Black Mischief (17 page)

Ted Manning had become an instant hero to Pembroke boys when they heard how he had saved his sister's life by shoving her across the back seat of the car seconds before a huge head had been swung and a horn thrust through the roof of their car that was trawling ‘round these same plains. Kenya buffalo were never sociable to strangers. There were thirty of them just the other side of half a dozen thin panes of glass. They were full of curiosity about these strangers who had strayed into their patch. Tom was apprehensive.

Rebecca had begged him to turn back when they had unexpectedly come across the herd close to the track as they started down a steep drop in the plain. She had no fondness for any of the large beasts of her homeland. She was terrified of them and finding it hard to hide her fear from the boys. She would like to have shut her eyes tight and listened to the drone of the engine carrying her out of the park and back into the safety of the chaos of the streets of Nairobi. Tom knew he had made a big mistake by driving down the slope and that the only plan for them now was to wait until the buffalo decided to move on.

The boys' complete attention was focused on the big friends who had come to say good morning. Sammy adored the sight of the black, muscular lumps. He wanted to roll down a window, to scratch a nose or pat a flank. Noah was not ready to take any risks on the day of his big football match.

‘No, Sammy. If one of those monster heads got stuck in the window here, we would have to take it home with us.'

‘Crazy, man! The man on the gate wouldn't let us. That would be stealing. Daddy told us that stealing is very bad.'

‘Right, Mo. And, Sammy, where would we keep it when we got home?'

‘But, Noah, why do they all look so sad? When I have my friends over, we play a game or something.'

Rebecca tried to help out. ‘Perhaps they are hungry. Just this brown grass for their dinner.'

‘Do you think they want to eat us for their dinner?'

‘Sammy, they are vegetarians. You'll learn about this stuff when you get to proper school.'

‘What's a vegetan?'

‘No nyama choma. So, Sammy, they won't eat you. Let's just keep quiet here.'

Noah had a more serious worry. Time was moving on. He was hoping that Tom would manage to get them out of this animal prison and back to school, and soon. In his mind he kept on seeing pictures of the playing fields of Kenton with the pitches marked out and himself running the ball at the Banda goalie.

An hour passed before there was a sign of movement outside when one or two on the edge of the crowd turned away to graze on untrodden grass. Tom switched on and raced the engine. Sammy screamed in surprise and the company moved back a step, enough for Tom to make a steady, determined charge for the open road.

Rebecca was happy that they were on their way to the park exit. Their animal sightings were few and mostly with less intimidating creatures like dik-dik and gazelle. As they wound their way along the twisting, undulating trails, Tom talked to the boys of the days, not so long before, when those plains were dominated, ruled by the creatures.

‘When they built the railway from Mombasa to Nairobi the workers always had to be on watch to make sure they didn't become a lion's dinner.'

‘Why did the lions go away, Tom? I wish I could see one right now.'

‘Well, Sammy, I don't think they wanted to go away. We humans can be very greedy. We take things that don't belong to us.'

‘Like when Moses steals my toys and I don't want him to.'

Moses, embarrassed to be accused of stealing in front of Rebecca whom he was out to impress, was officious in his reply. ‘Sam, I don't steal your toys, just borrow them when you are not using them. See!'

Rebecca, sensing that emotions were beginning to show signs of tension and fearful of where even small disagreements might lead, made a suggestion that everyone approved of. ‘I say that we find those picnic tables and have lunch.'

When they arrived half an hour early in the Kenton car park, most of the seven visiting schools were finishing their packed lunches in and around their coaches. Noah sat in the back of the Land Cruiser and stared out at the opposition. He felt weak in the belly area and his legs seemed to have turned to lead in two seconds flat. Some of those guys were big and they were fooling around, having a lot of laughs. Red shirts, maroon, green. Who were these people? Where did they come from? He knew where his Kenton teammates would be, but he did not fancy getting out of the car to go and join them. For sure, these strangers who were obviously proper players would start making fun as soon as they saw him in his Kenton shirt, trotting off on his skinny legs. Moses and Sam, taking their mood from their leader, shared his anxiety, wondering what he had seen out there to make him look so scared.

Tom and Rebecca interpreted what was happening with the boys in very different ways. She thought that the moment she had been dreading was about to arrive. The grief at their loss was breaking through. Noah looked bewildered and threatened, needing his mother. She began to search in her bag for Sonya's mobile number. The clinic was only ten minutes away. Tom could get them there before the tears started.

Sixteen years before Tom had travelled down from Pembroke to Kenton to play in this same tournament. It was his first game in the maroon shirt and he was the youngest boy in the youngest team. Pembroke teams always expected to win and he was in with a crowd who were, he thought, every one of them looking forward to running out onto the pitch and enjoying themselves.

‘Noah, I was scared shitless.' Sam broke out into peals of laughter at this new word. ‘Yes, I couldn't eat my boiled eggs. Noah, you'll be going up to the pavilion with the other teams. First thing I did was to run behind the bus and throw up into the hedge! I still remember the exact spot.' Tom paused briefly. ‘I was scared. I would look a fool out there in front of our supporters. I'd do something stupid and we'd lose the match.'

The transformation was swift and solid. Rebecca put away her mobile and took out her sunglasses.

‘What's with the shades, Rebecca?' Sam was laughing again, this time at his elder brother's successful take on an American accent.

‘Just in case you dazzle me too much with … whatever you get up to out there!'

‘You're famous, aren't you? I've seen you on the tele.' For sure, Noah was back to normal.

Close by someone blew hard on a whistle, which was a relief to Tom and Rebecca. Noah hopped smartly out of the car and followed the crowd of young footballers to their gathering point.

‘Wow, boys, your brother can shift!'

‘Daddy says he's fast as a cheetah!' Sam said in admiration.

Before she could allow herself another moment of panic, she was pleased to see Samuel race off. ‘Wait for me, Mo! I got a Mars bar in my pocket!'

The tournament went well for the Kenton under nines. They won through to the final where they were to meet Pembroke!

‘Just a minute, Ref, while I get my kit on! Someone's got to show these Kenton guys who's in charge!'

‘Thomas, big men are not allowed!'

‘Oh, Sam, how are Pembroke going to win without me?

Don't forget Kenton have a cheetah playing for them!'

‘Not a real cheetah, silly!'

The cheetah had his best game when it counted most. The big crowd for the finals cheered the serious-faced player with the skinny legs. Only the Kenton supporters knew who he was and some of those were not sure whether he should even be on the pitch. Not far from Rebecca and Tom a couple of families weren't hiding their feelings.

‘What kind of a woman is she? The kid's father's probably still up in a morgue in Kericho and she's around here somewhere watching a bloody football match. I've always said that the Daniels family was weird.'

‘I wasn't surprised to hear they'd got him. Death wish, a bit like his uncle. Fancied himself too much. Asking for it!'

‘Keep your voice down. His brothers are just down there.

Their mother's not with them, so you've got that one wrong, George. Surprised you haven't noticed since you're so fond of her!'

‘Fond of …?'

‘The black nightingale! Look, dark glasses. Rebecca Kamau.'

George took a couple of steps onto the pitch so that he could check. ‘Damn right, Rosie! What's she got to do with them, I wonder.'

Tom was too focused on the play to pick up what Rebecca had heard clearly. She realised that the painful solution was the sensible one. She must stay quiet until the match was all over and they could move away. If the rubbish kept coming, she would reconsider.

It was Noah himself who saved the day with a dream ending to the match and the tournament. One final sprint onto a pass from his pal, Andy, and this time a low shot dribbled past the outstretched leg of the Pembroke goalie. Ecstasy and tears.

‘I wish Daddy was here!'

It was not the black arms of Rebecca that embraced him in his moment of triumph but the familiar grasp of his mother who had her three sons locked together safe out of harm's way.

‘Wow, boy! I saw that!'

hat same afternoon Llewellyn Daniels was released from hospital. He was a doctor, came from a family of doctors. There would be no risks there even though his shoulders and upper back were dark blue with the biggest bruise the ward sister had ever seen. Kate drove him to Cartref and the family was still at the buttered scones and tea when the hero arrived wearing his medal.

After a short stay when she shared in the celebrations and made sure that Rebecca and Tom were being looked after, Sonya went out into the garden to the surgery where Maria was still working. Before leaving the sitting room, she had a request.

‘Twenty minutes. Rebecca, Tom, I'll be back and I need your help. Please, stay!'

Maria was alone, but there had been changes since Sonya had last been in that room. She was surprised by the perfume of orange blossom that might have come from a Naivasha grove at evening time and the coolness of an underground cave was a contrast to the warmth of the late afternoon she had just left behind.

Maria had moved her working platform so that she was now much closer to Simon's head. Sonya stepped up onto the platform. She was startled by what she saw and, for a few terrifying seconds, might have believed that her husband had come back to life. The lower part of his body was draped in the white silk sheet, but the skin, where it was visible, was damp with what appeared to be beads of perspiration which made it seem that Simon was resting after a bout of exercise. The idea of a living person resting was strengthened by the blue pillow supporting his head. Over a chair down to her right was draped a surgeon's green operating gown and, on top, neatly placed, a pair of Simon's work spectacles.

‘Maria, what's going on?' Sonya's voice was tremulous. ‘Simon is not alive and nothing anyone can do will change that!' Irritation gave a sharp edge to her tone.

Maria took off her gloves and turned to look directly into Sonya's eyes. It was the pleading gaze of someone who thought she was being misunderstood.

‘Sonya, you are right, this shell will never again carry in it the warmth of life. But I want him to look at peace in body as well as in spirit.'

‘Maria, please, forgive me. You have worked so hard. It's just that …' She could hold back the tears no longer. ‘He is so like the Simon I first met fifteen short years ago …' She paused to gather herself. ‘I need you to help me more. You understand these things … Look! Simon has been taken from us and I want him to have a resting place where … Maria, I have made a promise to some people that, perhaps, the family will resent, dislike, hate even.'

‘Sonya, your heart speaks the truth that matters. Tomorrow, when you are ready, you will take him to this place. He is ready, he is anxious to be on his journey. Let me come with you. You will not notice me! I promise. So you see, he will be with other people who loved him desperately. He gave them hope and they will take care of him for us all. And we can be with him at any time.'

* * *

When she had finished, there was a shocked silence. For a time the only reaction to Sonya's announcement came in the body language of the dozen family members and friends standing or sitting around in that comfortable room. Vibrations were doing the talking and Sonya thought that David and Dorothy were disturbed by what she wanted for Simon. They sat holding hands staring towards her but not at her. For them death and funerals were intensely personal, family affairs that should not be handed over to strangers. Dorothy was the first to break free.

‘Sonya darling, forgive me. This wouldn't be my way. Grandma Daniels would have a fit if she could be here. Stuck in the past and calling it tradition. Good old Welsh ways. But my dada used to say that heaven is a place gushing with love. I think he would have approved. I'm surprising myself. What's going on around here?'