Thirteen Cents: A Novel (Modern African Writing Series)
Page 16
The soil is cold and cools down my body. I lie there for a long time and listen to my heartbeat settling down. When the madness has left I get up and wipe my nose with my pants. I stare into the fire and still see animals running in a wild stampede. Trees fly into the air and reach for the sun.
When I start to feel hungry I take ashes from the edge of the fire and draw shapes on my body. I draw a circle on my chest and give it arms and legs like it is a ball of fire that can move. I draw under my eyes and down my cheeks. A strange feeling fills me. I feel like I’ve done this before. When I look at the drawings on the wall I just know that whoever drew them used their fingers. They used branches and feathers and other soft things to touch. I look at them and think of that girl in my dream but I forget her name. I only remember her beautiful moon face.
* * *
I find it difficult to sleep in the cold. I must stay awake, I tell myself and feed the fire the whole night. Later in the night I get so drowsy and tired that sleep drugs me. I start seeing things. I see Gerald burning in the fire and rub my eyes but there is nothing there. I see monsters and lots of animals running towards me. I startle when I even hear the sound of hooves coming towards me.
22
Sunlight sneaks through the hole. The fire burns low. I leave it to die. I put on my clothes and they are slightly damp and smell of smoke. My feet smell like a sewer and remind me of all the unfriendly places I’ve walked in. I crawl out of the cave. I haven’t slept much. Bleary-eyed, I go outside and squint in the sun.
It is a sunny day but it feels unusually windy like the sky is up to something. It is holding a secret. A worrying feeling comes over me. I decide to look for water. I drink from a pothole. The water tastes funny and I can see red salt around the edges of the pothole. I don’t drink much. From where I stand I can see the sea. It goes out far and meets the sky, its lover. The water seems flat. You can’t really tell that it’s water. It just looks like a blue plastic thing that reflects the sun and moves gently like a conveyor belt. I stare at it for a long time. Nothing comes to mind. I listen to the wind and sit on a rock.
I look around me. There’s no one around. I like these quiet moments by myself where there are no grown-ups. Small trees bend in the wind and the grass blows in all directions. The rocks stay the same. They never move. They are like giants with strange heads from another world. Maybe at night when no one is watching, the rocks move. Maybe they walk all over the mountain. Maybe inside the mountain there are people living there and they also come out at night when no one is watching. It is a nice thought because it makes me forget about my stomach. My mother is dead. My father is dead. That ugly thought comes to me again. I stay outside till the sun rises above me.
All of a sudden the wind stops. In the distance huge clouds move closer but they don’t come on the mountaintop. It all happens very fast and looks strange, like a magic trick. Below at sea I start to see the water moving, waves gathering strength. It begins to look like a storm is coming but it doesn’t rain. There are just heavy dark clouds and the wind tossing waves. But on top of the mountain it is calm. It is unsettling to watch the sea coming alive while the sun shines up here. Waves start rolling in from the distance. I follow their rolling motion all the way to the beach. They start moving in over the sand and swallowing the beach. It is too far to make out if there are people on the beach.
A huge wave rolls in. I stand up as it is the biggest wave I have ever seen. It gathers strength and moves quickly. I hold my breath and watch it tearing across the water. The sun shines in spots on the sea but on the mountaintop it is calm and sunny. The huge wave crashes into the beach and floods the street. Another wave comes rolling in the distance. It looks bigger than the one before and moves at a faster speed. Faster, faster, I say to myself as I watch this trick. I dig my toes into the rock as the wave crashes onto the road and nearby flats. Cars get washed away. The waves continue like this for a long time, each time gathering more strength and each time destroying more of the beach. Then the sky gets angry and starts flashing lightning. Quivering bolts of purple fall into the water and upset it. But it still doesn’t rain. The waves get wilder and bigger.
When I look into the distance I see a dark cloud moving. It covers the edges of the water. I squint my eyes and watch this cloud coming closer and closer. It is a long cloud that stretches across the sea. A terrible noise like deep thunder fills the sky. It is a sound which seems to upset the air itself. Behind me I can hear birds flying in a panic. I look behind and see a swarm of birds in the sky. All types of birds gather like a dark cloud. I even see seagulls. And then bats fly out of the cave. Small animals run wild on the rocks. I watch the ground becoming alive with frogs and insects. I jump as a snake slithers past me. At sea the terrible sound is like an explosion coming closer, spreading its destruction. A furious wind sweeps ahead forcefully. I sit down as the wind flies past me. It is so strong that I use a rock for cover. It blows everything in its path. Branches snap. Through the side of the rock I look and see the tallest wave the sea has ever made. It rises taller than any building I have ever seen. I look away and close my eyes.
My mother is dead. My father is dead, I say to myself and hear a booming explosion below that shakes the mountain. I crawl down quickly as rocks start falling around me. Trees are crushed by huge boulders. Everything seems to crumble. On the ground there are small animals everywhere. They run around in circles of terror. The sky is angry with darkness and purple fire. My heart nearly stops beating when I begin to see water at the edge of the mountain. I stop in my tracks and look at the remains of a roof and other debris floating near the water’s edge. The heads of dead white bodies float like kelp. I look away as the water creeps closer. I start running towards the highest point of the mountain. Underneath I crush little frogs and lizards. Birds cry in the sky. There is just a cloud of confusion on the mountain. I run till I start seeing other people. They run and howl with panic.
And then the sky opens up. I stop running as the water is safely behind me and watch dark clouds coming apart. I stand on a rock and chase away some lizards. Above me the sun shines like the ruler it is. It dominates the sky with light. A ball of fire comes from it. It splits into smaller balls as it comes tumbling down at a mad speed. I crawl under a fallen rock and see balls of fire falling around me like blazing razors. Even though plants are wet from yesterday’s rains they still catch fire. Animals run for shelter. I hear boulders crushing everything, branches snapping like twigs. In the distance I hear the agonising screaming of people being burned. The sky rains with fire.
My mother is dead. My father is dead, I repeat again. The deafening sound of destruction fills the air. I put my fingers in my ears and close my eyes tight. The mountain shakes and the wind tears through everything. Insects scorch while the fire rains. Lizards crawl under the rock with me. They jump everywhere on me with fright. I try to ignore them and keep my eyes shut. Soon the whole mountain feels like an oven. I lie there and sweat with fear. When I open my eyes briefly I see hooves, claws and feet running in every direction. A hellish explosion comes from the sky. When the fireballs fall from the sky they make a frightening sound like a powerful machine tearing through something alive. Nothing seems to escape. The sun rules and it is harsh.
I know what fear is.
I breathe in deep and hold it for a while. When I let go, I open my eyes. I have seen the centre of darkness. I have seen the slave-driver of darkness and he is a mad bastard. I know his secrets. I know what he does when we sleep. My mother is dead. My father is dead.
Other titles by this author:
The Quiet Violence of Dreams, Kwela Books, 2001
The Hidden Star, Umuzi, 2006
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
www.ohioswallow.com
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and
recording,
or by any other information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher
Published in South Africa by Kwela Books,
an imprint of NB Publishers,
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town, South Africa
PO Box 6525, Roggebaai, 8012, South Africa
www.kwela.com
Copyright © 2000 Duiker Family Trust
Introduction © 2013 Shaun Viljoen
The moral right of the author has been asserted
First published by David Philip Publishers in 2000
First published by Kwela Books in 2013
First published by Ohio University Press in 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duiker, K. Sello.
Thirteen cents : a novel / K. Sello Duiker ; introduction by Shaun Viljoen.
pages cm. — (Modern African Writing)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8214-2036-2 (pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-4454-2 (electronic)
1. Cape Town (South Africa)—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9369.3.D74T54 2013
823’.92—dc23
2013004758
This series brings the best African writing to an international audience. These groundbreaking novels, memoirs, and other literary works showcase the most talented writers of the African continent. The series also features works of significant historical and literary value translated into English for the first time. Moderately priced, the books chosen for the series are well crafted, original, and ideally suited for African studies classes, world literature classes, or any reader looking for compelling voices of diverse African perspectives.
Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa
Phaswane Mpe
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1962-5
Dog Eat Dog: A Novel
Niq Mhlongo
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1994-6
After Tears: A Novel
Niq Mhlongo
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1984-7
From Sleep Unbound
Andrée Chedid
ISBN: 978-0-8040-0837-2
On Black Sisters Street: A Novel
Chika Unigwe
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1992-2
Paper Sons and Daughters: Growing Up Chinese in South Africa
Ufrieda Ho
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2020-1
The Conscript: A Novel of Libya’s Anticolonial War
Gebreyesus Hailu, translator
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2023-2
Thirteen Cents: A Novel
K. Sello Duiker
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2036-2
K. Sello Duiker was born and raised in Soweto, South Africa, and went on to study journalism at Rhodes University before moving to Cape Town. His varied experiences while living there form the basis of Thirteen Cents. He also wrote two other novels, The Quiet Violence of Dreams (2001) and The Hidden Star (published posthumously in 2006). Duiker was widely considered one of South Africa’s most promising young novelists before his untimely death in 2005 at the age of thirty.
Shaun Viljoen is a professor in the English Department at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and the author of a forthcoming biography of the writer Richard Rive.
Table of Contents
K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents: An Introduction
Glossary
Works Cited
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