Acacia - Secrets of an African Painting

by Paul Bondsfield

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE - MORE SECRETS

  The morning came early on the farm and I was roused just before the sun came up by the sounds of life in the house and out in the garden. I lay there for a minute or two, digesting the events of the night before and dreading having to face Tara this morning after what had happened. I couldn’t imagine what had prompted Tara’s actions, except that it further pointed at a trend of strange and unsettling behaviour over the last few weeks.

  Once I had showered, I walked into the dining room where everyone else had already assembled, including Tara. She looked up at me with a broad smile, for which I was thankful, and I sat down in the empty seat.

  There was already a large quantity of food on the table, including a large pot of mealie porridge that I was keen to try. Assuming that a plate of this thick cereal would be enough for one breakfast, I helped myself to a full bowl, missing the amused look that passed between Albert and Katie.

  ‘That’s good,’ Katie said, ‘I like to see a man with a big appetite.’ I smiled at her and reached for the sugar to sprinkle on top, but before I could get there, Katie passed me a large earthenware jug, brimming with thick, yellow cream.

  ‘Pour some of that over it; it’s from the farm, you know, fresh as it comes. Sugar is wasted on this, try some home grown honey instead’

  I did as she suggested and then dug in to the huge, rich bowl of porridge without uttering a word. Unfortunately, for my stomach at least, the porridge was just the start of an average breakfast here. Next, there came plates of thick bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and mushrooms, all from the farm. Then came thick pancakes with maple syrup and enormous slabs of fresh warm bread with lashings of creamy butter to spread on top. All very Enid Blyton I thought. To go with this was an array of jams, honey, and glazed ham. Every single thing on that table was produced here on the farm and it made me appreciate all the more, the wonderfully healthy lifestyle these people lived and how self-sufficient they were.

  As each new plate of food was put in front of me, I grew more and more uncomfortable until at long last, as I washed everything down with cups of dark black coffee and fresh orange and mango juice, the procession of dishes came to an end. I slumped back in my chair wondering how on earth I was going to be able to move anywhere within the next two or three hours.

  Katie explained that breakfast was the main meal of the day here, as the men would often be out on the farm all day and needed to be fed to the gunnels before they set off.

  ‘I wondered if you were going to fit it all in with the amount of porridge you ate.’ She laughed.

  I thought I had better put a brave face on things and jumped up out of my chair. ‘I’m ready for anything.’ I boasted, striking a heroic pose as if going into battle.

  ‘He won’t make it past ten o’ clock.’ Tara put her two pennies in, but for once, I was glad to be the butt of her acerbic comments, as it put us back on a regular footing as far as I was concerned, relegating last night’s kiss to history.

  ‘So, what are your plans, you two?’ Katie asked, ushering us out of the dining room so that Michael could clear away the breakfast dishes.

  ‘We thought we might stay one more day, if that’s okay, and then head off again tomorrow morning.’ Tara said, looking to me for approval of this plan, eyebrows cocked, head to one side.

  ‘Um, yeah, I guess that sounds fine to me, if it’s all right with you and Albert, Katie?’

  ‘Fine by me,’ she replied with a smile, ‘it will be nice to have you here for a little longer, I want to find out all about you both.’

  We looked at each other, perfectly aware of what the other was thinking.

  ‘Have you got any suggestions for a bit of sightseeing around here?’ I asked.

  ‘Not unless you like looking at acres and acres of crops, or old barns, or perhaps rusty farm equipment.’ She smiled at us. ‘It’s not really a tourist trap here as you can see; just good honest farming country.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ Tara said, we can go for a walk or something, or is there anything we can do to help you? I wouldn’t mind getting involved a bit, feel like we’re earning our keep.’

  ‘Of course you can help. Come with me and we can feed the animals, and then I have to go and check on the farm shop, make sure it’s well stocked.’

  So, for the rest of the day, we spent our time with Katie, chatting about everything and anything not to do with family secrets, relationships, or strange old black guys. Katie truly was a bundle of total energy, striding around the farm issuing orders, getting things done at breakneck speed whilst at the same time, keeping us amused and entertained.

  When at last we returned to the house that afternoon for a delicious glass of homemade lemonade, I broached the subject of Nellie’s husband and children to see if Katie could tell us anything more. I noticed Tara tense up as I asked for Katie’s opinion, but carried on anyway, determined to find out anything that Katie could impart.

  She looked a little surprised that we should bring this subject up, but asked what we already knew, which we told her.

  ‘There’s not much I can add to what you know to be honest. The accident happened in this house of course, so there were no witnesses as far as I can gather. They were evidently too poor to afford servants by then because Harry’s drinking and gambling had rid them of all their money. There was some talk that Nellie had killed him, but it was only talk. The police were called and Harry was found to have been drunk as a lord at the time. They said that all the evidence supported Nellie’s story and so no more was done about it.’

  ‘You have to understand that back then, and even now to some extent, these things happened often and the police were only really there to see there was no danger to the public at large. Their investigation would have been as thorough as it needed to be and they would have been able to quickly see if Nellie had done anything wrong.’

  Somehow, Katie’s story didn’t settle my nerves on this issue as much as I had thought it would. It sounded as if Nellie could easily have murdered Harry and the police would have let her get away with it if there was no danger to anyone else. Rough justice, I suppose.

  I must have been frowning because Katie turned to me.

  ‘You mustn’t think badly of Nellie, you know. Whatever the real truth, and I happen to believe her story anyway, but even if she had finished him off, then her actions must be judged by the standards out here when it happened and not by the moral standards in the England of today.’

  I thought about this for a moment before replying, but realised the sense of what she said. ‘Thank you Katie, I think I understand what you’re saying. For the record, I don’t think she did it either, but as you say, it was a different era, so who are we to judge.’

  Tara smiled at this, as she had obviously been satisfied by what Katie had said and visibly relaxed, but then Katie continued.

  ‘Of course I never got to the bottom of the other business, but you probably know something of that too.’

  Tara’s head nearly swivelled from her shoulders as she turned from looking out over the garden to stare directly at Katie.

  ‘What do you mean the other business? What other business was that?’

  Katie looked surprised again that we had known about one thing and not the other, and instantly looked as if she regretted saying anything.

  She stared at Tara, guilt was written across her face, making Tara even more anxious to know what there was to know.

  ‘Katie, tell me, you’re scaring me a little. What is it?’ She looked across at me with fear and apprehension in her eyes, but I could do nothing but shrug my shoulders.

  ‘Katie, you have to tell us now. What else happened?’

  Katie sighed and looked from Tara to me and back again, unsure whether to speak about the mysterious “other business”.

  I’m sorry Tara, but I thought you would have known about it. You seem to know so much else. I hope I am not breaking any promises by telling you this, but I honestly think you should know.’
>
  The tension in the room had reached fever pitch by now as Tara and I eagerly waited for whatever Katie was about to say.

  ‘You two must have been fairly young at the time, I don’t know, you would have been around nine or ten years old, James. I got a call from your parents Tara and they said that they were coming out here for a while. Something about the way they talked was a little strange though, I remember feeling a bit odd about the whole trip, but I could never put my finger on exactly what was wrong.’

  She paused, summoning up her memories. ‘Then I got a second call from Nellie, which is when I thought that something very odd was going on because it was the first time she had ever actually phoned us here. You saw how difficult it was to contact us just from Harare, but an international call to this line would have taken a huge amount of patience and several tries to get through.’

  ‘So what did she say?’ Tara asked, her face looking a little pale as she sensed this was not just going to be a story about a nice holiday trip to Zimbabwe that her parents had taken years ago.

  ‘She asked me about the conversation I had had with your parents and wanted to know exactly when they were coming and what they had said their plans were. I was surprised that she had needed to phone me for that sort of information, as it would have been easier for her to contact them there in England.’

  ‘I told her what they said to me, which is pretty much what I told you a moment ago; that they were coming out for a holiday and wanted to stay here for a few days.’

  ‘Nellie kept pressing me though, asking exactly what they had said and the way I had felt about the call. It was all a little strange and in the end, we lost the connection and then I didn’t hear from her again until she turned up one day, here at the farm.’

  Tara and I looked at each other, puzzled at this, mainly because as far as we knew, Nellie had never revisited Africa in all the time we knew her. To find out that she had was intriguing, especially as her trip seemed to have coincided with Tara’s parent’s travels to this part of the world.

  ‘How long was she here for, because we didn’t know anything about a trip?’ I asked.

  ‘It wasn’t long, not long at all actually.’ Katie replied. ‘She arrived late one evening; I remember that because Albert nearly shot her thinking she was an intruder. The effects of the war you understand,’ she explained, reacting to our surprised look. ‘Back then, if you didn’t assume a late night caller was up to no good, you were really risking your life. There were many farmers who learnt that lesson too late and their graves, and those of their families, lie testament to their folly.’

  This was an aspect of life out here that had not really occurred to me. Living through a civil war must have been tough, not knowing who your enemies or friends were and expecting the worst at all times. I could see the reason for the remains of the high fencing and barbed wire now.

  ‘Anyway,’ Katie continued, ‘she arrived late, as I said and then she stayed for just one day before she set off again. Robert and Tina, Tara’s parents,’ she explained unnecessarily, ‘had already been here and gone again. Nellie only stayed for as long as it took to find out where they had gone and then organise transport to go and find them.’

  ‘How did she seem to you, when she got here, I mean?’ Tara asked.

  ‘She was agitated,’ Katie nodded as she remembered, confirming her thoughts as she spoke, ‘very much so actually. It was almost as if she thought they were in some kind of danger, but she never really let onto anything, even though we asked her several times. Albert even offered to help, to go with her. He was worried that if they were in some sort of trouble, then Nellie would be putting herself in danger by going to help them.’

  ‘So did she say anything to you about what the danger might be?’ I was sure that something must have been said. These were people used to serious trouble, life and death stuff, literally, so it seemed odd that they knew nothing of what was going on.

  ‘Well, there was another, more disturbing clue to the whole business,’ Katie frowned, ‘ but to this day I am not sure that it meant anything or not.’

  We both leaned forward, eager to hear this.

  ‘We have a witchdoctor here on the farm, most do you know. I mean, they’re not full on witchdoctors like they used to be, I suppose, but they act as councillors to the people, applying local remedies for minor ailments and they also do a bit of fortune telling. Well, ours came to the house and was eager to tell us about a dream he had had.’

  ‘We’re not usually into all that, although we respect his position with the people you understand, but the fortune telling is all a bit hocus-pocus for my liking. Anyway, this dream he had was strange in that he seemed to get some things right that he wouldn’t have known about.’

  We were both on the edge of our seats by now, silently urging her on. Any pretence at Braughton pragmatism had seemingly fled for the while.

  ‘He said that he had dreamt about a family who were obsessed with a secret, although he didn’t know what. He said that the lady from the acacia would help to provide the answer. Well of course, I immediately thought of Nellie’s house in England, and the fact that she was here already was a bit of a coincidence. Then he said that this lady would not answer anything now, but rather through others much later. However, in his dream, he said that he had seen an acacia tree and there was death there, but he wasn’t sure if it was old death or new death, which is a bit odd, don’t you think?’

  What else did he say? What did he mean by new or old death? Did he say what the family was obsessed with?’ Tara peppered her with questions, not giving the chance for an answer.

  ‘No, he didn’t say anything much more than that.’

  ‘But he did say something else then?’ I jumped on her inconclusive answer.

  ‘Well yes dear, but nothing important. He just said that it was raining, but the sun was shining. I assume it was something to do with a rainbow, although he didn’t actually say that.’

  ‘And where did they go?’ I asked, taking Katie off guard by my sudden reversal of topic.

  ‘What? Oh, you mean Robert and Tina. It was up to north Matabeleland, the Lupane area or thereabouts.’ She stopped and I sensed she was holding something back.

  ‘What is it Katie? Is there something else?’ I asked gently, not wanting to push too hard.

  ‘Look, I don’t want to start rumours or make two plus two into five, but a couple of things happened that made us wonder.’ She stopped again, wringing her hands and frowning.

  ‘Go on please,’ I said, ‘we have to know.’

  She took a deep breath and then continued; ‘Robert and Tina returned a few days later, with Nellie as well. They didn’t say they were coming, but just reappeared one afternoon, just as I was going out. They insisted that I carry on with what I was doing and they made themselves at home. But they looked very nervous, drawn and upset at something. I was in too much of a hurry to ask them anything then, so I went on my way.’

  ‘When I returned later, Albert had come in early and was there with them chatting on the verandah. They still looked very tired and were a little quiet, but again, said nothing. We tried to get them to tell us what the problem was, but they said it was nothing and that we shouldn’t worry about it. However, they were just not right, you know when you get that feeling and no matter what someone says, you can’t shake it off?’

  ‘So what did you think was wrong?’ Tara asked, ‘you must have had some idea I guess.’

  ‘Well not really. Like I say, we asked them several times, but there was nothing they said that gave us much of a clue.’

  ‘It was only later when they had eventually gone that Albert said something that made me wonder. He said that they reminded him of people in the war. When farmers were attacked and had to defend themselves, sometimes they had to shoot and kill to protect their families and their properties. No matter how tough you think you are, when you kill someone, it affects you and it is obvious to those around that it has done so.
’

  ‘Albert said that Nellie, Robert, and Tina had that look, the look of people who had taken a life and were now suffering the consequences.’

  We all fell silent at this, letting the enormity of what she had said sink in. Was it possible that the three of them had indeed gone out into the bush somewhere and killed someone? And if so, who and why? The questions swirled around the room, silent and unanswered.

  Then Tara sobbed. ‘No, it’s not possible. Albert was mistaken, there is no way that my parents would have killed anyone, he is just guessing from the way they acted. There could have been any number of reasons for their behaviour. They could have argued amongst themselves, fallen ill, or maybe just killed an animal of some sort, or any number of reasons. There is nothing to prove what Albert said, nothing at all.’ She looked at us with eyes moist, pleading for someone to back her up.

  I was just about to do just that, thinking that she was right and that it was only Albert’s assumption that something terrible must have happened, when Katie spoke again.

  ‘I agree with you totally,’ she said, reaching for Tara’s hand, but there is one more thing you should know.’

  Tara closed her eyes, unwilling to hear any more, trying to block out the light of this beautiful sunny day and the dark secrets she was learning.

  ‘No, there is nothing more, nothing! They didn’t kill anyone, they couldn’t have done it and there’s nothing more to say.’ She was nearly shouting by now and then she jumped up and ran from the room into the garden. Katie stood as if to follow her, but I reached out and put a restraining hand on her arm.

  ‘No, don’t worry for now; she’ll be better on her own for a while.’ I said, also eager to know what more Katie had to say and not wanting to break her train of thought.

  ‘Tell me what you were going to say. What else is there?’

  She sat down again; obviously worried about Tara and the upset she had caused her by telling us about such goings on. ‘It was a few weeks later,’ she began, ‘and we were at the club up in the town. It’s where all the farmers get together on a Friday night for a drink. A bit of an institution really, and the best place to get the news from around the district.’

  ‘Anyway, there were a couple of fellows from further afield visiting one of the local farms for some advice on something or other. It’s a good network we have here and you can always get help from another farmer if you have any problems. They were talking about a disturbance near their land some weeks before. They had been out near the perimeters of their own land, checking fences, when they heard some shouting and screaming and then some shots being fired. They wondered about it at the time, but did nothing more, as there were often flare-ups between the locals. Even when guns came into play, it was seldom that anyone was hurt, as the protagonists were nearly always drunk and their aim was shaky to say the least. However, they heard in town a couple of days later that a body had been found out in the bush, by then badly mauled by the local wildlife.’

  I was afraid to ask, but did so anyway. ‘So how is this connected exactly? Where did this all happen?’

  ‘It was near the Lupane River and the time it happened coincided with the time Nellie and Tara’s parents were there.’