Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo Read Free Book Online

an eye on Wamai. ‘
I don’t want any of my cows struck by lightning! If there’s a thunderstorm, you make sure Wamai takes them into the milking shed.
’ But with Juma away visiting his sick mother, there was no one to check and no one else would inform the bwana.
    The milking shed was surrounded by its own high barbed-wire fence. Stories of settlers’ cattle being mysteriously slaughtered in the night had made Bwana Grayson recently replace the old fence here too. Mugo dropped behind a bush as he figured a way of getting through it. First, he must find where the guards were. There was surely more than one. Creeping low, he circled through the long grass round to the front. To his amazement, he could see no one at the gate! Instead there was a cluster of men at the entrance to the milking shed, next to Wamai the dairyman’s hut. With the rain pelting down, they were more sheltered there. In the weak light coming through the door of Wamai’s hut, Mugo caught the glint of long steel blades. The men carried pangas and it seemed that they were making an archway of what lookedlike banana leaves and maize stalks. He hoped that this was the only reason they had brought their pangas here in the middle of the night. Did he dare to sneak through the gate while they were busy? If he were spotted, they would surely chase him!
    Once again, his legs seemed to decide for him. He found himself dashing for the gate and from there to the back of the milking shed and around the corner. Breathing heavily, he was relieved to see a few small bushes. If a guard came to the back, the bushes would make it a little more difficult to see him. Finding a slit between the wooden stakes of the shed wall, he put his eye to it. A dim light came from a hurricane lamp up at the front and, at first, all he could see was a mass of shadowy people with their backs to him. He tried to scan individual shapes, searching for his parents, but it was impossible.
    Peering through one slit after another as he edged along the wall, he at last found Baba and Mami in a row near the front. His father had that severe expression that gave nothing away, but he saw Mami wipe her brow. He had seen her do that when she had a headache. A guard stood at the end of their line. He twirled a small club in one hand, his distrustful eyes fixed on Mzee Josiah and Mama Mercy. Old Mzee stood stiffly to attention, staring straight ahead. His face reminded Mugo ofan angry carving. He didn’t even seem to notice when his wife’s shoulders suddenly shuddered as if ants had crawled over them. Mami placed her hand on Mama Mercy’s arm. To Mugo’s surprise, Mama Mercy clasped it and lifted it to her chest. As a house servant she usually kept herself apart from Mami and the other women who weeded the memsahib’s garden.
    Mugo began to search other faces. Many looked tense and anxious for the meeting to begin. What if the lightning had woken the bwana and he had got wind of what was happening? What if the police were already on their way with their dogs and their trucks to cart them away? But some faces showed no fear. Some younger ones looked excited, boys who were older than him and even some his own age. He felt torn. Shouldn’t he just go inside and join them? Share whatever was going to happen? He wasn’t a coward! Then he remembered that Baba had lied about him. The captain would find out that he hadn’t been sleeping by the bwana’s house. The warning to Baba had been clear: ‘
If you lie, you will pay.
’ With the rain beating on his back, Mugo pressed his eye again to the peephole. He had to stay outside, like a spy.
    The meeting began with singing. As voices mingled with the drumming of the rain, Mugo felt a deep loneliness in the words and in himself.
    ‘
Sorrow and trouble came
    Yes, sorrow and trouble.
    When we accepted the wazungu
    They stole our land.
’
    Baba and Mami had lowered their heads so Mugo couldn’t be sure if they were singing. But both Mzee Josiah and