B- Part 7 - Story

Part 1: B- Part 1

Part 2: B- Part 2
Part 3: B- Part 3
Part 4: B- Part 4 

Part 5: B- Part 5

Part 6: B- Part 6

We retire to our beds. Kairo and I, unable to sleep easily, we drift in and out of consciousness. In a restless doze, I picture Sadie in a red dress twirling further away from me. She becomes a dot in the distance and my feeble legs are not strong enough to reach her. I call out her name, which jolts me back to my bed, to a worried Kairo and stillness. I try to ask Kairo for a cup tea, he understands, gets up and leaves the room. I prop myself up and stare into space, scared of the images I had just seen. Kairo enters the room and hands me a cup. I let the steam float and disappear into my skin. My chin is slightly damp as I hold the cup towards my chest, resting it on the covers below. My mouth is dry but the liquid is too hot, I pass my tongue over my lips in an attempt to regain my speech. Kairo gets into bed and looks at me. He asks me what is wrong. I nod my head and raise my arm in a little effort to make him wait. Kairo waits.

After a while, I sip at my tea and start to tell Kairo about the events at Simta’s party and of the dream I had about Sadie. I tell him that I worry about Sadie, that she might fall in love too soon and make the mistake of rushing her life. In B-, those who usually decide to marry before 30 years old usually leave the village and never return. It is not the village that pushes the couple away for the village people do love first and foremost. But the couple usually choose to take a different path to those who live in B- and find they are more comfortable in cities where marriage laws are less important.

For Sadie, a love relationship could be harmful to her life in B- for she has no money or possessions and Kairo and I cannot accommodate another person comfortably in our house. At sixteen years old, Sadie has yet to learn about herself in great depth. Should she get involved in a love relationship the consequences might hinder her own personal development.

We drink our tea together and chat about the evening’s festivities, preparing ourselves for another attempt at sleeping. I take Kairo’s hand and hold it. His warmth comforts my disquiet thoughts. I wonder what I can do about Sadie, how I can show her how easy and beautiful life can be. I think of Heal and all the lessons he has already learnt and those he will face as he grows. Buiy and Fah bring a slight smile to my face as I picture their innocence, happy to be cuddled and loved by all those around them. My mind turns to Kairo, my companion of many years, my best friend, and joy fills my heart. 

Soon I start to feel my face relax, my body sag and sink into the hard mattress below. I think to myself, ‘I am fading away.’ Then life starts to talk to me, telling me that my time has passed, like the clouds that fill the sky, life has to drift away. I had lived my life and now it is over. No goodbyes. No more attempts at sustaining the body and life I cannot keep, as it’s not mine to own. I float further and further on to another place, towards another lifetime. I cannot fight.

I breathe my last breath; it is sweet, gentle and beautiful. The sweetest air I have ever tasted and my eyes close.

****************

Afterword

Only Kairo, Buiy, Fah, Peto and myself, Heal, live in B- now. Time passes on in B-; Simta soon joined Tanga in heaven. His dying wish was that I would take over the chemist and further the training of other students in health and medicine. I have set up a scheme to encourage students to follow in my footsteps. I am now a trained Doctor and have extended the shop to include a practice; I treat the whole village.

Buiy and Fah are still studying. In their spare time they look after Kairo who is weaker than he once was. Sometimes we hear him talk to Tanga in the house, late at night we hear his voice in deep conversation though we know no one is there.

Sadie completed her studies; she now lives in the nearby city of T- with her husband and visits regularly.

The figure of Peto sitting outside his stall is still a usual site for the village of B-. He strums his guitar, speaks to the locals and, with the help of assistants, sells his wares to the community.

Life moves on, new babies are born and there are more weddings to celebrate.

The dead watch over and guard the little village of B-.


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