The last thing Tendai saw before they were flung through a door was Myanda holding the girl baby against her breast.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," said Rita after she had recovered from being thrown down. She shivered violently, and Tendai hugged her. She burst into sobs. He rocked her back and forth as she wept. He knew this wasn't how a traditional brother treated his sister, but he was thoroughly sick of village ways.

Rita cried until she was exhausted. Then she lay down and sucked the knuckles of her right hand, as she had done when she was a small child.

"What happened?" said Tendai gently.

"I wasn't supposed to be there." Rita sighed and snuggled next to the wall, fitting her body into its curve. "But I just had to watch. I've never seen a newborn baby. I sneaked up to the door, and there it was. There
he
was, all wet like a fish. Then
she
was born.

"The midwives began to argue, and Chipo started to cry. Myanda sat against a wall and didn't say anything. After a while, she went out to tell Garikayi."

"So he knew," Tendai said.

"They all did, except they pretended not to. They don't like to kill babies."

"
Who would?"

"They think twins are caused by witchcraft. There's a good twin and an evil one they have to get rid of. The midwives decided to take the boy out to Garikayi and leave the girl alone with a midwife. You understand?"

Tendai did.

"I heard them say it was important for the baby to be quiet. If she cried, everyone would know she existed. They couldn't pretend she was stillborn."

"But everyone knew," said Tendai.

"Of course." Rita shivered again. Tendai looked around for something to cover her with, but there was nothing. Her eyes began to close from sheer weariness. She jerked and forced them open again. Tendai wondered whether she had slept at all the night before. "It's like the hamburgers we eat at home," she explained. "We know a cow died to provide them, but we don't like to think about it. We pretend they came out of the pantry. Well, the villagers pretend the evil baby was born dead." She yawned. Her speech was getting slurred.

"How did you save it?" urged Tendai.

"They all went out except Chipo, who was too weak to stand, and one old woman. She got a handful of ashes to fill the baby's mouth."

"Maiwee!"

"I bopped her on the head with a pot, grabbed the baby and pinched her. She howled then all right. They couldn't pretend she wasn't alive." Rita couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. Her hand dropped to the floor. Her breathing became deep and regular.

Tendai sat in the dark hut and watched his sister. She had always seemed foolish to him, and often irritated him by picking silly quarrels. Now he saw this trait was really a form of courage. Father would have been proud of her.

The day dragged on. No one brought them any food, although Tendai found a pot of stagnant water. He drank sparingly, saving the rest for Rita. She slept on and on, without even turning over. Finally, in the late afternoon, the door opened and Myanda came in. She inspected Rita before sitting down.

"We have to talk," she said in a low voice, "I don't know why I'm bothering to do this. You certainly don't deserve any help."

Tendai didn't say he was sorry. He wasn't.

"It's my fault for letting you in at all, but I thought you couldn't do much harm."

Tendai looked at her steadily, the way Father did when he wanted to make someone perspire.

"You don't know what a serious mistake Rita made."

"In the city we think killing babies is a mistake," Tendai said.

"In the city they kill babies all the time with poverty and crime. You're so stupid! You haven't been here two weeks and already you dare to judge us. Resthaven is a living culture. You can't pick out the bits you like and throw away the rest. It all works together."

Tendai turned his back. He didn't even try to be polite. Myanda spun him around with her big hands. "Listen to me you fool! I know what it's like outside the wall. I was born there."

"So I heard," Tendai said coldly.

"I belonged to a gang. It was when your father was breaking them up."

"You know about Father?"

"Of course I do. He hunted down the gangs one by one, making the nights safe for decent people. We thought that was pretty funny. Me and my friends used to raid old people's homes for drugs. We rode on robocycles to make a fast getaway. One night, General Matsika's men ambushed us. I was shot off my cycle and ended up in a prison hospital. Guess who visited me?"

Tendai shook his head. He was trying to picture Myanda on a robocycle without success.

"General Matsika."

"Father?"

"He scared the hell out of me. I mean he has quite a reputation, but the funny thing was, he was
nice.
"

Tendai tried to imagine it. He didn't really know much about Father's work.

"I was only fourteen. He talked to me like the parent I never had. He said I could go to school or learn a trade, but I would have to be absolutely perfect. If I wasn't, he would drop me off the Mile-High Macllwaine. He was joking. I think. Anyhow, he also told me about Resthaven."

Tendai gaped at her. So Myanda knew Father. Why didn't she contact him? Rita sighed and turned over. Her eyelids fluttered, but she wasn't ready to wake up yet. A drum began to throb not far away.

"Almost no one is allowed into Resthaven, but I made it because I understood what it meant. It's whole in a way the city never is."

Tendai nodded, remembering the storytelling at the
dare
and the feeling of righteousness about the wood smoke. He remembered being carried home in triumph after the fight with Head Buster.

"You can't yank out part of the pattern and not damage the rest," said Myanda.

"Even the part about killing babies?"

"Even that."

Tendai remembered the girl twin cuddled up to Myanda's breast. He shivered.

"In a few hours the Spirit Medium is going to hold a witch-finding ceremony," the woman went on. "Now you're really in trouble."

"I don't know," said Tendai. "If he finds us guilty, we'll be thrown out of Resthaven."

"Wrong! Before Rita rescued Sekai
—"

"Who?"

Myanda seemed embarrassed. "The girl twin. I, uh, once had a friend with that name. Anyhow, before Rita meddled with things, the Spirit Medium intended to send you home. He doesn't like you, and he doesn't like
that."
Myanda pointed at the
ndoro,
but Tendai noticed she didn't touch it. "Now he wants revenge. He'll keep you here to make you suffer."

"They — they don't kill witches, do they?" said Tendai, who remembered some horrible stories.

"Traditional Africans didn't kill witches unless they'd murdered someone. But you'll wish you died. You'll get food the goats wouldn't touch and the nastiest chores. But worst of all, people will hate you. They'll look at you with loathing for the rest of your days. It's a terrible fate."

On the whole, Tendai thought it was better than being burned alive or buried in an anthill.

"I'm going to help you," whispered Myanda. She handed him two small bags. "Tonight the Spirit Medium will make some of the people drink witch-finding
muteyo.
It's full of nasty herbs he grows in a special garden. The stuff is so horrible, people vomit it right back up. That's what you're supposed to do."

"Great," said Tendai.

"I suspect — I don't know — that your
muteyo
won't taste so bad."

The drumming went on and on. Tendai smelled a cook fire and a sauce of tomatoes and onions. His empty stomach rumbled almost as loudly as the drum.

"If you don't expel the
muteyo,
everyone will think you're witches. I think that will please the Spirit Medium very much."

"
So what do we do?"

"Chew this." Myanda pointed at the little bags. "Hide it in your clothes and eat it after you take the
muteyo.
Don't let anyone see you."

"What is it?"

"Chicken droppings."

Tendai almost dropped the bags.

"Do it if you want to escape Resthaven. I took a vow never to contact the outside world, but I owe your father this one. If you ever get home, tell him he was the best thing that ever happened to me." Myanda got up quickly and left the hut. The door was locked behind her.

Rita drifted in and out of sleep for another hour. Tendai put his ear to the clay wall to pick up sounds from outside. Garikayi and his relatives were conducting ceremonies for the baby boy. He was told about his ancestors and his family line. He was protected with amulets to ensure he would be fertile when he arrived at manhood.

The girl, Sekai, was not introduced to her ancestors. There was no need. She was not being given food or water and would not live long.

Tendai slid to the floor and sat next to the half-conscious Rita. He wouldn't tell her about Sekai.

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.