Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (19 page)

But between them, Dad and Emmanuel manage to kill the snake—or as Dad says, “give it a fatal headache”—using one of the many stout walking sticks Mum has bought over the years from a deaf-mute carpenter in the village. “How can I say no to the poor man?” she says, by way of explaining why she has so many. “I’m almost his only customer.” And by the time Mum comes out of the bath, refreshed and ready for another glass of wine, order has been restored to the Tree of Forgetfulness: Emmanuel has gone back to his house; the deceased puff adder is in an empty beer crate behind the kitchen; the dogs are back on chairs and laps; Dad is shuffling the cards for another round of twos and eights.

“There was a puff adder in the guesthouse,” I tell Mum.

Mum doesn’t look suitably impressed. “Oh?” She shakes the box of wine. “How much of this have you drunk?”

“Most of it,” I say.

“Oh Bobo, really!”

“But my nerves,” I object. “They’re in shreds.”

Mum sighs. “One tiny little snake and you collapse.” Then Mum notices the broken walking stick and her face falls. “Oh no,
that
really is too bad. You didn’t break one of my deaf-mute walking sticks, did you?”

“Well, which would you rather?” I ask. “Your deaf-mute walking stick or me?”

“I’d rather have my walking stick in one piece,” Mum says, scooping up one of the Jack Russells and nuzzling its ear. “Wouldn’t I, Papa Doc?”

“Right, that’s it,” I say. “I’m going to write an Awful Book and this time it really will be about you.”

Mum sits down under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Papa Doc on her lap. She looks at Dad. “Did you hear that, Tim?” she says, her lips twitching. “Bobo’s going to write the sequel.”

“Say again,” Dad says.

“AWFUL BOOK!” Mum shouts. “BOBO’S GOING TO WRITE ANOTHER ONE.”

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Mum and Dad. Lake Kariba. Zambia, 2008.

I wish to acknowledge authors whose work was most informative in the course of writing this book: Caroline Elkins; Trevor Royle; Leonard Thompson; Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg; Meryl Nass; Peter Godwin and Ian Hancock; Paul Moorcraft and Peter McLaughlin; SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret).

Deepest thanks to my agent, Melanie Jackson, for support and encouragement and for knowing that I had this story in my bones.

And also to my editor, Ann Godoff, for unfailing patience, compassion and for guidance, one sentence at a time.

Thanks to Joan Blatt for above-and-beyond extreme friendship.

Thanks to Mo Blum for healing amounts of wine, basil oil and soup.

Thanks to Bryan Christy—the smartest person I know—for reading every word of this book and for always making my words sharper.

Thanks to Katie Pierce for talking and walking this book out of me; and for putting mind, body and soul back together when they fell apart.

Thanks to Susie Rauch to whom I could always retreat when I most needed intelligent life, or a walk with too many dogs (which may amount to the same thing).

Thanks to David Shlim, who figured out what was ailing me and fixed it, and for compassion and encouragement.

Thanks to Terry Tempest Williams for knowing this territory so well and without whom this would have been a much lonelier work.

Thanks to Robin Binckes for help with translations (any errors are my fault entirely) and to Piet Smit for help with translations and also for reminding me that love of land is our African disease and our souls’ cure.

Thanks to Carly Suek and Katie Thomas for providing a crucial pillar of support. Also thanks to Kate Healy.

Thanks to Melanie Schnizlein who quietly and calmly restored my home to tranquility so that I could write.

Thanks to my beloved Auntie Glug and Uncle Sandy for love and support and for all those days and nights in the nursery-comfort of Langlands.

Thanks to my sister, Vanessa Fuller Wootton-Woolley, for unflagging love, for protection and support, and for knowing.

Thanks to my children, without whom I would be lost: Sarah, for picking up the pieces and for providing endless humor and inspiration; Fuller, for abiding wit and kindness, for plates of scrambled eggs, for cups of tea; Cecily, for her sustaining lightness of being.

Thanks to my husband, Charlie, for forbearance and love.

But above all and always, I am indebted to my matchless and wonderful parents—Nicola and Tim Fuller—for their resilience, their humor, their compassion, their example and their generosity.

APPENDIX

Nicola Fuller of Central Africa: The Soundtrack

Mum with Papa Doc and Le Creuset pots. Zambia, 2010.

“Come Fly with Me”—Frank Sinatra

“The Skye Boat Song”—Robert Louis Stevenson

“Fly Me to the Moon”—Frank Sinatra

“The Bandit”—Cliff Richard and The Shadows

“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”—Joe South (Lynn Anderson)

“From Russia with Love”—Matt Munro

“Sentimental Journey”—Doris Day

“God Save the Queen”—BBC Symphony Orchestra

“Shanghai”—Doris Day

William Blake’s “Jerusalem”—BBC Symphony Orchestra

“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”—The Platters

The Hallelujah Chorus from George Frideric Handel’s
Messiah

“The Banana Boat Song”—Harry Belafonte

“Everybody Loves My Baby”—Doris Day

“You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille”—Kenny Rogers

“The Last Farewell”—Roger Whittaker

“Dammi i colori . . . Recondita armonia,”
Tosca
—Giacomo Puccini

GLOSSARY

A Guide to Unusual or Foreign Words and Phrases

amore (Italian)—love
antbear (Oryceteropus afer)—aardvark
arrivderci (Italian)—good-bye
asante sana (Swahili)—thank you very much
ayah (Hindi)—children’s maid

baas (Afrikaans)—boss

baobab (Adansonia digitata)—an enormous and iconic tree with a shiny bark reminiscent of elephant hide

batman—an officer’s orderly or personal servant

boma—a chief’s enclosure; a district government office

bywoner (Afrikaans)—sub-tenant or farm laborer; tenant farmer

cent’ anni (Italian)—(may you live) a hundred years
choo (Swahili)—latrine (pronounced “cho” as in “know”)
che bello (Italian)—how beautiful
ciao, come stai? (Italian)—hello, how are you?

dit is jou perd (Afrikaans)—this is your horse

eucalyptus—see gum tree

fynbos—shrub land of mixed, hardy plants occurring in a small belt in the Western Cape

gum tree (
Eucalyptus bicostata
)—from the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, also known as eucalyptus. A diverse genus of flowering tree primarily originating in Australia but cultivated all over the tropics. The particular trees referred to here are commonly known as blue gums.

hadeda Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash)—a large dark brown ibis, common throughout much of east, central and south Africa

hensopper (Afrikaans)—someone who surrenders to, or joins, the enemy

high veldt—high plateau in southern Africa (cooler, wetter and generally more fertile and pleasant for human habitation than the low veldt)

hujambo askari (Swahili)—how are you, watchman?

huku (Shona)—chicken

il me nome e Nicola (Italian)—my name is Nicola

impala—a kind of antelope

kikoi (Swahili)—a brightly colored piece of cloth particular to East Africa, rather like a sarong

kirima kia ngoma (Swahili)—the place of devils

kloof (Afrikaans)—ravine, canyon

kom (Afrikaans)—come, let’s go

kraal (Afrikaans)—livestock enclosure

lekker (Afrikaans)—nice

low veldt—lower elevations in southern Africa (hotter and drier and generally less fertile than high veldt)

maiwe (Shona)—my goodness!

miombo (Swahili)—see also msasa. Miombo refers to the woodland of brachystegia, a genus of tree comprising a large number of species. Typically, the bark of these trees is dark, their foliage is a feathery plume, shed during the dry season. New gold and red leaves are produced just before the onset of the rains. The tree is under threat as it is used extensively in the making of charcoal.

mopane (Colophospermum mopane)—grows in hot, low-lying areas, usually in so-called mopane woodlands

msasa (Brachystegia spiciformis)—see miombo

muli bwanje. Dzina landa ndine Nicola Fuller of Central Africa (Chinyanja)—Hello. My name is Nicola Fuller of Central Africa

munts—derogatory slang for black Zimbabweans (from muntu the Shona word meaning person)

mzuri sana (Swahili)—very good

nee dankie (Afrikaans)—no thank you ni

le monitor (Varanus niloticus)—a large, highly-aquatic carnivorous lizard

nshima (Chinyanja)—see sadza. The staple of Zambia; a thick porridge made from corn.

nursing home—in the United States, a nursing home is predominantly for elderly residents but in England a nursing home is a maternity clinic or hospital

nyoka (Shona)—snake

op jou merke (Afrikaans)—on your marks

op Violet (Afrikaans)—here’s to Violet

pamodzi (Chinyanja)—together

pole sana (Swahili)—very sorry

(the) Proms—formally known as the BBC Proms, or the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, the Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London

povo—poor or impoverished people p

seudo ops—pseudo operations; black Rhodesian soldiers fighting for the Rhodesian government who infiltrated the ranks of guerilla (or freedom) fighters

pukka (Hindi)—superior, first-class; proper authentic

reedbuck—a species of antelope

sadza (Shona)—see also nshima. The food staple of Zimbabwe; a thick porridge made out of corn.

sahib/memsahib (Hindi)—master/mistress (used formerly as a respectful form of address for a European man/woman in India)

salwar kameez—a unisex dress of pants and a tunic worn in South and Central Asia

shamba (Swahili)—small plot or market garden. After independence in Kenya, shambas were cut from larger, commercial farms and distributed among landless indigenous Kenyans.

shateen—bush, backcountry

sorry cloth—strips of very cheap, black cotton in which poor southern and central Africans bury their dead

syce (Hindi)—groom

terrs—slang for terrorists

trekboer (Afrikaans)—South African semi-nomadic pastoralists, primarily of Dutch descent

trekker (Afrikaans)—South African, primarily Afrikaner. The name refers to those who moved, usually from real or perceived persecution, from one European-settled area into areas not yet settled by Europeans.

Ugandan kob—type of antelope

veldskoen (Afrikaans)—literally “bush skin.” The hide of animals made into leather hats and shoes.

veldt (Afrikaans)—grassland

voetsek (Afrikaans)—go away!

voortrekker (Afrikaans)—literally, “those who trek ahead.” Afrikaners emigrants who moved into the South African interior in the 1830s and 1840s.

wattle—a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosideae of the family Fabaceae. The bark of several species is rich in tannin used in the tanning of leather.

Wie get es dir? (German)—how are you?

zikomo kwambili (Chinyanja)—thank you very much

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following copyrighted works:

“Come Fly with Me,” words by Sammy Cahn, music by James Van Heusen. Copyright © 1958 Cahn Music Co., WB Music Corp. and Maraville Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights for Cahn Music Co. administered by WB Music Corp. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Cherry Lane Music Company and Hal Leonard Corporation.

“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song),” words and music by Irving Burgie and William Attaway. Copyright © 1955, renewed 1983 Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. (ASCAP), Lord Burgess Music Publishing Company (ASCAP) and FSMGI (IMRO). Worldwide rights for Lord Burgess Music Publishing Company administered by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. All rights for FSMGI administered by State One Songs America. International copyright secured. © 1957 (renewed) Chrysalis One Music Publishing Group Ireland Limited (IMRO) and Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co. (ASCAP). All rights for Chrysalis One Music Publishing Group Ireland Limited (IMRO) administered by Chrysalis One Music (ASCAP). All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Cherry Lane Music Company and Alfred Publishing.

Die dieper reg. ‘n Spel van die oordeel oor ‘n volk
by N. P. van Wyk Louw. Originally published in 1938 by Nasionale Boekhandel, Cape Town. Used by permission of Tafelberg nb Uitgewers Publishers. (Translated by Alexandra Fuller with assistance from Piet Smit).

“Everybody Loves My Baby (but My Baby Don’t Love Nobody but Me),” words and music by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams. Copyright © 1924 Universal Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

“Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words),” words and music by Bart Howard. TRO –©–Copyright 1954 (renewed) Hampshire House Publishing Corp., New York, NY. Used by permission.

“From Russia with Love,” words and music by Lionel Bart. © 1963 (renewed) United Artists Music Ltd. (UK). All rights controlled by EMI U Catalog Inc. (Publishing) and Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc. (Print). Used by permission of Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc.

“(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” words and music by Joe South. © 1970 Sony / ATV Music Publishing LLC. All rights administered by Sony / ATV Music Publishing LLC, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

“Sentimental Journey,” words and music by Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer. © 1944 (renewed) Morley Music Co. and Holliday Publishing. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation and Songwriters Guild of America on behalf of Holliday Publishing.

“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” words by Otto Harbach, music by Jerome Kern. Copyright © 1933 Universal–Polygram International Publishing, Inc. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.