The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (36 page)

He went to the window and watched the beggars. They had finished their meal. They sat by the fire and listened to a pickpocket tell a story. Even from the office, Arm could see their dreamy, contented expressions. Across the street, Mr. Thirsty stood in his doorway in a white bartender's apron. He seemed to be enjoying the evening breeze.

And Arm understood that when you had ten million people jammed together in a city, you always had a few troublemakers. Some were violent like the She Elephant, and some were dishonest like Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham. Some were weak like the Mellower, and quite a lot were simply greedy like Mr. Thirsty.

You also had good people. The good and bad bubbled around like vegetables in a huge stew pot. General Matsika scooped out the bad vegetables when he found them, but he didn't attempt to get them all.

Only
Mwari
had the wisdom to do that.

Mr. Thirsty's head turned as a bottle smashed through his window. He signaled to a man built like a hot-water heater. The man dragged the bottle thrower to a parking lot to discuss his antisocial behavior.

The bartender's brand of trouble felt normal. The Masks' didn't. That was the key. The Masks were a form of spirit pollution, spreading poison from top to bottom in the country. They were trying to kill the
mhondoro,
the spirit of the land. And then the soul of Zimbabwe would be dead.

"I was told to go to the highest place," Arm said, turning over the matchbook from the She Elephant's pocket. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, that means the Mile-High Macllwaine."

Eye fainted again when they went up in the elevator. Arm felt queasy from his friend's fear. He and Ear dragged their comrade to a couch outside the Starlight Room. Down the hall they saw an immense, nail-studded door and five villainous-looking guards with weapons.

"Those aren't Nirvana guns," whispered Ear.

Arm studied them carefully. "They're called Soul Stealers. I've seen pictures in books. People say it's like getting hit by lightning. They're also illegal."

When Eye woke up, they helped him into the restaurant for tea. "Look at these prices!" cried Eye, who seemed ready to faint again, but the maitre d' insisted on serving them for free.

"Any friend of the General is a friend of mine," said the round little man.

"Who are the apes down the hall?" Arm asked.

"Them!" The maitre d' pursed his lips. "Gondwannans. May
Mwari
protect us from such neighbors! Our business has fallen by half since they moved in. They're rude and insulting —"

"And stingy," added a passing waiter. "Never leave tips."

"If they didn't have diplomatic immunity, I'd have them arrested as thieves. They take silverware, glasses, even" — the maitre d' quivered all over with anger — "my
wallet.
I saw one of them slip it into his pocket, but do you think I could do anything? Once they're inside the embassy, it's Gondwannan territory. The police are helpless. If that's how they behave as guests, I'd hate to see them at home."

"Interesting," said Arm. He carefully noted the position of the Gondwannan Embassy before sitting by the panoramic window that made the Starlight Room famous.

The sky was clear except for a few clouds that now and then drifted below the window. Arm could see all the way to the edge of Harare, where city lights gave way to farmland. Streams of traffic moved on the airways between tall buildings. A dinner party arrived on the elevator and was placed at tables not far away. The men were dressed in expensive
dashikis,
and the women wore long classical Ethiopian gowns.

Arm felt a ripple of lazy good humor from the dinner party, a surge of greed from the waiters as they sized up the clothes. And something else. It wasn't an emotion but the absence of it. To Arm, the world was a seething ocean of human desires that he tried to block out. This was a hole in the ocean.

Intrigued, he turned his attention to it. It pulled at him.
Come inside,
it said.
It's
peaceful here. No more decisions. No more
struggles.
Arm felt his mind drifting toward the opening. How wonderful it would be to rest.

No!
said a voice inside him.
It's not a hole but a mouth.
Arm jerked back so abruptly, he knocked over a pitcher of water on the table. It splashed over the carpet, making the women at the next table squeal. A waiter hurried over at once to sponge off their gowns.

"What's wrong?" said Ear. Eye stood up at the table he was occupying, far from the window.

"I don't know. I never felt anything like it before, but it was coming from there." Arm pointed at the Gondwannan Embassy. After apologizing to the people at the next table, he went back to gazing out the window. This was the highest point in the city: all he had to do was wait.

Nyaokorefu,
if you're going to keep acting
like a fool, I'll have to find someone else to pos
sess,
said the voice inside.

Mhondoro? Arm said, aghast.

Of course. Why else did I give you my
ndoro?
Sometimes I think the intelligence of people gets less every generation.

I’m sorry,
said Arm.

The Mile-High Macllwaine has a roof. Go look there.

"Yes, sir," Arm murmured unhappily.

"What did you say?" asked Ear, but Arm was already on his way to find the maitre d'.

"When the hotel was built, they put an observation deck on the roof," explained the little man. "They expected it to be a popular attraction, but
..."
He gestured at a dark stairway with boxes stored on it.

"Scary, eh?" Ear said.

"I only went there once." The maitre d' shuddered.

"I'm going to be sick," moaned Eye.

Arm phoned General Matsika to tell him about the
mhondoro
and the strange presence in the Gondwannan Embassy.

The General waited so long before he answered, Arm thought the connection had broken. Finally, he said, "I don't want to be discouraging, but at present, only two men are able to contact the
mhondoro.
Both of them studied years before they were successful."

"I tell you, he spoke to me."

"You're asking me to invade the embassy of a foreign government because you felt a hole in the astral waves. What kind of evidence is that?"

"I'm going to get you evidence now. All I want is for you to wait outside," said Arm.

"People see strange things when they're under stress."

"I am not making this up!" Arm shouted so loudly Ear, Eye and the maitre d' jumped.

"Calm down. I'm willing to believe you saw your family spirit. But the
mhondoro
doesn't concern himself with everyday problems, no matter how important they seem to us. He's only concerned with national emergencies —"

"This
is
a national emergency!" shouted Arm. The maitre d' turned gray with fright. He reached for the holophone cord, but Ear and Eye grabbed his hands. "This goes beyond the disappearance of your children. They are only the means by which alien spirits intend to conquer us. The Masks are involved and probably the Gondwannans, too."

"Control yourself," the General said coldly. "I have no evidence the Gondwannans are implicated."

"I
felt
something in the embassy. That's why the
mhondoro
told me to come here, you glorified truant officer!"

"Please," said Mother, suddenly breaking in. Her picture appeared in a little square at the bottom of the screen when she picked up the extension. "Everyone take a deep breath. I know of a case exactly like what Arm is suggesting."

The General and Arm glared at each other like a pair of lions standing over the same antelope, but they kept quiet.

"Once, long ago, Zimbabwe was attacked by spirits from Mozambique," Mother explained. "I read about it in a history book. A group of Ndau people moved next to a Shona village. The Shona began to have the most terrible dreams. They fought with one another and mistreated their elders
 
and children. Their culture broke down until someone realized the Ndau spirits were waging war on the Shona spirits. Once this was understood, the Ndau were forced to return to Mozambique."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing," said the General. "Are you suggesting I commit an act of war because this man has a hot line to the spirit world?"

"Yes," said Mother.

"I think both of you should take aspirin and lie down before anyone else catches what you have!" The screen flicked off just as Mother was opening her mouth to argue.

"Maiwee!
Did you have to call him a truant officer?" said Eye.

The maitre d' rocked back and forth. "I'm ruined! The General will never come here again. I'll go out of business, and my children will beg in the streets."

"Oh, be quiet," Arm growled. "And get me a long piece of rope." Ear and Eye watched warily as he tied a series of knots in the rope that the trembling maitre d' fetched from a storeroom. "Stay here, Eye. You'd only faint. Ear, come with me."

"You — you don't sound like the Arm I'm used to," faltered Ear.

"Well, of course not. The
mhondoro
is in here with me." Arm patted his chest. He went up the stairway to the roof of the Mile-High Macllwaine, with Ear unhappily following behind.

Thirty-six

In the flickering light of the candles, the Masks were like creatures from an evil dream. They crowded around the terrified children, who clutched the She Elephant for want of better comfort. Kuda wailed and hid his face in Trashman's grain-bag shirt.

"That's enough, see," said the She Elephant. "I'm not one of your chickens on the subway. I have business to discuss."

"Businessss," hissed a large Mask with warthog tusks protruding from his mouth. "We know what happened to your business in Dead Man's Vlei. The police were there! They closed up your little
shebeen
and took your slaves away. You have no business, She Elephant."

"You promised me fifty thousand dollars for the little one. I'll throw the others in for nothing."

"Why should we pay when we can take what we wish? But you may have the money. One little goat was all we asked for. We are pleased to have three."

"Goat? What are you talking about?"

"The keeper of the Big-Head Mask was
shot
by the police — curse them!" replied the Warthog. "We need to install a successor, but for that we need a goat to sacrifice."

"I don't understand." The She Elephant's skin turned gray under the dancing candlelight.

"The Big-Head Mask needs food to make it powerful. We will send the children as messengers to our gods. The children will lead them to the heart of the Shona spirit world."

"No!" roared the She Elephant. "I didn't bring them here for that!"

"Beware! Beware!" snarled all the Masks together as they moved in a dizzying dance. "You are not safe. Oh, no! You can be found at the foot of the stairs with a broken neck. No one would cry!"

"I don't like it!" she cried.

"She doesn't like it. Oh, dear!" said a Mask with baboon fangs and fur.

"Poor She Elephant!" mocked another with the speckled snout of a hyena.

"Lying at the foot of the stairs with her head turned backward," finished a third bristling with porcupine quills.

"I didn't say I
wouldn't
sell them." The She Elephant shook off Tendai's and Rita's hands. They slid to the floor, too terrified to stand.

Kuda uncovered his face and looked at Trashman. Tendai saw the little boy's expression change from fear to surprise. Then he, too, saw that the man was staring at the Masks in openmouthed delight, just as he had watched the soccer matches on Dead Man's Vlei. Kuda immediately copied his hero. This was fine entertainment! These creatures must be clowns. The little boy laughed out loud.