I got a cable only this morning. Venetiaâs had a daughter.â
âVenetia!â Mweta was shaking his head. âYou remember I used to take her for a ride on the back of my bicycle? âAnd she used to make posters for us,â he said to Joy, whom he had married after Venetia had gone to school in England. âYes, this little girl was a very young supporter of PIP. Posters announcing the date and place of meetings and so on. And slogans. Clive, she once showed such a poster to the Colonial Secretaryâwho was it, then, James? Thatâs rightâhe was here after the first London talks with Shinza, that timeâand he went on a tour of the Gala district, of courseââeveryone laughedâ âto see where all this independence nonsense started, and to see what sort of fellow this Bray was who didnât seem to be stopping itâand while he was in the
boma
that day and he went home to the D.C.âs house for lunch, he asks this little girl, the D.C.âs daughter, whatâs that nice picture youâre painting, and Venetia says, itâs not a picture, itâs a poster, look! Whatâs it for, little girl? Canât you see? she says. For the PIP rally, of course!â
Bray was nodding and laughing.
âShe was proud of her painting. Eh?â said Mweta. âWhy not?â And they all laughed again, and drew from Bray his version of the story, with interjections from Mweta, who grew more excited with every flourish.
âYears afterwards,â Bray said, âVenetia took me aside and asked me, very seriously, to tell her the truth: was it partly through her that I got kicked out? She said that ever since sheâd grown up sheâd begun to think about it and have it on her conscience.â
Mwetaâs eyes narrowed emotionally. âVenetia! She must come here with her husband, eh, James. She should have been with us for Independence.â
âWhat about a photograph?â Small said to Asoni. âWilfridâs dying to try out his new camera, sir.â
They all straggled onto the terrace; the heat seemed to foreshorten them, their voices rang against the façade of the house. Bray and Mweta stood together, Bray stooping and embarrassed, Mweta smiling with a hand on his arm. The dog ran across the picture. The secretary took it again. Then there was one with Joy and the children; they put their feet together and folded their arms.
âWeâre getting a swing and slide,â Mangaliso said.
â
And
a jungle gym.â The little one spoke to Bray for the first time.
âThe Princess said it.â
Joy laughed. âYes, the Princess was full of good ideas. She was telling me everything I should do. She said we should wall off a part of the garden and make it specially for the children, with swings and so on. You know, I mean she is used to living in this sort of place. She said you must have somewhere your ownâspecially for kids.â
âOh they got on like a house on fire,â Mweta said. âJoy knows all the secrets of Buckingham Palace.â
âNonsense, she doesnât even live there.â
âAnd the wife of the Chinese Ambassador, they were great friends too. She speaks English quite well.â
âShe wants me to come to Peking and speak about African women.â Joy challenged him, smiling at Bray.
âJoy was always a great asset,â Bray said.
âThatâs what I tell him.â
The children had pulled off their shoes and socks and the closefuzz on the babyâs head was full of grass. A guilty wet patch had no sooner appeared on his trousers before the heat began to dry it again. One of the white-suited domestics hovered in the shadow of the house with the announcement of lunch, but could not find an opportunity to catch anyoneâs attention. The secretary and the P.R.O. were fiddling with the Polaroid camera. Then the picture emerged, and everyone crowded to
Maggie Brendan
Barbara O'Connor
Jan Washburn
Terri Blackstock
Norah Simone
Barry Kemp
G.P. Taylor
Alan Cumyn
Linda Barnes
Lisa Jackson