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Extract from...
IN THE SHADOW OF INYANGANI
Nominee: first Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa, 2002
When Lomu goes up Mount Inyangani to look for a missing English girl he has no idea that he is
about to become the unwitting hero in an impossible quest.
If you go up Mount Inyangani, never look directly an animal's eyes. On that mountain,
you might see things. You might see a tree that is like a person, or a person that is like a tree. Jasper, age 17, Nyanga Village, Zimbabwe
ONE
 When the story about the English girl first went around the
village he closed his ears. The talk was all about money, money, money. At least twenty thousand pounds, people said. Enough to save the whole country of Zimbabwe from despair.
Enough to feed everyone and make everyone happy.
'Lomu,' Nelson said. 'Have you heard?'
The setting sun turned the thatched roof of the hut to
gold. In the distance, the echo of thunder over Inyangani sounded like the faraway rumbling of a stomach. Every evening, Inyangani turned into a sleeping blue giant.
Lomu split wood with a blunt axe. Sweat poured down his forehead and onto his arms. 'I have heard,' he said. Nelson shifted from one bare foot to the other. He was bigger and
stronger than Lomu, even though he was a year younger. At fifteen, his feet were the feet of a very old man. They were hard and callused, and white with walking over rocks. His toes
gripped the earth like the roots of an ancient baobab. His feet were tougher than leather, and had never known shoes.
Lomu was slender and serious. He blinked away perspiration. Chopping wood used every muscle in his body and took all the strength out of him. He dropped the axe in the dust.
'Think,' said Nelson. 'Twenty thousand pounds.'
'Yes,' said Lomu. 'I have thought. What will that do? Can that money buy anything
from empty shops? Can it pick mangoes from the tree, or cook sadza? Can it slaughter a goat for me? Can it bring back my mother's left eye? No. You can have it if you want.'
A rain bird song hung in the air over their heads. Lomu sniffed and spat into the sand.
'Lomu,' Nelson said. 'I need the strongest and the fittest to go with me. But I need
someone wise, who understands the way of animals. You are that one.'
The woman walking slowly along the dirt road stopped to adjust the bucket of water
on her head. Lomu squinted at his mother's bent shape, and the clouds of dust that billowed beneath her feet. He couldn't. Even if he wanted to, if he believed there was a
chance of success, he couldn't. 'I'm my mother's eyes,' he said quietly. 'And the doorkeeper the mambas fear. If I went, who would keep the snakes from the door?'
'I don't know,' Nelson said, his eyes shining as he sensed his friend wavering. 'My cousin Doris is strong and fearless, and kind. She could help. Read this.'
He put a piece of crumpled paper into Lomu's hand. 'Nyanga village is full of these. On trees, windows, even on stop signs. If you can't think about the money, think about…I
don't know, about anything.' He picked a long stalk of elephant grass and stuck it between the gap in his front teeth, sucking loudly. He began to walk slowly backwards.
'Think,' he chanted, smiling. 'Think my friend.'
Nelson grew smaller, the bent figure of his mother grew larger. Rain was falling now over
Inyangani, and thunder rumbled in a wide circle all around. In a few minutes there would be rain, and the dust would turn to mud. Lomu stacked the logs he had chopped, inside
the hut. Still holding the paper tightly in his fist, he ran to take the bucket of water from his mother.
The first big heavy drops of rain splattered onto the ground making tiny potholes where they landed. Grace handed her son the water bucket and they hurried into the shelter of
the hut. Rain gushed over the thatch and turned the yard into a red, muddy river. She lit a small lamp in the centre of the hut and Lomu unfolded the piece of paper.
Missing: Emma Hardwick of Surrey, England. Age 17. Last seen about half an hour from the start of the climb up Mount Inyangani on December 29th. Any information on her
whereabouts would be greatly appreciated by heartbroken parents, Darcy and Michael Hardwick residing at the Holiday Hotel in Nyanga Village indefinitely. A reward of at least
twenty thousand pounds is offered for Emma's safe return. Today is the 12th of January.
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