Tears of the Desert Read Free Page B

way.
    I went to ask my mother why Grandma had left Grandpa. I knew exactly where to find her. She had just given birth, but the baby had died during the prolonged labor. This wasn’t uncommon in our part of Africa: Like most villages in Darfur, ours had no proper midwife, doctor, or nurses. Once the tiny baby had been buried it was quickly forgotten. But my mother still had to lie down for forty days, resting.
    Inside her hut it was cool and dark, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light. I felt my way around the smoothness of the mud wall to my mother’s low bed—a simple wooden frame, strung with a latticework of old sacking. The beds were light and easy to carry. During the hot season we would drag them outside and sleep under the stars in the soft breeze.
    I shook my mother gently, and she opened her eyes. She’d only been dozing. She smiled. “What is it, Rathebe?”
    I perched on the edge of the bed. “Why is Grandma so angry,
eya
?”
Eya
is Zaghawa for “Mummy.” “She’s always got a cross face.”
    My mother sighed. “What
has
she been up to this time?”
    “Nothing, it’s just she
looks
so angry. And you’re stuck in here, Daddy’s away, and I’m out there with her all the time . . .”
    “She’s had a hard life, Rathebe, long years spent all alone. She’s not a bad person. She’s kind within her heart.”
    “Well, everyone
says
she’s had a hard life, but no one ever tells me
why.
If I knew why, then at least I could feel sorry for her. It’s all to do with what happened between her and Grandpa, isn’t it?”
    My mother gave a little shrug of resignation. “Well, I suppose you had to know one day.” She pulled me closer, lowering her voice just in case Grandma might be nearby. “When they were married Grandma and Grandpa went to live in his village, far, far away. They were happy for many years, but one day Grandma discovered that Grandpa had taken a second wife. He’d gone to a far away place and married a younger woman. Everyone says he did it far away so he could keep his second wife secret from Grandma.”
    I smiled to myself. Grandpa had every right to be fearful. No one in their right mind would want to cross Grandma.
    “Just as soon as she learned of this Grandma decided to leave him. She told Grandpa’s parents that she was going to pay a visit to her home village. She set off with me and my two brothers, and just the clothes she stood up in. Grandpa is a rich man, but she left everything when she left him. Then she returned for my young sister, your Auntie Makka. She strapped baby Makka onto her back and was just setting off when Grandpa’s relatives stopped her . . .”
    “Why? What did they do?” I interrupted, all wide-eyed with curiosity.
    “Well, they accused Grandma of spiriting the children away. There was a big fight, and eventually Grandma was forced to leave baby Makka behind. Grandpa’s relatives soon realized their suspicions had been right and that Grandma had left for good. They were furious. They decided to keep baby Makka in the house, watching her like hawks. They knew that Grandma would return for her, and when she did they would capture her. But Grandma was too clever for that . . .”
    “But what did she do?” I exclaimed.
    “Sshhhh! Keep you voice down. . . . Four years after she’d run away Grandma returned to the village in disguise. She went to the neighbor’s house and gave them some gold. She told them to invite Makka over to play with their daughter. Grandma removed her disguise and your auntie recognized her mum. She spirited Makka away, warning the neighbors not to breathe a word.”
    I shook my head in amazement. “Wow . . . Grandma was tough, even back then.”
    My mother nodded. “She’s been like that since the day she was born. When Grandpa’s mother came to fetch Makka she was nowhere to be found. She searched everywhere, but finally she realized that Makka was gone. She knew then that Grandma had come in secret