Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo

dashboard. Mother lit a cigarette and gave it to him. She didn’t often smoke but she lit one for herself as well. Even though his parents rolled down their windows a little, Mathew’s eyes began to sting. The red tips of the cigarettes glowed like desperate signals. He wanted to say that these signals might show their attackers where they were. But instead his eyes were closing and he wanted to forget everything.

11

Messenger
    Mugo woke, shaking, in the middle of a nightmare. Men in red hats were chasing him and Baba. The two of them beat desperately on the door of a wooden house. Someone who looked like Karanja opened it, then shut it in their faces, shouting ‘Traitors!’. The men in red hats were about to grab them when Mugo opened his eyes. He was hunched up in the back seat of the bwana’s car with Baba gripping his arm, telling him to get up. The car was steamed up and stank of stale cigarettes. Mathew was curled up at the other end of the seat. He seemed to be still asleep. When Baba opened the door, Mugo scrambled out, gulping in the fresh morning air. It was still totally dark down in the gorge while up ahead, above the slope, the sky showed the first signs of light.
    Bwana Grayson was standing beside the car, his revolver in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
    ‘Mugo, I want you to run to the inspector bwanaas fast as you can! Show the guards at the gate that you have this message from me. Tell them to take you to the inspector bwana straight away. If they give you any bother, tell them that I shall complain to him. Can you do this?’
    Mugo hesitated, looking at his father. He had been petrified in the night that a Muhimu gang would find the car. If there were an attack, he and Baba would be caught in the middle. If the gang overpowered the bwana’s family, they would probably be killed as well… and the danger still wasn’t past.
    ‘I told the bwana you were sick yesterday.’ Baba covered Mugo’s hesitation.
    ‘I’m better, Baba.’
    ‘Then the bwana is right. You will travel faster than me.’
    Mugo held out his hand for the note. ‘I can do it, bwana,’ he mumbled.
    ‘Good boy, Mugo!’ The bwana sounded relieved. ‘I’ve asked the inspector bwana to bring a span of oxen to tow the car. You must come back with him.’
    Mugo slipped the paper into his pocket. His fingers touched his little elephant. He needed its courage. He was not looking forward to meeting this inspector bwana.
    Mugo set himself a steady pace. As he came out at the top of the gorge, he saw the two purplepeaks of Kirinyaga rising above the low-lying morning mist that covered the bush. Already the sky behind Kirinyaga was starting to change to the colour of ripe mangoes. His spirits lifted a little remembering how Mami said that the sun brings a new beginning. Last night, in the car, he had tried to block out from his mind the horrible events of the day. But they had followed him into his sleep. It was Karanja’s jibes that hurt most of all. Even Gitau, while arguing with Baba, hadn’t called their father a traitor! To stop his mind returning to yesterday’s misery, Mugo listened to the birds waking up. He liked how they took turns with their early morning songs. The doves had started with their throaty cooing, followed by some noisy chattering hoopoes and then the mousebirds with their tiny squeaks. He had learned to know them all as a herd boy. Life had been simpler then.
    A flurry in the long grass beside the road startled him. He had disturbed a bunch of guineafowl. Without breaking his rhythm, he turned his head to watch them scatter. He even smiled to himself at their alarm. But seconds later, it was his turn to feel panic. Two men stepped out of the bush on to the road ahead of him. He had seen no movement at all. They just silently appeared and stood waiting for him. Even though it was Sunday, they did not look like labourers on a day off.One of them wore a long army coat like Gitau’s and the other,