Cooking up a Storm

Zag Kunde Chronicle #007

New to the story? Start at the beginning.

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Maiya went outside to cook. Nyako stayed inside and read in the dim light. He turned the radio on and fumbled with the controls until he found his favorite station. It was an avante-garde music station from somewhere in Europe. The reception was just good enough to be enjoyable. He inherited his love of music from his father, who was one of the first people in Namanga to have a gramophone. The rest of the village would assemble at his house to listen together on Wednesday nights. The Elders had reluctantly decided to allow this due to popular demand on the condition that it did not interfere with the village’s own music nights on Fridays. In his younger days, Nyako was a prominent member of the Namanga dance troupe that performed every week. It is how he met Maiya. She had come over from a nearby village with her friends to see the Namanga troupe - well known for their acrobatics and superhuman endurance. Back then, if you were a young woman, it was considered good fortune for a Namanga dancer to take a liking to you. They married within three months of their first meeting, which even for Nyako, was extremely fast.

The first few years were wonderful. Mukalo was born and quickly became a village favorite. The parents liked him because he was smart, and the other children liked him because he could run fast and jump high. Nyako and Maiya worked on their farm together and produced a bumper crop for three years running.

Things changed quickly after their third year when their baby Chiza died within two days of birth. Maiya felt that Nyako could have done more to convince the elders that she should be buried in the village like any other child. She lost that battle. Then Nyako had an affair with his cousin, which he admitted to, but never apologized for. Nyako decided that all this was caused by the curse of losing a child. When Maiya decided not to leave, she poured all her time and affection into taking care of Mukalo and later Zag. Nyako started traveling more and more. Every time he returned they seemed more distant than the last.

The next song that came on the radio caught Nyako’s attention. It was one of his father’s favorites. He lit a cigarette and sang along.

The devil came to me last night
He kissed me in the dark
He left a nail mark on my thigh
And a small tear in my heart

The devil came in with the moonlight
He walked right through these walls
He tortured me and pleasured me
And in the morning he was gone

Gone to where the good ones go
To make their evil sweet
Gone to where the bad ones go
To make their lovers weep
To make their lovers weep

The devil came to me last night
He mixed his lies with truth
His cocktail was a perfect blend
And I drank it till I flew

Flew to where the good ones go
To make their evil sweet
Flew to where the bad ones go
To make their lovers weep
To make their lovers weep

Even though she didn’t love music as much as her husband, Maiya enjoyed hearing him sing. He still had that soothing voice. Warm and deep, just like she remembered it. She even smiled a little.

Maiya enjoyed cooking. It helped her relax. Dinner today was pumpkin leaves cooked in peanut sauce, served with sheema. Everything other than the peanuts was from their own field. This was a source of immense pride for Maiya. Their peanut crop that year had been destroyed by root-knot nematodes (roundworms). Mr. Mbala, the Agricultural Extension Officer, or AEO for short, visited every couple of months and had delivered the same damning verdict to most of the local villagers. The villagers soon started calling him Mr Nematode. The Elders Council was still deliberating on whether or not to allow chemical pesticides to be used in the village. Maiya had lost any faith she had in their ability to make good decisions when they abandoned Chiza to the dark spirits outside the village.

I have something to tell you - Maiya said to Nyako when they sat down to eat.

Nyako nodded slightly and listened in silence, eyes still fixed on his food.

Zag can hear my thoughts.

Nyako looked up: Huh?

I think Zag can hear my thoughts. I’ve been observing him the last few days and there are things he knows that I never said.

Like what?

She didn’t want to mention the encounter with Kura, the Money Collector, because she didn’t want to admit that she quite liked him. Not yet anyway. She also was not about to describe her internal diatribe about his long absences and his utter weakness as a man. But she could mention the water standpipe. That she could.

Um, like the other day, I was just thinking the water pipe is leaking too much and needs fixing, and he told me he would fix it without hearing a word from me.

Nyako laughed. He had a hearty laugh anyway, but this one seemed to reverberate all the way from deep time, in through his toes and rippling all the way through his body, making his shoulders move up and down like ocean waves about to make a happy storm.

This is the most amazing thing I’ve heard all year! I mean, he could see the water leaking from the stand-pipe! Don’t you think that could be how he knew about it?

But.. Maiya started, but decided not to continue. She averted her eyes and transfixed on a black-and-white picture of the family on the wall opposite. She noticed how happy they were in that picture.

Nyako could see that Maiya was deeply insulted, but also that she was not going to get into a fight. Before she completely dropped it, he wanted to know more.

Ok. Zag! come here, he said

Zag came over from the kitchen where he was eating with the other kids - two cousins who were staying with the family.

Please tell me what your mother is thinking right now.

Silence.

Did you hear me? Tell me what Mother is thinking!

I don’t know. Zag said.

Tell him Zag, Maiya said. She was sure he was just a little preoccupied, or afraid, or both.

Zag looked at Mother and then at Father searching for clues on what to do next.

Nyako looked at Maiya with a pitiful look. The same pitiful look he’d given her when she decided to stay after he cheated. It made him feel like he had ultimate power over her. Maiya looked at Zag with the kind of disappointment you feel when you go to have a warm shower and the water is just tepid. Not cold, not hot, definitely not warm. Just tepid. Zag just wanted to retreat to the safety of the kitchen with the other children.

For Maiya, the one redeeming quality of this attempt at meaningful engagement was hearing Nyako laugh. She hadn’t heard him laugh like that in years. Even though it was at her expense, there were infectious ripples in his laughter and she laughed a little herself. Maybe she had been imagining things.

That night, Maiya and Nyako made love. It was a bittersweet reminder for Maiya of when they first got married. Those were “the together years” - long hard work on the farm in the morning, long conversations in the afternoon, long sex after dark. Today was a pale imitation - a very pale imitation.

When Maiya woke up early the next morning it was still a little dark. She was an early riser. Nyako was not in bed. Strange, because he was the late riser.

She found a note on the living room table.

Dear Maiya. I have gone back to where I just came from.
I have important work to do there and have taken Zag to help me. He has superpowers that they need. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to. Once they see Zag, they will keep him there forever. Because of that, I may never return. I want to take care of Zag for us. Thank you for everything. Please forgive me. Please take care of Mukalo.
Nyako