Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight_ An African Childhood - Alexandra Fuller [113]
Our house is coming along—sitting room plain, high rectangular—needs ceiling when we can afford it, and slates, tiles—something—for the floor which is still cement. Bedroom walls up—such an odd shape—Dad insisted on different shape and drew something out with a stick on the ground—then the builder said “How do we put the roof on?” and Bwana didn’t know—but Madam, of course, came up with a brain wave—but we’ll see if it works first.
Thatch house leaks, had low ceiling of black seedbed sheets which sagged and trapped frantic lizards who can only get rescued when Madam went down (from Oribi Ridge). No, this was a sweat box—a torment chamber of note—in that heat I could not stand it—now Banda [Dad’s longtime right-hand man] had to crawl around and tuck plastic against the thatch as a neat lining—NOT his plan of sticking plastic over the roof—can you imagine—more like township squalor every day.
Poor Van going mad with depression and pain and waiting (for the baby to come). They’ve moved into Dunc and Nicollet Hawkesworth’s house (closer to the clinic). . . .
That’s enough waffling for now!
All our love and thoughts will be with you at Christmas. . . .
Lots of love, Mum and Dad.
Vanessa’s baby came the day after Christmas. She named her Natasya Isabelle Jayne.
Jayne in memory of the baby none of us will ever forget, Olivia Jane Fuller.
This is not a full circle. It’s Life carrying on. It’s the next breath we all take. It’s the choice we make to get on with it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969. In 1972, she moved with her family to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and the Fullers later lived in Malawi and Zambia. Fuller received a B.A. in English literature from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, and now lives in Wyoming.
Copyright © 2001 by Alexandra Fuller
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The author would like to thank Ian Murphy for permission to reproduce
the photographs “Dad and Bo” and “Charlie and Mum” in the “Charlie”
chapter, and would like to thank Ross Hilderbrand for permission to reproduce the photographs of the author’s father at the beginnings of the
“Chimurenga, 1974,” “War, 1976,” and “Richard” chapters.
All other photos are from the Fuller family collection.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuller, Alexandra.
Don’t let’s go to the dogs tonight: an African childhood / Alexandra Fuller.
p. cm.
1. Zimbabwe—History—Chimurenga War, 1966–1980—Personal narratives, British. 2. Fuller, Alexandra, 1969—Childhood and youth. 2. Girls—Zimbabwe—Biography. I. Title.
DT2990 .F85 2002
968.91´04´092—dc21
[B] 2001041752
Random House website address: www.atrandom.com
eISBN: 978-1-58836-049-6
v3.0