The Leopard's Prey
Page 33
She nodded. “Love to. If it’s all right with Maddy and Neville.”
“We’ll meet you in a little while,” said Neville.
Jade and Sam waved goodbye and headed for their respective motorcycles. Biscuit got up to follow, but Jade told him to stay. “I’ll be back this evening and bring you a nice chicken,” she said. When she looked up, she saw Sam and Avery exchange a meaningful glance. Before she could ask Sam what that was about, he’d started his engine.
THEY BUZZED LOW over the Thompsons’ farm, Sam at the stick and Jade up front with the camera. She balanced it over the right side and cranked film while Sam executed a gentle spiral, rising higher and higher with each turn. Then he leveled out and headed southwest, allowing Jade to capture the low sun and the distant herds. Jade did her best to film what she hoped was the essence of Sam’s vision, then stopped cranking and turned her head to the side to await his next hand signal. He made a short chopping motion, and she set the camera down carefully on her lap. It had been their prearranged signal that filming was complete.
Sam had made a wooden box to house his precious Akeley camera. Jade reached for it from its place on the floorboard. She slid back the catch and opened it, expecting to find it empty. It wasn’t. Inside was another small box, nested in a corner. On the top was penned, Open this! Jade did.
For a second, everything evaporated around her except the glittering, cerulean blue sapphire ring in front of her. The square-cut stone, a full carat in size, was set in a white-gold ring crafted in the geometric lines of the new art deco style. Two larger claw mounts held the stone at the top and base with smaller ones on each corner. The breeze shifted and brushed Jade’s cheeks, bringing her back to reality. She noted the soft whoosh of the wind and the purr of the Jenny’s motor. Then she saw the note tucked inside the box lid.
I can’t promise you the world, but I can promise you the sky. Marry me.
Jade looked at the stunning sapphire once more and recalled her fears when Sam had been raving sick. Once again, the laibon’s words came back to her.
When this killer comes for you again, Simba Jike, you must seek help from your mate.
She had heard these words when Harding opened fire on her, and called to Sam, just as she’d gone to Percy when the leopard attacked. Which yellow-eyed killer had the laibon meant? And did it really matter?
The stone matched the sky around her as if a chunk had been crystallized and preserved just for her. She knew that Sam was waiting behind her, silently manning the controls, anxious to know what her answer would be.
She wondered herself.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
THERE’S A TENDENCY to become politically correct in books, but Jade’s attitude toward the African natives is in perfect keeping with historic sensibilities. As proof, I refer you to letters from the assorted clergy that appear in the Leader of British East Africa and the East African Standard during those years. People in London even formed antislavery societies, protesting the forced labor of the native tribes. There is also an excellent book, Kenya, written by Norman Leys, MB, DPH, a health officer in Mombassa. Published in 1925, it exposes the travesty that enforced labor laws wreaked on Kikuyu life and culture.
For a beautiful look at the Maasai tribe, see Maasai (1980) by Tepilit Ole Saitoti, photographs by Carol Beckwith. The author is a Maasai, so the text is written with excellent insight into the culture. Maasai proverbs and beliefs are explored in The Masai, Their Language and Folklore (1905) by Alfred C. Hollis.
One of the most famous men to capture wild animals, Frank Buck, has written several books describing his experiences, including Bring ’Em Back Alive! Chapter four of Harold J. Shepstone’s 1931 book, Wild Beasts To-Day,gives an excellent description of the capture and shipping of wild animals.
Mapping 1920 Nairobi required its own detective work. No one seemed to include any maps in the handbooks and guides. The closest I came was a proposed redevelopment of the downtown area in the September 4, 1920, issue of the Leader of British East Africa. As Mr. Jim McGivney of Kenya Books, Brighton, UK, surmised, “The only important road would be the one that led from the station to the Norfolk Hotel bar!” But The Traveller’s Guide to Kenya and Uganda, 1936 (published by the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours) does include a Nairobi map. Combining this with local newspaper ads from 1919 to 1920, I was able to piece together an idea of the town in 1920.
Old Nairobi and the New Stanley Hotel (1974) by Jan Hemsing has many interesting photographs and notes on early Nairobi, but the best view of all came from Nairobi’s own newspapers: the Leader of British East Africa and the East African Standard. These are available on microfilm, and through their personal columns, ads, and letters to the editor, I gained a window into life in 1920 Nairobi. The plot of this book was inspired by an actual missing-person notice and a pitiful plea for someone to adopt an orphaned baby boy. These microfilms are an excellent example of why newspapers must be archived in their entirety, instead of saving an electronic cache of the headline stories. Otherwise, how will future generations be able to see into our thoughts and daily lives?
Readers interested in more tidbits about life in Jade’s time can visit my weekly blog, “Through Jade’s Eyes,” at www.suzannearruda.blogspot.com or by clicking on “Suzanne’s Blog” on the Web site at www.suzannearruda.com.