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.The ground was soft and muddy under my boots, and small puddles filled my footsteps as I followed the shoreline back.It felt like the laughter was pursuing me, harsh and unexpected, and I hurried through the fading day.Behind me, the light was an infinity that reached through the horizon, turning the landscape into a mysterious color-filled world.A world perfect by itself and made treacherous by its human inhabitants, poisoned in ways I had yet to discover.Chapter 4DIAMOND WAS SITTING AT THE LITTLE TABLE OUTSIDE our hut and serenely drinking a cup of tea.There was a brown-and-yellow clay pot set on the table along with another cup, a small jar of honey, and a single spoon for us to share.“Still haven’t gotten in touch with Charlotte,” she announced as I sat down.“Now that my phone’s back online, her service is out.” She shook her head.“You know the old joke, if you’re in Zimbabwe and can make a phone call, you’re not in Zimbabwe.”I laughed and poured myself a fragrant cup of hot black tea, then mixed in some honey and took a sip.“Good tea,” I said.“Bush tea.”I’d had it nearly every day in Kenya, and I liked the strong flavor.I took another appreciative sip and stared down at my cup.“You’re being quiet,” Diamond said.“Did you enjoy your walk?”I nodded.“Missing your man?”“No,” I said.“It’s not that.”“Yes it is,” she said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.“What was his name?”“Tom,” I said, then looked back into my cup at the tiny leaves that were clinging to the side.I wished I could read them.“See?” Diamond said triumphantly.“I knew it was a man.It’s always a man.” She leaned back in her chair and scrutinized me.“I’m guessing that after your lover broke your heart, you ran off to live with the baby elephants.”I gave a little laugh.“Actually, I met him rescuing an elephant.Then I ran off to live with the baby elephants, and then he broke my heart.That’s how it all started.” I thought for a moment, then corrected myself.“Actually, that’s how it all ended.” I reconsidered my words again.“Actually, I think that means I ended it.” I sighed.“I think I broke my own heart.”Dinner was served a while later by a guide who drove up in a jeep and briskly pulled a silver metal food container from the back.He lifted the lid to reveal a series of bowls and dishes, and poured out a small bowl of water, offering it to Diamond with a polite bow.She washed her hands, then passed the bowl to me, and I did the same.Next the guide took out two plates and with great ceremony set the table for our dinner.He put a bowl of dinner sadza, made of cooked ground corn, in the middle of the table, along with a bowl of stewed greens, some cauliflower, and a fresh pot of tea.I looked askance at the cauliflower.“Give us this day our daily cauliflower,” I intoned, holding my hands reverentially over our plates.The man took out a platter of meat on skewers, put that on the table, bowed, and left.“No forks?” I said.I’d had forks even at the sanctuary in Kenya, dining with the elephants.Well, technically, it wasn’t with the elephants.Dr.Annabelle Pontwynne, who ran the sanctuary, was very genteel and insisted on a proper dinner every night with her staff.“No,” Diamond agreed, looking over the food with satisfaction.“But it’s shasleek!” She grabbed a skewer and pulled off a piece of meat with her teeth.“I love shasleek.”I took a little bite.It was very savory and tender.“What kind of meat do you think it is?”She peered at the piece left on her skewer.“Ostrich? Springbok? Could even be croc.”I stared at my skewer for a few minutes, then looked at the cauliflower, then back at my skewer.I was hungry.I finished the meat.We ate our fill, politely leaving a small amount as was custom.An hour later, the jeep returned, and the procedure was reversed.Our guide bowed, rolled out the silver container, loaded our plates, and left.Diamond sighed with satisfaction and pulled what looked like a short, tan cigar from her pocket and lit it, taking a deep, contented puff.It smelled like, well, an overflowed toilet.“What are you smoking?” I asked.“It’s a bundu cheroot,” she replied.“I roll them myself.Want one?”“No thanks.” We just sat there, content to watch the heavens turn orange and gold, the sun burn itself down behind the mountains, while the blackest of skies revealed a million stars overhead.“I have an idea,” Diamond said into the deepening night.“If I can’t reach Charlotte, we can do our own little walkabout.It’ll be a great experience.” She took another puff on her cheroot.“I’ll get permission from the game warden, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.I have a Level Three license, with an Advanced Weapons Certificate.And you can snap some photos like a proper tourist.I even bought a disposable camera at the airport for the bargain price of two hundred thousand Zim dollars.” She laughed at this before continuing.“There’s really another side to this country, and it’s quite beautiful.”“Great,” I said.It did sound nice to have a chance to play tourist before I went home.Diamond stood up and stretched, then opened the door to the hut.The little green lamp was giving off a sweet yellow glow.“I’ll talk to the warden at first light,” she said, lingering at the door to look up at the stars, “and it comes very early, so you’d better get some sleep.”I followed her in.“Take the bed,” she said, dropping to the floor.“We can share,” I said, trying not to sound as doubtful as I felt.She just stuffed her rucksack under her head and yawned.“Sweet dreams, Neelie Sterling.Dream of your Tom.”I lay down on the bed and rolled the thin pillow under my head and stretched out on the hard mattress.“I hope I don’t,” I said truthfully.I wasn’t sure what had awakened me.Several sharp reports, then a great noise, a crash, someone shouting, and the familiar trumpeting of an elephant.I jumped from the bed.Diamond was already out the door, the camera swinging from her wrist.We followed a rush of campers and guides across the dark compound, toward a path where the lights had been turned on.There was a jumble of loud voices ahead, and my stomach tightened with anticipation.I was certain that an elephant had come into the camp.I missed my elephants, and I was eager to see one.I let myself get carried along in the surge toward a campsite about a quarter of a mile away.“It’s probably Tusker,” someone said behind me.“He comes here almost every night.”I turned around to see a thin man running with a camera.“Who?” I asked.“That big bull elephant,” he said.“Breaks into camp here around dinnertime.He’s famous for it.Practically a mascot.I’ve snapped quite a few photos of him.”No one seemed fearful.There was a contagion of high spirits and laughter and several comments about Tusker’s frequent visits.Some even proudly mentioned they had old videos of him, as though he were a star.There was a loud trumpet, and my heart jumped inside my chest [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]