White Dog Fell From the Sky Read Online Free PDF

and mist rose from the
dawn-damp earth. The moon was setting on one side of the sky as the sun was rising on
the other side, huge and fiery red like a drunkard’s eye. The white dog stretched
her paws in front of her and got to her feet. The sun rose into the lowest branches of
the trees, beating its slow steady beat. An uneasiness lay over the house.
    His impulse was to leave now—walk out and
find his way to town, but still he sat. A plane flew over. Ontibile got up and toddled
behind the house. The dog followed her and then came back and sat near Isaac. Soon
after, Amen came and sat on the threshold next to him. “
Ontibile o
kae?
” he asked.
    “She went around that side.”
    “Why did you not watch
her? … 
Tla kwano!
” he yelled. Soon after, she wobbled back
and went inside.
    Isaac picked up a small stick and twirled it
between his palms. The sun was hotter now. The tin roof began to pop, expanding with the
heat. Two doves called from a roof next door, the sound of death in their throats.
    Isaac and Amen were quiet next to each
other, listening to the sounds of the day waking. At last Amen spoke. “Do you
remember my sister?”
    “I never met her.”
    “She died on the sixteenth of June, in
the Soweto uprising. My only sister. I quit school and joined the MK,
Umkhonto we
Sizwe.
They gave me training in Angola. Six months the first time.”
    “I’m sorry about your sister. I
didn’t know.”
    “I received training in pistol
shooting, hand grenades, the AK-47, explosives, and land mines. And also the building of
secret cells, which Murphy Morobe and I have carried out in Soweto. Now, for these last
nine months, I am in Botswana, participating in certain necessary raids back home. I am
not at liberty to say more. But I can tell you that without work such as this, apartheid
will never end.” He paused. “You are a smart one,” he said. “You
would rise fast.”
    “It is not my way,” said Isaac,
standing.
    “She was my only sister,” Amen said
again. “She did no one any harm. She was only asking to speak her own language in
school. When the police shot her, she lived only a few hours. If I’d been beside
her, perhaps I would have taken the bullet for her.”
    “Is that what you wish?”
    “I would never wish to die.”
    Along the road, many people were walking,
most of them in one direction. Isaac passed a young woman who was strong and handsome. A
baby slept on her back, cinched close with a muslin wrap, then a plaid blanket wrapped
over the woman’s breasts and around her waist. Her hands were busy knitting.
“
Dumela, mma,
” he said. “
A go khakala kwa
motsing?
” Is it far to town?
    “
Nnyaa, rra,
” she
said.
    She carried a sack, draped over one elbow,
which he offered to carry for her. She slid it off and handed it to him. They walked
together in silence, connected by a string of green knitting yarn.
    “Where are you from?” she
asked.
    “From South Africa.” And then he
remembered it was not safe to say this.
    “My brother works in the mines,”
she said.
    “My father too, if he’s
alive.” They walked along without speaking. “I’m looking for
work,” he said.
    “Are you a good worker, or
lazy?”
    He laughed. “Do you think I would say
lazy if I’m looking for work?”
    She smiled, the same smile her baby had,
sleeping against her back. Her fingers went very fast, knitting. “Is this your
dog?”
    “No,
mma,
she is only
following me.”
    “Maybe she will find you work.”
She laughed. “Do you know how to garden?”
    “No.”
    “When they ask, you mustn’t say
no. Say you’ve worked in many gardens. Do you have a letter of
reference?”
    “No.”
    “Then you must tell them that you have
lost the letters, but you are a very good worker, very dependable. But even so, you will
not get the job.”
    “Why not?”
    “
Aiyee!
Too many people
looking. Everywhere, looking looking.”
    “Where do you work?”
    “In the Old Village. But the new
village is