Confession of the Lioness Read Free

wasn’t the tree. Someone scratched me. Look at my shoulder: There are fingernail marks, someone clawed me.
    And they argued. But both were right. In the village, even the plants have claws. In Kulumani, all living things are trained to bite. Birds devour the sky, branches rip the clouds, rain bites the earth, the dead use their teeth to reap revenge on their fate. Hanifa gazed at the forest aghast. Her face wore the expression of an alarmed gazelle.
    There’s someone out there in the dark, ntwangu.
    Calm down, woman.
    There’s someone listening to us. Let’s go back inside.
    The first light of day was beginning to dawn: It wouldn’t be long before one could move around the house without the help of a lamp. On top of the cupboard, the oil lamp was still flickering. Suddenly Hanifa once again had that pleasant feeling that the kitchen had its own moon. As she hadn’t been favored by the sun, at least she could enjoy a moonlit ceiling. She gained confidence and thought about challenging her husband, declaring in a loud voice:
    I don’t want any of your relatives here today. They’ll be rushing over here with their commiseration. Tomorrow, when I’m a widow, they’ll be in an even greater hurry to steal everything from me.
    But she said nothing. She already considered herself a widow. All that was needed was for Genito Mpepe to accept his own absence.
    Husband, are the ones who are coming real people?
    Yes, they are.
    Are you sure?
    Certified authentic people, people born and bred. Among them, there’s a hunter.
    The bucket she was carrying in her left hand fell to the ground, and water flowed all over the yard. The broom in Hanifa’s hand now became a sword to fight off demons.
    A hunter? she asked in a whisper.
    It’s him, it’s the one you’re thinking of: the mulatto hunter.
    At first the woman stood there motionless. Then, suddenly, decisiveness seized her: She slipped into her sandals, covered her head with a scarf, and declared that she was leaving.
    Where are you going, woman?
    I don’t know, but I’m going to do what you never did. I’m going out onto the road, I’m going to ambush him, I’m going to kill that hunter. That man mustn’t get to Kulumani.
    Don’t be crazy, woman. We need him, we need him to kill these damned lions.
    Don’t you understand, ntwangu ? That man is going to take Mariamar away from me, he’s going to take my last daughter away to the city.
    Would you prefer Mariamar to be killed by lions?
    His wife didn’t answer. “Prefer” was not a verb that had been made for her. How can someone who has never learned to love have preferences?
    If you don’t let me leave now, husband, I promise I’ll run away.
    The man seized her by the wrists and pushed her up against the old cupboard, knocking over the lamp. Hanifa saw her little moon dissolving into blue flames across the kitchen floor.
    I need to stop that mulatto. She sighed, vanquished.
    At this point, I decided to intervene to defend my mother. When he saw me emerge from the shadows, my father’s fury was rekindled: He raised his arm, ready to impose his kingdom’s rule.
    Are you going to hit me, Father?
    He stared at me, perplexed: Whenever anger gets the better of me, my eyes flash intensely. Genito Mpepe looked down, unable to face me.
    Do you know who summoned the hunter? I asked.
    Everyone knows: It was the people from the project, the ones from the company , my father replied.
    That’s a lie. It was the lions that summoned the hunter. And do you know who summoned the lions?
    I’m not going to answer.
    It was me. I’m the one who summoned the lions.
    I’m going to tell you something, so listen carefully , my father declared angrily. Don’t look at me while I’m talking. Or have you lost all respect?
    I looked down, just as the women of Kulumani do. And I became a daughter again while Genito regained the