“Grandpa thumps his fist again!” Tonderai slaps his hands on to the bench where he sits. “Crash!” he shouts. “The Table wobbles and Grandpa’s gold, his cars and his mansions fall to the floor. The Favourites scrabble to hold on, but they too are falling. Knowledge and Hope cannot believe what they see, for all they have known is shadow.”

Rain thunders over the roof again, leaving the room frustrated and fidgeting. Rudd thinks he hears Jacobus snoring. He looks towards the door but cannot see him. There is no firelight now, just the dull orange of the single remaining torch beam. Should be dawn soon, Rudd thinks.

When the rain clears eventually Tonderai begins again.

“Girl sees that Uncle’s carving makes each leg of the Table weaker and shorter. She knows now that, together, they may bring it down, and she hopes that soon there will be no more Snake, and no more Wife of Snake, and no more Favourites stealing, stealing. She dreams that all gold bars will be melted down to buy hospitals, and schools, and books, and teachers for the People.

She is happy dreaming, and then suddenly she remembers the Bones, and she is frightened. They jump in her head, shaking, shaking. Shaking so much that they shake in a new idea. A brave idea. And with it another, and another. Now Girl is not frightened. These ideas come from the Bones. It is they who talk to her now. It is the Bones who know their time has come. It is their time to be laid to rest, and they will not be silent until it is done. It is they who will bring down Grandpa’s Table, and it is the People who will help them.

How does Girl know these things?” asks Tonderai. “I know and bus-stop Gogo knows, for she told us that Girl knows these things for she has Ancestors of Fire in her blood – Ancestors who will not let her be pushed this way and that by those who think they are mighty, for this reason or for that. No. Those who came before Girl, have given her the power to see what is right and what is wrong. And now Girl knows that the Bones have Ancestors too.”

Tonderai stands and crosses over to the billiard table. He rubs his hands together and turns to face the youngsters who are half-lying, half-sitting, half-awake on the bench along the wall. “So,” he says to them, “this is how this story ends.” Then he turns towards Bernard and Simi. “Girl, who does not know if she matters at all, and Uncle who is not strong, have done what they have done, and soon it will be done. Grandpa and the Favourites will be gone. That is what Girl believes.”

Tonderai lowers his head and stands, hands behind his back, and his eyes on his gumboots. He says nothing.

 “Is that the end?” Marybelle asks.

 “Yes. That is the end,” he replies, lifting his head. “That is the end.”

“Oh … thanks,” says Marybelle, and starts to clap, applause rippling around the room with her.

“Good. Very good,” says Bernard.

“I like those Ancestors,” says Simi. Tonderai smiles.

“Must be nearly mor …” Marybelle never finishes. A thudding roar from outside, shocks over them. Rudd is on his feet before he can think.

“Yassus …”

“What’s that?”

 “Squash court …”

“I bet …”

Voices shout out as they jumble towards the door. Rudd joins Jacobus and others heaving at the stove. In seconds the door flings open, and they sweep out into the dawn like seagulls in a storm.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

Tonderai opens his arms wide, and staggers as though they are full of planes. Rudd laughs. Tonderai does not. Instead he spins around with a splash, to face Simi.

“Suddenly there is Snake.” His voice whistles on the wind, pitched now with fear. “Snake twists towards the piles of aeroplanes, and beside him Wife of Snake shouts at the Workers to get their brushes and sweep the papers away. But the Workers cannot, for there are too many papers. They try harder. They sweep and sweep, but it is no good. There are fallen aeroplanes everywhere. They lie in heaps on the ground, so many of them that even Snake does not know what to do. Besides, he cannot raise his head high enough to see where these paper planes come from, and his Wife shouts so loudly that he cannot think. She too is going mad, mad with her sjambok. She whips the Women and the Workers, and shouts and screams that they must clear the papers away – faster, faster. She yells again and again, and Snake slithers, and slithers, and he hisses and hisses … but they can do nothing.”

Tonderai’s voice drops away. He turns and sits down beside Bernard, and his eyes lock on to the red remains of the fire. Rudd cannot see Bernard, but he can see Simi. She sits now with the blanket dropped from her shoulders, and one hand holding the other up against her chest. Her whole body looks tense to him, stiff from the listening, the absorbing of the story.

Tonderai’s next words are careful and deliberate. “Girl is happy now. She feels stronger, for the messages tell her that she is seen. That the People are seen. That the world waits for them to be free. Her arms full, she turns to the window, and smiles at the faces she sees there. They smile back, and start to wave – first one, then two, then three, then too many for Girl to count.”

Tonderai pauses briefly, then starts again, his voice accelerating into a loud roar of rage. As the sound punches like a fist into the wind, the room gasps, and some jump. Tonderai smiles slightly, and continues. “This roar – it is Grandpa. He is angry for a plane has landed in his feast. Then two more land in his drink, and he roars again.” Tonderai thumps his voice upwards once more. “Grandpa pounds his fist and yells. Even the Favourites are frightened now. The youngest jump up to close the windows, but there is only one who comes back, for the others climb right out and are seen no more. Girl sees them go, and she laughs, for now Uncle’s carving has made the Table so low that everyone can see Grandpa and his Favourites. The People see Grandpa’s feasting and his rage, but they are not afraid, for they see that it is of no use, for the planes and their messages are still coming. As Girl watches she sees Grandpa narrow his crocodile eyes.”

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

Knowledge, at Uncle’s feet, cries out in his sleep. Hope stirs and reaches her arm around him, and they both fall back to their dreaming.

‘Who will help these Children?’ Uncle asks Girl, but he does not wait for an answer. ‘It is you and me. It is up to us. We must do this thing.’

Girl nods.

 ‘Now go!’ says Uncle. ‘Please! Tell your stories! Do not give up! The time is coming soon to move Grandpa from the Table so the truth can be told, and all the People honoured. The Bones too must have their say.’”

Rudd closes his eyes. He blocks out the room and the wind, hearing only Tonderai whose voice is that of Uncle one moment, and of Girl the next.

“Girl hopes that Uncle is right, but she does not feel strong. I am only a Girl, she thinks.

Uncle knows that this is what troubles Girl, so he gets to his broken feet, and holds out his hands so that he may help her to stand too. He pulls her up beside him. ‘Remember,’ he says, ‘you are a Girl, a brave, clever Girl. And you do this for all of us, but especially for Hope so that she may belong, and so that Knowledge may know her power.’”

Rudd, eyes still closed, hears the gumboot splash of Tonderai coming back around the table. He opens his eyes and watches as he steps into view. As he comes closer the wind begins again, clattering the door against the stove, and lifting away the linger of smoke. Outside debris scuttles in each fresh gust. Tonderai, standing still now, begins again.

“Girl lowers her eyes and nods to Uncle. Then she takes a deep breath, and walks back slowly to where she should be. As she walks she tries to push the Bones away, to think of her next story, but it is hard to do this. Her legs are still weak, and the Bones still rattle in her head. She feels dizzy, and thinks that she would like to sit down to rest, but just as she is about to do so, she suddenly sees something in the air above her head.”

Tonderai raises an arm, and points a finger through the dark towards the roof.

“There! What is that? See,” he says, and around the room glinting eyes follow his arm. “There. A small paper plane. It drifts high in the air above Girl, and then it lands at her feet.” Tonderai bends down as though to catch a fallen paper. He opens it with both hands and holds it up to read. “Girl opens the paper out, and sees there is writing on the inside. Then she looks up.” Tonderai circles slowly on his heels, eyes scanning upwards. “There! Girl sees a hand wave at her from the window. She folds the note quickly and puts it in her pocket. Now another paper plane lands at her feet, and then another. The air is full of them. She tries to catch a few and to read the messages, but she has to be quick for the Children run around her now. They too try to catch the little aeroplanes.”

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023