Sweet Roots and Honey

by Gwen Westwood

  When Samantha had gone off to fetch her taped dance music, Fabian had turned to her saying, 'And Perry, what about you? I had thought you would be there taking photographs?'

  'My flash apparatus had to be charged. It was on charge but not yet ready,' she confessed.

  'Better luck next time,' he said with a quizzical twist of the lips.

  Evidently he had forgotten that he had told her they must be cautious. How was it that he could make her feel so cast down as if she was always in the wrong? But she must try to get over this feeling of injustice and look forward to the morrow. She tried to talk to Paul and Ken, but all the time she was conscious of the throbbing passionate music and the sight of Samantha looking up at Fabian and laughing with a happy certainty of her own ability to charm. As for Fabian, she had never seen him looking so alive or so willing to be charmed.

  CHAPTER SIX

  So cunningly were the Bushmen's homes hidden that the party were amongst them before they even realized it. Like the ones Perry had seen before, they were small, beehive-shaped shelters made of branches and grass, and they blended with the landscape as birds' nests become almost invisible in a tree. They had only settled there the previous day, and one woman was still busy building her hut. She had broken branches from a little tree and stuck them in the ground with the tips bound together at the top to form an arch. Now she was pushing grass between the branches to make a more secure shelter. The floors were lined with grass and the earth beneath hollowed out to accommodate the hips of the people sleeping there.

  Upon branches of the small trees near the huts hung the Bushmen's few possessions, bows and arrows, beads, ornaments, digging sticks and strings of drying meat. The Bushmen all seemed occupied with their own tasks, but when Natamu saw them he spoke to the others and they came forward to meet the strangers. They were obviously as curious about Fabian and party as the latter were about them, but they took quick looks at them and then cast their eyes down as if they thought it impolite to stare. Fabian, Perry and the others were in some difficulty too in this first encounter. They wanted badly to look properly at the little people and yet they were very much afraid of stepping on the precious fragile possessions that they could see all around them on the ground, the small bone objects and pieces of ostrich egg that must have some value to the little community.

  Perry looked at Fabian. What a different person from the one she had first encountered! His face was alight with interest, his smile attractive enough to charm the birds from the trees. Through the interpreter, they were introduced to the main members of the Bushmen group. Natamu had a wife Unkra with a pretty heart-shaped face, not old, and yet her brown skin was already becoming wrinkled from the sun and her face showed a network of tiny lines as she smiled in a friendly way. Two old people, a man and a woman, sat in the sun smiling too at all the excitement. They were dressed in leather capes and skirts and had skins so creased that they looked like soft discarded gloves. They, Samgau informed them, were called old Kwi and Nau.

  'How old can they be?' asked Samantha. 'They look about a hundred.'

  'Not quite that,' said Fabian. 'Probably in their forties.'

  'Good God!' Paul exclaimed, and Perry could not help smiling at his expression, for he must be thinking of his own age and comparing his dapper good looks with the way Kwi and Nau appeared to him.

  'There's a pretty girl,' said Samantha, and Perry, who had surreptitiously been making use of her small camera, turned to look. This was Nusi, an unmarried girl, with a lovely face that reminded Perry somewhat of a Burmese, heart-shaped, with fine pretty features, her springy curls decorated with white ostrich shell beads.

  A few children peeped at them from the shelter of the little huts, and Unkra showed them her baby that was slung in her leather cape. He was called Nsue, Samgau said, which was the name for an ostrich egg, because his head was quite bald. Through Samgau, Fabian explained that he wanted them to live here for a while so that he could get to know more about how they lived, and they accepted this with a gentle faith in Ms good intentions.

  That evening, Perry felt much happier than she had done the night before. She had spent the day getting to know the Bushman community, taking photographs of their varied activities, and for the first time on the expedition she felt she had really been of some use. Fabian seemed to think so too.

  'Do you think you got some good shots?' he asked.

  'I hope so. I developed some this afternoon and printed them. Would you like to see them?'

  'What energy! Yes, of course I would.'

  Ken had suggested she could use the one truck for her development and had rigged it up as a darkroom. There was very little space and Perry asked if she should bring them out into the open.

  'No, I can see them very well here,' said Fabian. He seemed unconscious of the fact that he was leaning over the small table while she only had a couple of feet of space for herself. The photographs were good. She even admitted this to herself and she hoped he liked them. He turned to her with a radiant smile after contemplating a shot of Natamu's wife, Unkra, pounding seeds in a wooden bowl using a large pestle.

  'Those are the seeds of the tsamma melon,' he said. 'Without the tsamma, the Bushman could hardly exist in these hot months. It contains liquid, so they rely on it both for food and water. That's a very important shot, Perry. I'm glad you got that.'

  He turned to her and they were only a foot apart.

  'You've done very well for the first day,' he said. 'If the rest are half as good, our expedition will have been worth while. The photographs are of immense importance. That's why I was so flapped back when Mike couldn't come. But I see he knew what he was doing when he sent you.'

  His expression changed and she found it hard to tell in what way. She found it difficult to meet the gaze of those piercing brilliant eyes.

  'How lovely you are, Perry,' he said softly. 'What beautiful eyes - pure topaz with flecks of green.'

  His hand was under her chin and he was tilting her face to look closer into her eyes.

  'Look at me,' he demanded as her lids fluttered down to cover the eyes that were attracting so much of his attention. She could not repress a slight shiver. He laughed, letting her go.

  'Are you cold? Surely not. Or is it that you don't like to have your beauty admired? You're a strange girl, Perry. I'd like to know what goes on in that lovely head and what makes a girl like you so cool towards men. Oh, yes, Paul told me that you say you're not interested in men. He was most intrigued.'

  'I would prefer that you didn't discuss me with Paul,' Perry said indignantly. She hated the idea that Paul had passed on details of their conversation. She had said too much to him that day.

  'Why not? Beautiful women are intriguing to Paul and myself as well - especially a Woman like yourself who seems to enjoy being an enigma.'

  'I'm here to take photographs, not to be psychoanalysed,' said Perry sharply. 'My attitude to men is my own affair.'

  But that night, lying in her small green tent that she had grown to love for its cosiness and feeling of security, she wondered whether he had been testing her. If she had given him any encouragement, she was sure he would have embraced her. He had been intrigued by her indifference, and had wanted to prove that he could attract her, she thought. She must forget that for a few moments she had longed to be held in his arms and to be kissed by those firm lips that she sensed could be most cruelly passionate.

  Topaz, the little lion, usually slept in a box just outside her tent so she could hear if he needed anything in the night and feed him if he was restless. He had become very accustomed to the food she gave him, the minced tinned meat as well as the dried milk with its addition of cod liver oil and glucose. He was a bundle of baby charm, with light spots on his fur that would one day disappear. When Perry let him free to play, he would run after a rubber ball that Joshua had produced from amongst his possessions, or he would stalk the small grass birds that sometimes fluttered around the camp, then pounce upon them and growl,
lashing his tail in amusing infantile rage when they flew away from him. He had become fond of Perry already and would lick at her with his tongue that was more rasping than that of a cat.

  First light was just glimmering across the sky next morning when Perry heard a scuffling and rustling quite close to her tent. What could it be? She knew by now the sounds little Topaz made, but it was louder than those. At first she was quite startled, thinking that maybe something had come to attack the little cub, perhaps a jackal or wild dog, but then she heard more rustlings and subdued giggling. She opened the flap and saw the small Bushman children from the settlement. When they saw her they jumped with surprise and held their hands in front of their mouths. They were very intrigued with Topaz, but had not touched him. The dawn wind was cold and they shivered in their scanty leather skirts, so Perry beckoned them into the tent and brought Topaz in too.

  There were three children, a little girl of about seven, who was carrying the baby toddler Nsue, and a boy of about ten. It was a tight squash, but these children were used to having little space in their own homes and turned around to sit down as neatly as cats, gazing at Perry and Topaz with wide-eyed amazement. She found some sweets for them and they sat carefully licking them. They laughed very sweetly when she fed Topaz with a feeding bottle. Perry was touched that these children, living in such wild conditions, were like any other children all over the world with their vivid interest in their surroundings and their gaiety and laughter. Topaz was becoming restless now, so they went out into the open air.

  'I didn't realize you had some companions in your tent,' called Fabian, who always seemed to be up and ready to start the day before anyone else. 'Come and have coffee.'

  The incident yesterday might never have happened, Perry reflected. She hoped she had made it clear that she was not interested in his attentions, however flattering they might be. She was certain it had been just an impulse. If he was interested in anyone it was Samantha, whose youthful charm seemed to attract him very much. The children ran back along the little track they had trodden between the camp and the settlement, and she was left alone with Fabian clutching a mug of hot coffee and trying to hide the embarrassment at meeting him again when she had thought of him so much during wakeful moments of the night. But now he was courteous and cool, telling her of his plans for the day.

  'I think it might be a good idea if you came with me when I go with the women to observe how they gather food in the desert. Samgau will come too so that we can ask for information. They walk a long way during the day. Do you feel up to it?'

  'Yes, of course,' said Perry.

  She was .looking forward to the day and to doing some photography, which after all was the object of her joining this expedition. The cool grey dawn wind was sweeping over the country and the red gash, which indicated the sun on the horizon, had spread, changing to a paler rose as if a huge brush had washed over that part of the sky. Perry put thoughts of Fabian behind her and gave herself up to the feeling that it was good to be alive in this strange intriguing desert with its miles of space and sky.

  The women and children set off quite early on their food gathering expedition. Samgau made Fabian understand that they were only permitted to come because Perry was with them. Strangers of the male sex were not usually allowed, but the Bushmen seemed to see Perry in the role of chaperon. Practically every day, except when they had a big supply of meat, the women had to spend hours of their time searching for roots and anything edible that they could find in this hot dry land. There was something very appealing, Perry thought, about the characters and appearance of these women, whose lives could not have been much different if they had lived in the Stone Age. They had slim limbs, delicate hands and a laughing roguish humour as they chatted to each other. They set off in procession with Perry and Fabian bringing up the rear. Samantha had told Perry that she had no wish to walk in the great heat, so she had stayed in camp. Already the dust was whirling up in little spirals as the wind blew over the vast plains.

  The women were all equipped with digging sticks made of hard wood and as they walked they looked alertly around them for any sign of food, holding their leather bags at their side.

  'It seems impossible that they could find anything. It's all so dry now,' Perry commented.

  'But they do,' Fabian informed her. 'Have you ever seen a French housewife shopping? These women are just as expert in their way.'

  It was quite astonishing what they were able to find. They had not been walking very long when Nusi pounced upon a place where there was a small thin tendril barely showing above the ground, and in a few moments with her digging stick she revealed a root like a large potato. A while later they came upon some wild cucumbers. Perry took photographs while the light was not too glaring. She was charmed by the way they walked around singing and asked Samgau what the song was about.

  'It is an old Bushman song they sing when it is dry. It goes something like this ... "The grass is crying for the rain to come and my heart cries for the lover who will come and carry me away." '

  'What do you think of that?' asked Fabian, smiling with his most quizzical expression.

  'I think it's delightful, but a bit astonishing. Who would ever think that these people who lead such a very hard life would think of anything quite so romantic?'

  'So you see, Perry, even here women are truly women.'

  She was saved from replying because they had come to a group of camelthorn trees, and this was evidently a known landmark for the children, who suddenly ran forward with squeals of delight.

  'Whatever can they be looking for? They seem very thrilled about it.'

  Perry was not left long in doubt because the children who had come to see her that morning, Kigi and Little Grasshopper, to whom she had given sweets, came running to her and thrust something into her hand, She gazed in horror at the fat black grubs, but realized she must not drop them. Apparently it was a precious gift she had received. She understood this much more as she observed the other children stuffing the wriggling creatures eagerly into their mouths. She turned to Fabian.

  'What should I do?'

  He threw back his head, laughing heartily, but took the grubs away and gave them to Samgau. 'Tell them that their friend thanks them but is not hungry. She would like them cooked for her supper.'

  'Oh, please, don't say that. They'll probably bring them tonight,' she implored him.

  'Then I'll help you eat them. It won't be the first time I've eaten things like that. Anyhow, what about snails? You would pay a lot in a Johannesburg restaurant for such delicacies.'

  Meanwhile Natamu's wife, Unkra, had found a tree with a hollow that contained a little water, for she had plucked a blade of dry grass and was drawing it up in her mouth and then feeding little Ostrich Egg as a bird feeds her young. Perry took photographs of this charming mother and baby scene and was so pleased about this that she forgot Fabian's teasing.

  They had walked a long way now and the sun was almost overhead. The women decided to rest under the trees because there would not be any shade again for a long time. But Perry was still active. For one thing she really did want to photograph all the activities of the little group and for another thing she did not want to be alone with Fabian, for he had withdrawn a little way and had sought the shelter of another tree. There was only a small patch of shade there, so, when he lazily beckoned, she pretended not to notice and went on photographing the little boy Kigi who was busy chasing a lizard. But at last Fabian called to her.

  'Perry, come here. You must rest for a while. I don't want to have to carry home a fainting female.'

  Reluctantly she obeyed him. He had brought a tin of sliced pineapple and it was amazingly refreshing after the scorching heat of the long walk. Samgau was sent off to distribute the rest amongst the little band of women and children and to judge by their shouts it was much appreciated.

  'Try to doze off,' Fabian advised, lying back and looking as comfortable on the sparsely grassed ground as if he were on
a chaise-longue. Perry closed her eyes obediently, but wondered how she could be expected to sleep when she was deeply conscious that he was lying about a foot away and that for all she knew he was watching her as he sometimes did. Cautiously she fluttered her lids and tried to look underneath them. His eyes were closed. She opened hers wide and frankly stared. She must admit he was very handsome - too handsome for his own good, she thought. Hiding those dark grey eyes, his thick dark lashes lay upon the high cheekbones and his dark brown hair sprang crisply above the clear-cut line of brow. It must be wonderful to be able to look so relaxed in such uncomfortable surroundings for, although they were in the shade, a hot wind was blowing and gritty sand rose around them.

  There was something sweet about the stern mouth when it was in repose, the same sweetness that she had noticed when he had spoken to the children. But she must not soften towards him just because he was looking gentle in his sleep, for when he was wide awake he was a demon of energy and could be cruelly critical. And any approach he might make to her was motivated, she was sure, by his vanity and the fact that he thought himself attractive to women.

  'Will I do?'

  His eyes were still closed, but a wicked smile played around his lips. Perry sat up quickly from her half-lying position, but before she could stop him he had seized her by tie shoulders and pulled her down towards him until she could not avoid their mouths touching. He opened his eyes.:

  'So sorry,' he grinned teasingly. 'I must have been dreaming. Strange what one can get up to when one sleeps in the heat of the day.'

  She pulled away from him and he regarded her expression ruefully. She hoped it was very condemning and she hoped too that he could not see how her heart was beating underneath the thin shirt she was wearing ...

  'Forgive me, Perry. I'd forgotten what a cold sleeping companion I had.'

  'I don't believe for a moment that you were sleeping,' said Perry indignantly. 'I thought I'd been brought here to chaperon the Bushmen women. It seems to me I need one myself!'