Sunburn

One for sorrow

The drive to my home was a smooth one as the car had the stamina of a racehorse and more. Dr Schzev looked around in distaste as he saw the children playing with only stained ripped cloth to cover them. He himself was wearing the highest quality shirt in a shade of light purple and a stunning silk tie in a brilliant electric blue. Colours that none other than the wealthy could buy and wear with such flourish. His shoes were a polished brown that reminded me distinctively of the mud bricks that layered the ground around our shelter. But I wouldn't dare to tell him that. As we approached my home, an area of cloth stretched between two acacia trees, he looked at me sternly. Hatred flickered in his eyes. “There is death in the air!” he said with only the smallest hint of emotion. “I can smell it!” Anger rose inside of me. A burning soldier marching in time with the rhythm of my body. “How can you say that?” I screamed at him. “I've paid you to come and make her better not so you can rip my heart apart with your ice cold comments!” Dr Schzev couldn't take it so he jumped out of the car, opened my door, and chucked me onto the steaming ground below. My right hand crunched beneath me and started to ache and throb with pain. When I looked up again he was driving into the distance leaving a trail of destruction behind him. The thief! The scoundrel! The cheek of it! I pushed myself of the floor and gingerly flexed my hand. It was painful but it would be alright. I brushed the dirt of my clothes and tried to make myself look neater. Not that it made any difference. I stood for a while. The temperature was falling as evening crept in. A cloud drifted over the sun, leaving me in a dark shadow. It was a bad omen. I shivered. African evenings were cold. Very cold. A lone magpie flew from a tree and landed in the acacia that I had been sheltering under earlier. The old rhyme fluttered around my head. One for sorrow! Suddenly I remembered what the doctor had said. Scolding myself for forgetting I hurried frantically towards our shelter. Terror built up inside of me. Threatening to take over. As I got closer I saw Bakari sitting down by himself. He had his hands pressed into his face but I was sure I saw a lone tear escape down his cheek. Then I saw the vulture. We got a lot of them in Africa but they only came round here when there was fresh dead meat up for grabs.

My mum!