The Call of Zulina (39 page)

Had the dream of peace and love not come so persuasively from the wise lips of Chief Ikem, someone might have noticed that an owl had soared through the firelight and perched in the highest branches of the ghariti tree that brings life to the people, then that person would have recognized the harbinger of calamity. Had Hola and Tetteh had enough years to understand that just because something had not yet happened, that didn’t mean it never would happen, they might have closed the gate in the wall, slipped the bolt into place, and stood fast at their post. Had the fire not roared so brightly that it blinded the villagers’ eyes to everything else, at least one person in the crowd might have noticed that not all the trees were still, as trees should be on a breathlessly still night.

But that was not to be. It was a night of
durbar
. The fire crackled, the drums called for celebration, and everyone laughed out loud and clapped their hands and rejoiced together in the happy village of peace and love.

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