A Blade of Grass Read Free Page B

before this place. Before the Relocation. Grace lived there and Tembi lived there and her father, Elias, lived there. It was the place of their family and the place of their people.
    The hills were grass-covered, rich with green grass fed from the streams that ran down the kloofs and rolled into the distant valley. The cattle were well fed on the rich green grass, and fat. The maize plants grew tall and the cobs were thick and abundant.
    In the mornings a mist covered the hills, and in the afternoons, after rain, a mist covered the hills, and in between the sun was bright on the hills and the birds sang. The fields were fertile, the water was sweet, and in the valley the people were happy.
    The name of the place was Ezulwini, The Valley of Heaven.
    On a day like any other day, at the end of the summer, a car drove along the winding track through the hills and up to the place called Ezulwini. Because this was a rare occurrence, and because the car was seen for many miles and by many people before it finally reached the village, a large group of onlookers had gathered to greet the unexpected visitor. Because of this, the news that the visitor brought that day fell on many ears all at once.
    Two men emerged from the car, one black man wearing a much-worn dark suit and a tie, and one white man, who wore sunglasses and did not take them off.
    The village headman came forward, greetings were made, hospitalitywas offered, food and drink, but the white man shook his head and said, No, there was no time. And so the other man drew a sheet of paper from his pocket and began to read what was written there.
    The government had declared that this land was no longer the land of the people who lived there. Another place had been declared their land and all who lived here must now go and live there in that other place.
    The headman said he did not understand this declaration. This land was the land of the people and had always been so, and he did not understand what this declaration meant. No doubt it was a mistake on the part of the government.
    The man in the suit looked at the man in sunglasses, who obviously understood the language being spoken, because he said, “No mistake,” and then added in Afrikaans, “Maak hulle verstaan.” Make them understand.
    So the schoolteacher was fetched, a man who knew something of life in the cities, and he read the paper for himself, and then read it aloud to the village headman, and said, “The government is telling us to leave this place and make our homes in another place.”
    The village headman shook his head again and said, “I do not understand this government. Such a thing is not possible.”
    And now the white man in the sunglasses, who had been leaning against his car with his arms folded, became impatient with all this discussion and said to his assistant, “Give him the paper.” He turned to the headman and instructed, “Two weeks. You have two weeks to get ready.”
    The visitors climbed back into their car and drove the long winding track that led through the hills, and the small boys ran after the car laughing in the dust while the village elders gathered around the paper to examine it, as if by studying it further they would understand how their land and their home could be declared not their land and not their home. But they could not understand the reasons, which were formulated by ideologues in the distant cities and on the fertile farms, men and women who had decided that it was the will of God that the races must live separately and that the white race was ordained to remain superior.
    After two weeks had passed, the trucks came, and the people wererequired to place all their belongings on the trucks, then to climb aboard themselves. Their cattle and their goats and their furniture and their tools were also placed on the trucks. A detachment of policemen stood by to ensure that this loading was orderly.
    The trucks drove down the long winding track that led through the hills