Doctor Who_ Transit - Ben Aaronovitch [86]
'Light the blue touch paper,' said the Doctor, walking back to join Kadiatu, 'and retire to a safe distance.'
A plume of burning white light burst from the top of the three upright cylinders. Magnesium distress flares.
'Since we've got a few moments,' said the Doctor, 'why don't you tell me about great-grandfather Alistair.'
'What do you want to know?'
'How he met your great-grandmother would do for a start.'
Mariatu was the third daughter of the youngest wife of the Chief Yembe of Rokoye village and a source of endless discomfort to him. Although at sixteen she was well past marriageable age she had refused all proposals, arranged or otherwise. This would have been almost acceptable to Chief Yembe; after all, a compound needs young women, to fetch water and firewood, to cook and clean, except that Mariatu did none of these womanly things. Instead she did as she pleased and ran wild in the forest like a boy.
Chief Yembe's senior wife, sensing her husband's dissatisfaction, spoke to Mariatu's mother, punctuating each point by banging her walking stick against the wall of the hut. Mariatu's mother fearing for the stability of her home sent for her daughter.
'Why do you run in the forest?' demanded the senior wife. 'Are you not afraid of spirits or wild animals?'
'Why should I be afraid?' answered Mariatu. 'I am faster than any spirit and wild animals only attack if you scare them.'
'Why do you not fetch water for your mother?'
'Why should I fetch water when the stream is so close? If I am thirsty I go there and drink. Others should do likewise.'
And so it went, with each quick question came an equally quick reply until the senior wife was so tired she had to lie down in the shade.
Mariatu's mother gave her a basket and a sharp iron machete
'Since you love the forest so much,' said her mother, 'why don't you go there and collect fruit? In that way at least you will be of benefit to your family.'
Mariatu, knowing a bargain when she heard one, took the basket and the iron machete and went into the forest Determined to eat at least as much wild fruit as she brought back.
Now on that day a young British lieutenant named Alistair Gorden Lethbridge-Stewart was also in the forest. Far more in the forest than he wanted to be. This was only his first week in the country and having left his Land Rover to collect some soil samples, he had got himself lost. As he rested in the shade of the tree, Alistair saw a pretty native girl coming down the path towards him with a basket of fruit balanced on her head.
'Why are you sitting in the forest?' asked Mariatu when she-saw him there. The stranger did not understand her but stood up. He was very tall and his skin was pale, all except his face which was a strange red colour. Mariatu took his hand and rubbed at the skin but the white stuff didn't come off. This, then, she thought, must be an oporto, one of the white men that her father was always speaking of.
'Have you seen a Land Rover around here?' Alistair asked the native girl. 'A car, around here?' He turned an imaginary steering wheel and made brmm brmm noises. The girl just stared, making him feel bloody stupid. He wished that she was wearing more clothes. He put his hand against his forehead and mimed looking around.
The girl reached up and took the basket from her head and handed it to him. From the basket she removed a nasty-looking black machete. Alistair instinctively took a step backwards. She grinned at him showing perfect white teeth and balanced the machete on her head. She beckoned and walked away.
Alistair hefted the basket into a more comfortable position and followed her down the path. The basket was awkward to carry in his arms so he tried putting it on his head as the girl had done. He had to keep one hand on it for balance. After a while his arm ached, and so did his neck and back. Watching