Petina Gappah - The Book of Memory

‘Just speak in Shona,’ continued Jimmy, ‘but speak simply, and just stick to explaining what actually happened. Explain right now. We are in court. Verity is the prosecutor, and I am the magistrate.’

‘And I am the interpreter,’ said Evernice.

Jimmy protested. ‘Interpreter wekwadini when we are saying she should speak in Shona.’

‘ Horaiti , I will just sit here with these other people in court.’

Evernice moved to join the five baby dumpers on the grass who were giggling as they watched.

‘I am the court reporter,’ said one of the baby dumpers. She rose from the grass to join Jimmy and Verity.

‘And I am the policewoman in Court Five, the one who always looks like she is smelling rotting onions,’ said Manyara. She twisted her mouth to the right. The watching women gave great gulps of laughter.

‘The court shall come to order,’ said Jimmy. She made as though to gavel a table. ‘Mr Prosecutor, please proceed.’

‘I would like to ask the accused where she was on the day in question,’ said Verity.

Beulah blinked and licked her lips.

‘Hona bwai bwai yacho,’ said Evernice. ‘There is your D in English. You see why you need an interpreter.’

‘Actually, it’s translator,’ said Verity.

Jimmy said, ‘Okay, fine, translator, interpreter, it is all the same thing. Evernice, you can be the interpreter.’

Verity said, ‘Translator.’

Jimmy said, ‘Fine, fine, whatever. Please, Mr Prosecutor.’

‘I said where were you on the day in question?’ Verity asked.

‘Where were you on the questioned day which is the day that we are questioning you about today?’ Evernice translated.

Beulah blinked, licked her lips again, drew breath, and said, ‘I was just coming from the shops, ndazvitengera zvangu yekera yangu, ndazvitengera drink yangu , it was the first time that I had seen Cherry Plum in ages, from the time I was a girl I have always liked it even though it makes your tongue purple, so I bought some and I was so happy, and I bought it with my own money, and I was drinking it and laughing with my friend Shupi who lives in Jerusalem when this woman called Rosewinter who lives in Canaan walked past us, and I know her because she tried to take my boyfriend, he used to live close by Shupi in Jerusalem, in fact that is how we met until his landlord kicked him out for not paying rent on time, but I can’t really say that he was my proper boyfriend as such because he was married even though his wife lived at their village.

‘So as she passed us she was talking and I heard her say to her friend, ndiye uya anoroya, and I said what did you say, and she said, ehe , I said you are a witch who eats people, what are you going to do about it, you witch?

‘And I said, what, what do you mean I am a witch, and I said to myself, no, I cannot allow this, how can I allow this Rosewinter person, mumwewo mukadzi zvake akabarwa seni , to call me a witch while I just stand here drinking Cherry Plum like nothing is happening, and she said again, you are a witch, and then I took my bottle even though it still had some drink in it and I took it and I hit her with it and she screamed, maiwe , the witch is killing me, and that made me even angrier so I hit her again and the bottle broke on her head; you have never seen anything like it because the bottle broke and there was this blood now mixed with the Cherry Plum and I turned to Shupi for help but she and the other woman’s friend were busy fighting, but when the police came, they both of them managed to run away even though Shupi left her new wig behind, it was a boy-cut style, which was a pity because kanga kakamufita zvisingaiti kawig kacho, and this woman was now shouting, my head, my head, my head, kani my head, like I had killed her.

‘And then they took us to the police camp and they arrested me even though I explained to the police that I was minding my own business drinking my Cherry Plum which I had just bought for myself with my own money when this woman spoke to her friend and said, ndiye uya anoroya , and I said what did you say …’

The women were now in fits of laughter. Abandoning her role as court reporter, the baby dumper was rolling on the grass, while her friends clapped their hands to each other in delight.

‘Okay, okay,’ said Jimmy. ‘Just stop there. You need a simple story. Leave out the stuff about this wonini , this Cherry Plum; no one cares about Cherry Plum or what colour it makes your tongue. And this Canaan, Canaan business …’

‘Did I say Canaan?’ Beulah said. ‘I actually meant Egypt, yah, he moved to Egypt before he went to Canaan.’

‘Egypt, Canaan, Jerusalem, it would not matter if it was Gethsemane. Just cut all that out and get to the point. Just say what actually happened. She called you a witch and you became angry.’

‘And you were angry because of your dead grandmother who was once called a witch,’ said Evernice.

‘ Ehunde ,’ said Jimmy. ‘That is a good one.’

‘But both my grandmothers are alive,’ Beulah said.

‘Yes, but what about your grandmothers’ grandmothers?’ Evernice asked. ‘Are they not your grandmothers too?’

‘But they were never called witches,’ Beulah said.

‘And how do you know that?’ said Evernice. ‘Were you alive in the time of your grandmothers’ grandmothers? Do you know everything that happened to them? Were you there? What are you, a witch?’

‘Don’t call me a witch,’ Beulah said as she flared up.

In a low voice, making sure that Beulah did not hear me, I said to Verity that it was just as well that there was no bottle of Cherry Plum handy. Verity swallowed her laughter and gave me a punch on the arm.

‘ Iza , Beulah, iza ,’ said Jimmy. ‘Evernice has a good point. Just say she called you a witch, it made you angry and sad because that is what they had called your grandmother who has now died, and you were overcome with anger.’

‘Say you need a course in anger government,’ said Verity.

‘Anger government kuita sei,’ said Jimmy. ‘Just say you are sorry, and that you have remorse.’

‘That’s right, remorse,’ said Verity. ‘You are full of remorse and you ask to be sentenced to the time that you have saved.’

‘Time served,’ said Jimmy.

‘Time saved,’ said Verity.

‘What do you mean, time saved?’ said Monalisa. ‘Jimmy is right. It is time served.’

‘The point is that she will not go to jail because she has saved the time,’ reasoned Verity.

Before anyone could answer, Beulah said, ‘I am sorry, of course I am, and I will let the court know that I am sorry, and that I promise not to be that angry again, but I swear by my father who is buried in Zimuto even though he died in Seke Unit J, I swear that if I see her again and she calls me a witch or so much as looks at me like she is even thinking that I am a witch, ndinopika nevakafa , I swear by the dead that I am going to thump her, bottle or no bottle.’

As the siren sounded for lock-up, we took our laughter with us all the way to our cells.

*

I spend twelve hours of every day in my own cell. There are women here who would go mad in such solitude. The guards frequently punish us by isolating us. Verity claims that the activist who was kidnapped from her home two years ago is actually here in Chikurubi, hidden away in solitary confinement in an underground room with a special guard that we have never seen.

The idea of being alone horrifies the others. They prefer to move in groups, to work in clusters, to always have a companion. It is different for me. Solitude is not the hardest thing about prison life for me. From the time that I was a child, I have been able to retreat into myself, and to find within myself the resources that have made it possible to bear my own company. Even when everyone came back from their various occupations, my mother from plaiting hair when she was well, my father from his work, and Joyi and Mobhi from their play, I found it possible in that houseful of people to be entirely alone.