Yesterday's Dog by Masimba Musodza
It had been a long drive, and Stanley was beginning to doze off. Harare was less than 20 kilometres away on the Mutare Road. The radio was not working, and he had exhausted the four tracks that made up the only CD that he had in the Hyundai Tiburon. And the air-conditioning wasn’t working, leaving him at the mercy of the October heat. He would have gladly stopped somewhere, but the need to get to Chitungwiza was urgent. Already, the sky to the west was tinged with mauve...
This story has been selected for the StoryTime anthology African Roar, please go to the African Roar site for more info on the book.
Yesterday's Dog was written by Masimba Musodza.
Copyright Masimba Musodza 2008.
I was born in 1976, as independence and all it offered to an erstwhile disenfranchised Black majority dawned on the country now known as Zimbabwe. I was educated at Avondale Primary School, Harare, and St Mary Magdalene's High School in Nyanga. Then I went to Film School, majoring in Screenwriting and Directing. So, while I am only just emerging in the literary world, I have been a writer for film and television for a while now.
I am the author of The Man who turned into a Rastafarian, an anthology of short-stories. A novel is due to published before the end of the year. I am now working on a ChiShona language novel that I think will push and redefine the boundaries of the genre. I also write essays of interest to adherents of the Rastafarian Faith.
7 comments:
I'd first like to extend a warm StoryTime Welcome to Masimba Musodza!
And what a way to start here, Cracking stuff!
On first read:
I was taken right in by the line,
"So, when the man appeared on the road, he seemed to have materialised from another dimension of his consciousness, an apparition from a half-remembered and not very comforting dream."
After the initial gripping hardcore, who and why the hitcher was so important, I was nicely led astray. From is he going to put the guy down, should he? would I? right to Mmm, more (even though rightly) anti-colonial diatribe, which did a thoroughly good job of hiding the excellent sucker punch at the end. I was left with the undeniable sense of history repeating itself, which reminded me of the saying 'if it doesn't rain here (locally) it's because someone here doesn't want it to', meaning for me we all, ALL, must want positive change.
So thank you for this gem, Masimba. I hope it's the first of many here at StoryTime.
Well, isn't that the paradox of Zimbabwe's situation? The erstwhile liberators- the very same people who rose up against a political, social and economic order that dehumanised the Black majority-well, they seem to be doing more to hurt the Black majority.
Thanks for your comments. Us writers always need a boost
I enjoyed the historical details in the flshbacks, the suspense, and the clarity of the language used. Some good metaphors too.
I have always believed that the Chimurenga 2 decades have fictional possibilities that writers have not fully utilized. I like how the story connects the 70s and now, a way of reading the past through the present.
Cool Story Masimba,
It reminded me in many ways (until the twist) of the experiences I have read of Jewish concentration camp survivors, who recognised their former Nazi torturer's long after the war. The conflicting emotions at coming eye to eye with someone who had inflicted great pain and injustice. The choices faced between eye for an eye or forgiveness. But the twist showed how easily it could have been for them to become that what they hated.
When a peoples revolution occurs all too often the very revolutionaries fighting against injustice (like the Zimbabwean liberation struggle), in a few short years of power become that what they fought against in the first place. It would seem the only way to overcome this tendency is by making sure there is more than one political party, in fact the more the better. When political parties have to share power in a parliament or such like body, they keep each other in check. Someone from the other party taking bribes? You bet that in a multi party system this will not go unnoticed nor unchecked. Though as evident from the US, even having two main parties is just not enough, there need to be more.
This is a story well told in smooth and beautiful language.
The protagonist, Stanley, went through a gruelling torture. Why? is the question. The answer is because a store keeper was angry that Stanley did not choose his daughter for a wife and hence, tells an evil lie.
It makes you ask, who has the greater sin? The storekeeper or the torturers? This is the same question that Jesus Christ answered when he faced Pontious Pilate before he was crucified/murdered. In a nutshell Jesus said whilst talking to Pilate - "the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin"
This story captures the emotions of the reader and we are faced with the most commonly asked question - is it possible to forgive? And why is it that the human being always tends to do to others what was done to them?
I'm glad that Stanley had the courage to forgive. I hope that there is a sequel to this story! Well done!
Cool Story Masimba,
It reminded me in many ways (until the twist) of the experiences I have read of Jewish concentration camp survivors, who recognised their former Nazi torturer's long after the war. The conflicting emotions at coming eye to eye with someone who had inflicted great pain and injustice. The choices faced between eye for an eye or forgiveness. But the twist showed how easily it could have been for them to become that what they hated.
When a peoples revolution occurs all too often the very revolutionaries fighting against injustice (like the Zimbabwean liberation struggle), in a few short years of power become that what they fought against in the first place. It would seem the only way to overcome this tendency is by making sure there is more than one political party, in fact the more the better. When political parties have to share power in a parliament or such like body, they keep each other in check. Someone from the other party taking bribes? You bet that in a multi party system this will not go unnoticed nor unchecked. Though as evident from the US, even having two main parties is just not enough, there need to be more.
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