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Cyrus pulled on his bottom lip for a moment; then he said, ''I'll take that beer now. If you don't mind?" |
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The old man got up and stretched. When he did, his eyes momentarily widened and he grabbed his back. |
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Kazie nodded and went to the icebox. He returned with two bottles of beer and a leather drawstring pouch. After placing the bottles on the table, he shook some dried fibers from the pouch onto a piece of cigarette paper. Next he curled the paper, wet it like a stamp and stuck it in the corner of his mouth, where it dangled like the tail on the letter Q. |
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"Want one?" Kazie asked, pointing to the joint. |
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Kazie lit the cigarette in the candle flame, threw back his head and blew a pungent cloud up toward the ceiling. |
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"Anyway, one day not long after that, the old chief in the next village diednatural causes, some saidand our Hungan offered to take over his duties. I guess you folks would call it a mergerhe'd be the headman of both villages. 'Course, he'd also get control of the cattle and all the rest of the livestock from the other villagewhat there was of it. Now the new chiefthe old chief's oldest boyand just about everybody else for a hundred miles around knew about our Hungan, so the boy declined our Hungan's offerpolitely. About a week later, the new chief's two-year-old boy was carried off by a wolf. A few days after that, the nephew of the new chief's wife was taken. Nobody ever found the bodies, only a few patches of blood and hair." |
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Cyrus took a sip of the beer, his eyes lost in the candle flame. "So maybe it was just a wolf. It was Africa, after all. Lions and tigers, and bears . . . oh my." |
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"Shows how much you know 'bout Africa, boy. That part of the Tibesti ain't got no wolves. Never had no wolves." |
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Cyrus mulled over Kazie's reply. "So maybe it was a lion, then." |
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Kazie chuckled. "I know where you coming from. Don't |
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