Under African Skies (39 page)

Authors: Charles Larson

BOOK: Under African Skies

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Letters from interested correspondents flooded the office. A controversy broke out (by then Caleb had shaved off all his hair) whether people with receding hairlines could take up membership in PHEW. Some prankster, no
doubt an infiltrator, boasted on Radio 702 that he had a database of top leaders in industry and government who wore wigs.
Is baldness a private matter
? read a headline in the
Star
the following day, responding to the idea of outing closet baldies. By now subscriptions were pouring in. Nothando's services were enlisted to deal with the increasing volume of work. After appearing in Dali Tambo's
People of the South
, Caleb and Ranger were invited on a nationwide speaking tour. A car company in Uitenhage purchased a franchise to market its latest model, exhibiting the PHEW logo minus the lettering. Caleb, Ranger, and Nothando registered PHEW as a listed company in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Caleb Zungu was forty-five years old, married to Nothando for fifteen years, with two girl children, Busi and Khwezi, aged ten and sixteen, respectively. He owned a house in Norwood, two cars, and two dogs of dubious pedigree. He was the chief executive officer of PHEW Enterprises. Nothando and Ranger were junior partners in the company. J.M., who exhibited keen business acumen, was a favored future son-in-law. His ready acceptance into the Zungu family was due to his premature loss of hair.

And the two dogs were called by their real names, Baldy and Beauty.

â1996

Telephone Conversation

The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,
“I hate a wasted journeyâI am African.”
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick-coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.
“HOW DARK?” â¦ I had not misheard â¦ “ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasisâ
“ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.
“You meanâlike plain or milk chocolate?”
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,
I chose. “West African sepia”âand as afterthought,
“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT'S THAT?” conceding
“DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”
“THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?” “Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see
The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
Are a peroxide blond. Friction, causedâ
Foolishly, madamâby sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven blackâOne moment, madam!”âsensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my earsâ“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn't you rather
See for yourself?”

âWole Soyinka

MORE PRAISE FOR
UNDER AFRICAN SKIES

An invigorating cacophony of involved and compassionate voices â¦ This rich collection offers a fascinating composite image of a society perhaps eternally in transition.

âBRUCE ALLEN,
The Boston Sunday Globe

These 27 stories, spanning 50 years across the continent, show an astonishing range, from forms rooted in the oral tradition to postcolonial and post-apartheid fiction.

â
Booklist

A marvelous collection that brings together the best stories by writers young and old from every corner of the African continent.

âBERNTH LINDFORS
Professor of English and African
Literatures, University of Texas at Austin

These stories bring to life the conflicting family ties, the calls of the ancestors, the grinding poverty, corruption and personal resiliency that make up life in much of modern Africa.

âNEELY TUCKER,
Detroit Free Press

A sampling of the variety and power of writing from Africa which I would hope will inspire eager readers to ask for more.

âNADINE GORDIMER

An invaluable handbook for readers of African fiction in the twenty-first century, indeed a twentieth-century literary collector's treasure.

âERNEST N. EMENYONU
Professor of African and African-American
Literatures, Kalamazoo College

PERMISSIONS

“Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka. First published in
Ibadan
. Copyright
^Â©1960 by Wole Soyinka. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Complete Gentleman” by Amos Tutuola. From
The Palm-Wine Drinkard
. First published in 1952 by Faber & Faber Ltd. and in 1993 by George Braziller. Copyright
^Â©1952 by Faber & Faber and 1953 by George Braziller. Reprinted by permission of Grove Press and Faber & Faber Ltd.

“The Eyes of the Statue” by Camara Laye. First published in
Black Orpheus
. Copyright
^Â©1959 by Camara Laye. Reprinted by permission of The Roslyn Targ Literary Agency.

“Sarzan” by Birago Diop. From
Les Contes d'Amadou Koumba
. Copyright
^Â©1947 by Birago Diop. English translation Copyright
^Â©1970 by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. Reprinted by permission of Ellen Conroy Kennedy and
Presence Africaine
.

“Black Girl” by Sembene Ousmane. First published in
Presence Africaine
. Copyright
^Â©1965 by Sembene Ousmane. English translation Copyright
^Â®1970 by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. Reprinted by permission of Ellen Conroy Kennedy and
PrÃ©sence Africaine
.

“Papa, Snake & I” by Luis Bernardo Honwana. First published in
We Killed Mangy Dogs and Other Mozambique
Stories. Copyright
^Â©1969 by Luis Bernardo Honwana. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“A Meeting in the Dark” by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. First published in
Secret Lives
. Copyright
^Â©1975 by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Reprinted by permission of Heinemann Educational Books.

“A Handful of Dates” by Tayeb Salih. Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies. First published in
The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories
. Copyright
^Â©1968 by Tayeb Salih. Reprinted by permission of Heinemann Educational Books.

“Mrs. Plum” by Es'kia Mphahlele. Copyright
^Â©1967 by Es'kia Mphahlele. Reprinted by permission of Readers International.

“Tekayo” by Grace Ogot.
From Land Without Thunder
. Copyright
^Â©1968 by Grace Ogot. Reprinted by permission of East African Educational Publishers.

“Two Sisters” by Ama Ata Aidoo. From
No Sweetness Here
. Copyright
^Â©1970 by Ama Ata Aidoo. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Girls at War” by Chinua Achebe. First published in
Girls at War and Other Stories
. Copyright
^Â©1972 by Chinua Achebe. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” by Bessie Head. From
Tales of Tenderness and Power
. Copyright
^Â©1990 by The Estate of Bessie Head. Reprinted by permission of John Johnson Limited.

“In the Hospital” by Similih M. Cordor. First published in
More Modern African Stories
. Copyright
^Â©1975, 1997 by Similih Cordor. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The True Martyr Is Me” by RenÃ© Philombe. Translated by Richard Bjornson. Copyright
^Â©1984 RenÃ© Philombe. From
Tales from Cameroon.
Reprinted by permission of Three Continents Press.

“Innocent Terror” by Tijan M. Sallah. First published in
Before the New Earth
. Copyright
^Â©1988, 1997 by Tijan Sallah. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Africa Kills Her Sun” by Ken Saro-Wiwa. From
Adaku and Other Stories.
Copyright
^Â©1989 by Ken Saro-Wiwa. Reprinted by permission of the author's estate, c/o the Maggie Noach Literary Agency, London.

“Afrika Road” by Don Mattera. From
The Storyteller
. Copyright
^Â©1991 by Don Mattera. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Why Don't You Carve Other Animals” by Yvonne Vera. From
Why Don't You Carve Other Animals
. Copyright
^Â©1992 by Yvonne Vera. Reprinted by permission of TSAR Publications.

“The Magician and the Girl” by VÃ©ronique Tadjo. Translated by the author from the French. From
Au Vol d'Oiseau.
Copyright
^Â©1992, 1997 by VÃ©ronique Tadjo. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“A Prayer from the Living” by Ben Okri. First published in
The New York Times
. Copyright
^Â©1993 by Ben Okri. Reprinted by permission of David Godwin Associates.

“Effortless Tears” by Alexander Kanengoni. From
Effortless Tears
. Copyright
^Â©1993 by Alexander Kanengoni. Reprinted by permission of Academic Books (Pvt) Ltd., Baobab Books.

“Give Me a Chance” by Mzamane Nhlapo. First published in
The Kalahari Review
. Copyright
^Â©1994 by Mzamane Nhlapo. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Taken” by Steve Chimombo. First published in
WASI
. Copyright
^Â©1996 by Steve Chimombo. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“I'm Not Talking About That, Now” by Sindiwe Magona. From
Push-Push and Other Stories
. Copyright
^Â©1996 by Sindiwe Magona. Reprinted by permission of David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd.

“My Father, the Englishman, and I” by Nuruddin Farah. Copyright
^Â©1996 by Nuruddin Farah. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“A Gathering of Bald Men” by Mandla Langa. First published in
Word Literature Today
. Copyright
^Â©1996 by Mandla Langa. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Notes

A Senegalese pronunciation of
sergent
, the French for sergeantâTrans.

Female circumcisionâEd.

A snake.

Stang for 700$00, about Â£8.

Father, we put our trust in Thee, Lord of Heaven and earth.

A compound in French African missions where engaged women received spiritual instruction
before marriage.

Pidgin corruption of the English “Father.”

Wolof exclamation used in storytelling to express pity.

In Wolof, Bul Falleh means “Don't Care,” a pun, in the context of the story.

In Wolof, Borom Hallis means “A Person with Money,” a pun also.

Street drumming (and dancing).

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

18 West 18th Street, New York 10011

Published in 1997 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

www.fsgbooks.com

eISBN 9781429952545

First eBook Edition : June 2011

First paperback edition, 1998

Owing to limitations of space, all acknowledgments for permission to reprint previously published material can be found on pages 313-315.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcorver edition as follows:
Under African skies : modern African stories / edited and with an
introduction by Charles R. Larson.â1st ed.
p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-374-21178-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-374-21178-7 (alk. paper)

1. Short stories, African. 2. African fictionâ20th century. 3. Short stories, AfricanâTranslations into English. I. Larson, Charles R.

PL8011.U7 1997

808.83' 10896âdc21

96048601

Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-374-52550-7
Paperback ISBN-10: 0-374-52550-1