Prompt and Circumstance

Trophetic

'trophy' (3rd-5th June)

"Grandpa, why do you keep on touching that 'thing'? And you smell it, too... and that must be awful. It looks bleah" and Anasa squinted her eyes shut in disgust.

His status as a great leader impressed all who followed Tafari, inspiring the deepest respect, deference and unquestioning loyalty; all but this small, curious and often impudent grandchild, who seemed to present new challenges to him and his revered position with every day that passed.

Deep inside he knew Anasa was too young to appreciate how hardship and hunger and thirst could bring the mightiest to their knees. And because she had no memory of the time of great want, she couldn't appreciate the new life Tafari's family had found in the home they returned to whenever they needed to regroup their strength and regain health; this sheltering and nurturing slice of heaven.

Ahh Anasa - you don't even realise the significance of your name... yet. And he sighed loudly again. She was truly Anasa - 'a joy' , born to ease the pain of her mother's loss. He hadn't been able to embrace the names the family wanted - for a girl, Asya 'born from trauma and grief'. Although, if she had been a boy, he would have welcomed either of the family's choices of Azizi 'precious', or Bakari 'promise'.

Once again, his heart weighed heavy with grief and unbearable aching at the remembered helplessness, watching his beautiful, deeply loved Shani struggling for weeks in horrendous pain, determined to take her unborn babe to full term, despite the odds stacked so heavily against her.

"GRANDPA!" and Anasa nuzzles the corner of his mouth. "Did you go to sleep? You haven't told me about the 'thing' up on the shelf. Did you really say it's a trophy? What's a trophy?"

Reluctantly and as briefly as possible, with his great trunk tucked around her, Tafari told Anasa about the hunter who had tracked the herd for days, finally trapping many, slaughtering some, and not caring about those left wounded - to slowly recover... or slowly die. The hunter was not alone, Tafari told her, but he was their leader... ordering the others to forget about those who got away. There was heaps of ivory for all to get their share.

"I was enraged when I saw Shani stumbling away with spears sticking out to one side and bullets... I don't know how many bullets. And you inside. Alive? Dead? I didn't know, and suddenly, I didn't care about anything else than killing him."

Anasa's eyes widened and Tafari felt a shudder ripple through her body. "Is that him, Grandpa? The hunter?" and her voice dropped to a whisper, "Is he the trophy?"

Tafari nodded his great head and once again stretched up to the niche in the salt walls of the cave to touch the mummified head with the two sensitive 'fingers' at the tip of his trunk.

Now, and every time he returned to their cave home, he had all the time in the world to gently enjoy his trophy.