Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth [254]
Paris said gravely, ‘Oose climb tree see ship stay two-three day. He tink hum-hum, pass by, tell me.’
Kenka reflected for a moment but it was clear from his next words that he was not interested in this news of the ship. ‘Oose ken climb anyting,’ he said. ‘Ken you?’
‘Some man good dis, some man good dat. Everybody climb tree, who go catch fish? You want walk dis way?’
The boy had a small, particular smile for proposals that pleased him. ‘You good more ting dan Oose,’ he said. He had a way of prefacing certain of his words with a light frictive sound, not quite a consonant; a habit derived from the Foulani speech habits of his mother, with whom he talked more quickly and easily than with Paris, using with her some African words.
As they walked along together, Paris felt his hand taken in a small, tenacious paw. ‘One time in de class,’ Kenka said, ‘Tekka say Oose climb dat tree he see slave-taker cos black bear after him arse. Dat de trut?’
‘What Jimmy say?’ Paris asked cautiously. There were aspects of Jimmy’s teaching he was not sure he approved of.
‘Jimmy say dat not in de story.’
They had come now to the edge of the jungle hummock that lay just below the pine ridges. The path they were following opened on to the bank of a shallow, brackish lagoon. They heard the plop of a turtle as they approached the water and two grey doves flew up from the undergrowth at the edge. ‘How ken Jimmy sabee everyting in de story?’ the boy persisted. ‘Not Jimmy climb de tree. Mebbe Oose no tell ’bout black bear an’ fraid him arse.’
Paris thought about this for some moments. The turtle had stopped swimming and lay some dozen yards out, with the blunt nob of its head and the glistening curve of its shell just above the surface. ‘Dis what I tink,’ he said at last. ‘Nobody sabee de whole story. Mebbe Oose forgit, mebbe change some ting. Oose got arse same like you, me, Tekka, he want save him arse same like everybody. An’ you sabee why dat, don’ you?’
The pure pleasure of knowing the answer had spread over Kenka’s face. ‘Man lose him arse no ken climb tree, no ken do anyting.’
‘Dat right. You member dat, Kenka. Now I go tell you different story ’bout tree. You see where we standin’ now, we standin’ side of tree big too much grow close tagedder we call jungle ammack. You sabee dat name?’
The boy nodded.
‘Dey got big big tree grow in dere, in de heart of it. Man look up, no see de top. Animal in dere, deer an’ leppid an’ rabbit. You ever walk all de way roun’ dis ammack? You big boy now, we do it one day baimbai. Take axe an’ knife, ask you mamma make nyam for us eat on de way. Grass land grow all roun’, all covered water in de rainy time. Dis ammack an island in de grass.’
‘What mean aylan?’
‘Same like land in de sea. You sabee? Grass land like de sea. So de question is, how dis aylan come here dis place? One time all same same grass. Mebbe dis place jus’ little bit high. Mebbe dis much.’ He made a gap of some inches between finger and thumb. ‘High nuff catch seed come on de wind.’
‘Come from where?’ Kenka was absorbed. The area of his face seemed to have contracted and his eyes opened wide and startled-looking as though the next thing coming might be too much for him.
‘Come over de sea from de aylan in de sea where de big tree grow. Mebbe seed resin tree or palm. Mebbe seed mastick tree I use for make medsin, you sabee? Mebbe so small seed no ken see. Den build up slow too much, root keep ground tagedder, water stick on leaf, den anadder seed catch. So it go on mebbe two-three hunnerd year.’ But he saw this meant little to the boy. ‘Long time ago, before I born,’ he said. ‘Now we got dis big ammack, tree start fightin’. You come dis way I show you someting.’
The turtle, which had been watching them all this time, nosedived as they began to walk along the bank. Shoals of tiny black fish darted here and there in the warm shallow water at the edges.