roads are blocked across the country. You won’t be able to go to the villages today.”
“How long will there be roadblocks?”
“Two, three days. There is a curfew from seven in the evening until five in the morning.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve heard.”
He briefly placed the fingers of one hand on my outer arm just above my elbow. “Please be careful to observe it. It was a peaceful coup, but some of the soldiers are young and nervous. They will be out patrolling the streets. You will be safe in your courtyards.”
I nodded. He gave me and Laya a short bow of his head, and we continued up the street. I was thankful Gray and Kate had made so many friends for us in the military—Roger, Achinga, Adamma, Lawrence, and Drabo. For the first time, the idea of a soldier patrolling the streets was comforting rather than frightening. The soldier had Drabo’s face.
The place where he had touched my arm was still warm.
Chapter 8
Vanity
December/Safar
“Drabo dropped by yesterday,” I said to Gray. “He’s going to Ouaga until after the New Year.”
Gray grinned at me, moving her eyebrows up and down. “Well, I’m sad to say, I’m on my way,” she sang out loud.
“Won’t be back for many a day.” I joined in, harmonizing. “Well, my heart is down, my head is turnin’ around. I had to leave a little boy in Dori town.”
The windows down, the wind blowing our hair, we sang at the top of our lungs and laughed out loud. Gray hit a deep pothole and I bounced six inches off the seat.
“Sorry.” Gray sneezed then wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Harmatton winds coated the inside of the truck with a powdery dust. Gray sneezed again.
The land flowed flat in all directions as far as the eye could see. Nothing but stone, sand, air, and the distant fire of a winter solstice sun. Even the baobabs didn’t venture this far north. I could never have imagined a place so empty. This must have been where the Fulani god, Doondari , had lived before creation.
At the beginning of things there was nothing. But God was, and he was called Doondari. Doondari created heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and stars. Then he blew onto the earth, and animals and plants were created.
“Did you know that when god created the world, he appointed the Elephant mistress of all things because of her wisdom?” Two others had also been appointed: the leopard because he had power and cunning, and the monkey because of his malice and suppleness.
Gray shook her head. “You and your elephants.”
It was the day before Christmas, and Gray and I were heading north for the holiday. The roadblocks had been lifted a few days after the coup, and the curfew relaxed for the holidays. Things remained calm throughout the country. Don had left for the Somalia office, and a blue sense of loss had followed me around the office since his departure. Dejlal had gotten his wish for the time being and was in charge of the Dori office until a new director arrived in Ouaga. I still hadn’t responded to home office’s offer to stay on another year.
Gray and I drove the rusty pickup toward the town of Gorom Gorom to spend Christmas with a group of British nurses. We followed a thirty-mile section of a three-hundred-year-old gold and slave caravan route that ran in a direct line from the Gulf of Benin to the Mediterranean Sea. If you started in the Gold Coast town of Accra, Ghana’s capital, and rode a camel due north along Lake Volta, past the towns of Bimbila, Tenkodogo, and Bongande, you came into desert country and to Dori. Past Dori, to Gorom Gorom, and on to Gao on the Niger River, you eventually came to the desert town of Tessalit, gateway to the route that crossed the Great Sahara to the coastal cities of Morocco and Algiers.
Instead of gold and slaves, the back of our pickup was loaded with boxes of groceries, Christmas presents, bottles of French champagne, a jerry-can of gasoline, a five-gallon plastic container of water, sleeping bags
“How long will there be roadblocks?”
“Two, three days. There is a curfew from seven in the evening until five in the morning.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve heard.”
He briefly placed the fingers of one hand on my outer arm just above my elbow. “Please be careful to observe it. It was a peaceful coup, but some of the soldiers are young and nervous. They will be out patrolling the streets. You will be safe in your courtyards.”
I nodded. He gave me and Laya a short bow of his head, and we continued up the street. I was thankful Gray and Kate had made so many friends for us in the military—Roger, Achinga, Adamma, Lawrence, and Drabo. For the first time, the idea of a soldier patrolling the streets was comforting rather than frightening. The soldier had Drabo’s face.
The place where he had touched my arm was still warm.
Chapter 8
Vanity
December/Safar
“Drabo dropped by yesterday,” I said to Gray. “He’s going to Ouaga until after the New Year.”
Gray grinned at me, moving her eyebrows up and down. “Well, I’m sad to say, I’m on my way,” she sang out loud.
“Won’t be back for many a day.” I joined in, harmonizing. “Well, my heart is down, my head is turnin’ around. I had to leave a little boy in Dori town.”
The windows down, the wind blowing our hair, we sang at the top of our lungs and laughed out loud. Gray hit a deep pothole and I bounced six inches off the seat.
“Sorry.” Gray sneezed then wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Harmatton winds coated the inside of the truck with a powdery dust. Gray sneezed again.
The land flowed flat in all directions as far as the eye could see. Nothing but stone, sand, air, and the distant fire of a winter solstice sun. Even the baobabs didn’t venture this far north. I could never have imagined a place so empty. This must have been where the Fulani god, Doondari , had lived before creation.
At the beginning of things there was nothing. But God was, and he was called Doondari. Doondari created heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and stars. Then he blew onto the earth, and animals and plants were created.
“Did you know that when god created the world, he appointed the Elephant mistress of all things because of her wisdom?” Two others had also been appointed: the leopard because he had power and cunning, and the monkey because of his malice and suppleness.
Gray shook her head. “You and your elephants.”
It was the day before Christmas, and Gray and I were heading north for the holiday. The roadblocks had been lifted a few days after the coup, and the curfew relaxed for the holidays. Things remained calm throughout the country. Don had left for the Somalia office, and a blue sense of loss had followed me around the office since his departure. Dejlal had gotten his wish for the time being and was in charge of the Dori office until a new director arrived in Ouaga. I still hadn’t responded to home office’s offer to stay on another year.
Gray and I drove the rusty pickup toward the town of Gorom Gorom to spend Christmas with a group of British nurses. We followed a thirty-mile section of a three-hundred-year-old gold and slave caravan route that ran in a direct line from the Gulf of Benin to the Mediterranean Sea. If you started in the Gold Coast town of Accra, Ghana’s capital, and rode a camel due north along Lake Volta, past the towns of Bimbila, Tenkodogo, and Bongande, you came into desert country and to Dori. Past Dori, to Gorom Gorom, and on to Gao on the Niger River, you eventually came to the desert town of Tessalit, gateway to the route that crossed the Great Sahara to the coastal cities of Morocco and Algiers.
Instead of gold and slaves, the back of our pickup was loaded with boxes of groceries, Christmas presents, bottles of French champagne, a jerry-can of gasoline, a five-gallon plastic container of water, sleeping bags
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