Twee-twee twee-twee... the birds sang in the dense green foliage above Nyonyozi’s head. Like a young giraffe stretching its neck to locate predators, she raised her head to look at them. Two of the flock broke into a frantic pursuit and the other dashed into a nest nearby like it was late for the feast inside. Her mind raced backwards. “Free from any dangers and worries. Were we like them we would fly up, very far away from this village and its heartless people.”
“Helen, it’s not that everybody is bad.”
“Nyonyozi, a bad egg will spoil the whole omelet.”
Nyonyozi remembered this conversation very well. They were at the same forest for firewood, a few days after Helen’s mother found them and called her aside for a ‘woman-to-woman’ talk. They all knew what that meant.
“Don’t tell me those things again mother. I don’t need the knife to make me a full woman. I am content with the way God created me,” Helen had said to her mother. Nyonyozi watched them from a distance.
“Helen... will you watch your father lose his inheritance because you don’t want to face rotwet? We’ll see how far your God will protect you,” Helen’s mother said and stormed away.
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