Anna rolled over, gazing up through the veil of netting at a ceiling half-covered in decorative plaster mouldings. It was like a wedding cake, with flowers and bows picked out in pink and gold. It took a few moments for her to remember where she was: in a luxury suite at the Hôtel Royal Kivu. She could smell mouse droppings, along with the lavender, and just the faintest whiff of Eliza’s L’Interdit.
Peering across to the other bed, Anna saw that the sheets had been tossed back and the net tied up. Eliza was gone.
Anna dressed quickly, choosing the outfit she’d packed specially for her arrival in Banya – the smart frock she’d worn for her meeting with Monsieur Leclair and a pair of shoes with a low heel. It probably didn’t matter greatly how she looked when she arrived at the Lutheran hospital, but who could say where she might end up going after that? If one piece of information led to another . . .
A small smile of excitement played on her lips as she crossed to the window. The surface of the lake was wind-brushed this morning, stippled with specks of white. There was no sign of the fishing fleet. A single canoe nosed its way over the water, a man standing at the bow paddling with a long oar.
Down on the patio Anna saw the fireplace and the table they’d used the evening before. From weekends spent in the bush with the Girl Guides she recognised the messy look of a campsite in the morning – ash, burned sticks, and abandoned utensils that had been overlooked in the dark. A cut crystal whisky glass gleamed in the early sun. A large black bird with shaggy feathers stalked beneath the table, jabbing its beak at scraps of food.
Anna was about to turn away when she noticed two people standing together further along the shore. Red hair and fair skin immediately identified one of them as Eliza. Next to her was an African man holding a bucket in one hand. He was taller than Ndovu, with broader shoulders. Both figures were facing away from Anna, but she could read tension in their gestures.
She was just trying to decide if she should go down and join them, or if she would be intruding, when Eliza suddenly turned around. Striding up the beach, she swung herself over the balustrade, before crossing the patio. A short while later, Anna heard footsteps on the stairs. Then Eliza appeared in the doorway. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright.
‘Good. You’re up. We have to go.’
Anna glanced at her watch. It was only seven o’clock. ‘Did I sleep in?’
‘No, not at all. I’m sorry. It’s just . . . we have to leave.’
‘Okay.’ Anna threw her nightdress into the suitcase and closed the lid. She was keen to get on the road as soon as possible also.
Eliza picked up her own possessions. ‘I’m afraid there’s been a change of plan.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve had some unexpected news.’ From Eliza’s tone, Anna couldn’t guess if this was good or bad. ‘We’re not going to Banya today.’
Anna just stared at her. ‘What do you mean? Where are we going?’
‘I’ll have to drop you off with my friends the Carlings, at the mission. I’ll be going on – further north. It’ll only be a few days, then I’ll come back and get you.’ She smiled, a little too brightly. ‘Then we’ll go to Banya.’
Anna’s lips moved as she processed the information. Then she shook her head. ‘No – I’ll come with you.’
‘You can’t,’ Eliza stated. ‘It’s not safe up there.’
‘Then why are you going?’
There was a moment of quiet. Eliza seemed to be hunting for the right answer. ‘There’s someone I want to see.’
‘Who?’ Anna frowned in confusion. What kind of person could be so important to Eliza that she would deliberately head into danger? Then a thought came to her. ‘The man you sent that letter to!’
Eliza’s eyes widened a fraction.
‘I saw you give it to a soldier on the night of the storm. It wasn’t for Randall, was it? You love someone else.’
There was another silence. Eliza’s face was torn with indecision. When she finally replied her voice was low but firm. ‘Yes. I do.’
Anna stared at her. This was just one more mystery, building on the questions already in her mind. ‘Is he something to do with that photograph you didn’t want me to see?’
Eliza gave no response. Her silence spurred Anna on.
‘I found that leaflet about the Simbas in your diary.’
‘What?’ Now Eliza looked shocked and angry.
‘I shouldn’t have looked. I know that. I wanted to find the cigarette lighter.’
‘A diary is private,’ Eliza said.
Anna ignored her ‘Something’s going on . . . to do with the rebels.’ Another idea came to her, sudden and shocking. ‘He’s a Simba! The man you’re in love with.’
Eliza covered her mouth with her hand. She offered no denial. Anna could see thoughts racing behind her eyes.
‘You’re involved with them,’ Anna said. ‘You’re a part of it all.’
‘You mustn’t say that, Anna. Please. Don’t ever say anything like that.’
‘Why can’t you just tell me? Don’t you trust me?’ Anna could hear the childlike note in her voice. After the closeness of their evening by the fire, she felt betrayed.
‘Believe me, Anna, I’d explain it all, if I could.’ Eliza’s words had a raw edge. She wiped one hand over her face, as if to relieve tension. ‘But this isn’t a game. Lives are at stake. You have no idea.’
She moved closer and put her hands on Anna’s shoulders, looking into her eyes. ‘You must forget what you’ve seen. You don’t know what it means, anyway. Whatever you’re thinking, you’ve got it wrong.’ Her fingers tightened, pressing into Anna’s bones. ‘Please say you understand.’
‘Okay. I understand,’ Anna said. But then she shook her head. ‘Can’t you at least tell me something?’
‘No, I really can’t,’ Eliza said. ‘I’m sorry.’ Then she gave a brief smile. ‘When I come back, I’ll take you to Banya. We can stay there as long as we need to. If we have to go somewhere else after that, we will. But you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about the photo, the leaflet. About me.’
There was a short silence, then Anna nodded, meeting Eliza’s gaze. ‘I promise.’
Eliza let out a long breath. ‘Let’s go.’
Eliza drove fast, gripping the wheel with both hands. The windows were wound down and her hair, untamed by a headscarf, whipped around her face. She took her eyes from the road, throwing Anna a bright smile.
‘You’ll like the Carlings, I promise,’ she said.
There was an eager tone in her voice; she sounded like a mother trying to enthuse a reluctant child. Anna guessed she felt guilty about the change of plan.
‘Harry has a great sense of humour,’ Eliza added. ‘And Rose is one of the kindest people I know. You’ll love the children. Lily has just turned eight. She’s very serious and grown-up already. Sam is five. And there’s the baby, Molly.’
Anna felt a twist of nerves at the prospect of meeting them all. She repeated their names in her head, as if she were preparing for a business meeting.
‘I first met them on a flight from Léopoldville to Albertville. It must have been six or seven years ago – well before Independence. I invited them home to stay with me. Now, they visit a couple of times a year. The children love the house. They play hide-and-seek. Magadi makes all their favourite food. I have apples flown in from Kenya.’
‘How do you know it’ll be convenient for them to have me?’
‘It will be,’ Eliza insisted. ‘They’ll just be working. That’s all they do. You can give Rose a hand with the children. She’ll love that. And I’ll leave some supplies.’
Anna wondered what Eliza had in mind as a bribe for the missionaries – presumably not a bottle of Johnnie Walker. ‘How far away is it?’
Eliza pointed towards a distinctive conical hill in the distance. ‘The turn-off is just past there. Then, it’s about half an hour’s drive into the forest.’
Anna looked at her in surprise. She’d just assumed the mission was on the lake, the hospital serving the fishing communities strung out along the shore.
‘The Carlings call it “the jungle”.’ Eliza smiled. ‘I think Harry grew up reading too much Rudyard Kipling.’
Anna turned her gaze inland, to where the canopies of tall trees formed a lumpy blanket of dark green. She remembered again what the forest had looked like from the air, as she’d flown into Albertville – the endless expanse of it, stretching away for hundreds of miles. It was hard to imagine that anyone could live in an environment like that – let alone a missionary family. Picturing herself in such a place was even more impossible.
She wondered if it would help for her to think of it as ‘the jungle’. It sounded like something from a children’s book – a place of adventures that always had happy endings. She thought of the tattered copy of The Jungle Book that she’d kept from her own childhood. It was still in her bookshelf, even though its dull green spine looked out of place with her modern decor. She’d loved reading about Mowgli, the little boy who lived with a family of wolves. Kipling’s stories were set in India but she’d imagined them taking place in Africa, the setting of her own early years. When she was older, she’d been disappointed to learn that there were no wolves or tigers in that continent. Marilyn said there were no panthers, either. But she was wrong. Browsing through a library book one day, Anna had discovered that panthers were leopards that just happened to be born black.
The turn-off to the mission was marked by a stumpy white pillar that looked like a milestone. It was painted with a simple red cross. Anna braced herself as Eliza swung the Jaguar off the road and onto a narrow dirt track. Almost immediately, they entered the forest. It was like diving underwater: the light faded, taking on a greenish tinge. Craning her neck, Anna looked up through layers of leaves that all but blotted out the sky. Then she stared into the shadows, where thick vines hung like ropes trailing from a ship.
Low-growing branches dragged along the sides of the car as if reluctant to let it pass. Anna realised it would be impossible to turn around if they wanted to go back. They had to wind up the windows, to keep the branches from reaching inside. But still, the smell of the forest crept in through the vents. Mushrooms. Wet leaves. A whiff of dense, cloying perfume.
Eliza leaned over the steering wheel, her whole body rigid with concentration as she tried to keep up a good speed. A tense frown tightened her brow, but her eyes shone with anticipation. Sitting beside her, Anna could almost feel the excitement emanating like heat from her body. It was very clear that Eliza was desperate to get this detour over so that she could continue on her way to whatever – whoever – awaited her to the north.
Every so often Eliza had to stamp on the brakes as obstacles appeared in her path – fallen branches, rocks, small streams and gullies. At one point, she had to bring the Jaguar almost to a standstill as she navigated a deep pothole.
Anna covered her nose with her hand as a rank smell – like rotten meat – invaded the car. She scanned the side of the track, looking for its source. Then she gasped. A dead baby lay in the undergrowth, arms and legs flung out, forming a pale star-shape against the bed of leaves. The white skin was speckled with flies. A red wound marked its belly. Anna stared in horror, unable to speak – but already she could see that it was just a fleshy flower with a pink centre. White petals were spread-eagled over the ground.
‘A corpse plant,’ Eliza said. ‘Stapelia gigantea. The smell attracts insects that feed on dead animals. They land on the flower and get trapped in a coating of hairs. They are held captive for a while – then released, covered in seeds. That’s how the plant spreads its genes around.’
Anna managed to nod.
‘When I come back,’ Eliza said, ‘I’ll take you for a walk.’ She smiled into the forest. ‘There’s so much to see . . .’
Anna gave no response. Before she could even begin to think about Eliza returning, she’d have to survive the next few days. It was a daunting prospect. Already she felt closed-in by the trees, longing for the openness of the woodland plains and the lake. Then, there was the challenge of being left with a family of strangers who didn’t even know she was coming. She hated the idea of being an unwanted guest.
‘You probably think it all looks the same.’ Eliza waved her hand at the passing parade of tree trunks. They all had smooth bark, glistening with damp. ‘But if you spend a bit of time out here, you’ll soon see that isn’t true.’
Anna said nothing. She had no intention of wandering among the trees. She planned to find some small space in the Carlings’ house where she could hide away and read her novel, killing time until Eliza returned.
‘It appears to be uninhabited,’ Eliza added, ‘when, in fact, it’s dotted with small villages and camps used by hunter-gatherers. The mission is in a central location. People walk to it from every direction. There’s a whole maze of paths.’
Scanning the trees and undergrowth, Anna could find no sign that any human had ever set foot in this wilderness. There seemed to be no room for them: every inch of ground was crammed with vegetation; trees stood trunk to trunk, jostling for space.
She ducked instinctively as the Jaguar pushed under a low branch. As she looked up, a small animal streaked across the track. It was white, with a dark tail and ears. For a crazy moment, Anna thought it was a Siamese cat. She was about to ask Eliza if she’d seen the creature as well, when the track made a sharp turn to the right. Without warning, a building came into view. It was set in a small clearing of bare earth.
As Eliza brought the car to a halt, Anna looked across to a plain, squat structure, with walls made of stone and an iron roof. It took a few seconds for her to see that there was a verandah running along the front. The whole thing had been closed in with sturdy wire mesh. Anna glimpsed, in the shadows beyond the barrier, a line of washing hung up to dry. There was a girl’s frock, pink and frilly; a small pair of shorts and a row of nappies.
‘Is that where they live?’ Anna turned to Eliza. ‘It’s . . . like a cage.’
Eliza seemed as taken aback by the look of the house as Anna was. ‘It wasn’t like this last time I was here.’
‘When was that?’
‘Must be a couple of years, now.’
Anna frowned in confusion. Eliza had spoken so casually of dropping her off at the Carlings’ home: Anna had assumed she was a regular visitor. ‘I thought you were good friends.’
‘We are,’ Eliza said. ‘I’ve seen them in Albertville. I just haven’t been able to make it out here. Life hasn’t been normal. I’ve been tied up, in other places.’
Anna picked up a defensive note in her voice. She probably felt bad about neglecting the missionaries – after all, she found plenty of time to devote to her art. But then Anna remembered Eliza saying that the photographic trips gave her an excuse to move around the country. Perhaps that was even their main function. You never really knew, with Eliza, exactly what anything meant.
There was a moment of quiet as the two stared at the house.
‘Rose is very safety conscious,’ Eliza said eventually. ‘She has to be – because of the children.’ She shook her head faintly, as if to escape from her thoughts. ‘I’ll just turn the car around.’
She drove on a little way, to where the track ended in a turning circle. Pushed off to one side, its roof shrouded in overhanging branches, was a Land Rover. It had once been white, but squashed fruit made a leopard-print pattern on the bonnet and tyre guards. Painted on the vehicle’s side were the words Gift of the People of the United States of America. As Eliza swung the Jaguar round, facing the way they had come, Anna noticed the Land Rover was missing one wheel, the axle resting on a pile of stones.
Parking in front of the house, Eliza turned off the engine and climbed out. As Anna opened her door, warm wet air folded around her. Insects whirred and buzzed; birds called to one another from far overhead; there was a sawing noise in the undergrowth that sounded like a rattling breath.
‘There they are – Lily and Sam.’ Eliza pointed to two small faces pressed up against the wire. Four sets of fingers reached into the outside world. An African woman appeared behind them, her tall figure framed by an inner doorway. She cradled a blond baby against her chest. A shawl draped her arms, the stark white contrasting with her black skin.
‘That’s Adina – the ayah.’ Eliza lifted her hand to wave.
Anna trailed behind her as she crossed the clearing. When Eliza neared the verandah the little boy began jumping up and down in excitement. The girl, Lily, just gazed at the visitors with a slowly growing smile.
There was a creak of rusty hinges and a door opened. The ayah stared through the gap. No one stepped outside.
‘Adina?’ Eliza called to her. ‘I’m Eliza Lindenbaum. Remember me?’
Adina leaned over the threshold. She was young, with smooth black skin marred only by a line of ritual scars – raised bumps like insect bites marching across her forehead. A baggy dress made of blue-and-white gingham hung from her shoulders. A look of recognition crossed her face.
‘You have returned at last!’ She made a beckoning gesture with both hands. ‘Please. Come inside.’
Anna followed Eliza up onto the verandah. She noticed the smell of beeswax polish, backed by a musty hint of mould. As the door shut behind them, Eliza bent down, taking both children into her arms. Sam threw himself at her shoulder but soon wriggled free, running to pick up a toy aeroplane. Lily just buried her face against Eliza’s chest. She wrapped a long strand of red hair around her fist.
After a time, Eliza pulled away, Lily reluctantly relinquishing her.
‘This is my friend, Anna.’ Eliza addressed Adina as well as the children.
The ayah smiled shyly as she and Anna shook hands. Sam studied the stranger with curious eyes.
‘Hello,’ Lily said cautiously. Then she turned to Eliza, grasping her hand. ‘I want to show you my book. I’ve written four new stories.’
The girl had an American accent, which Anna presumed indicated the nationality of her parents. As she made this connection, she was struck by the fact that she knew almost nothing at all about her hosts.
‘I’m sorry,’ Eliza said. ‘I can’t look at it right now. I’m not staying.’ As Lily’s face dropped, she touched her under the chin. ‘But I’m coming back in a few days. Then you can show me.’
Lily looked up, her eyes wide and trusting. ‘Promise?’
‘Promise.’ Eliza held out her hands to take the baby from Adina. ‘Hello, Molly.’ She stroked the soft blonde hair, already forming curls, and then kissed a plump cheek.
‘She is growing very well,’ Adina said proudly.
‘She is,’ Eliza agreed.
As they admired the baby, Anna looked around her. They were in a long narrow living room with several doors opening into other parts of the house. The furniture was made of dark wood, the hard surfaces softened by a few cushions, some of which had clumsy crocheted covers that might have been made by a child. There was a bookcase with a row of serious-looking texts with gold writing on the spines and some smaller cloth-bound books that reminded Anna of ones she’d seen during her occasional visits to churches for weddings or at Christmas. At the far end of the room was a blackboard, wiped clean. A shelf with puzzles and games. A jar of paintbrushes. An abacus. By the biggest window was a terracotta pot containing a small rose bush. There was a single flower, with delicate pink petals.
‘May I offer you some tea or coffee?’ asked Adina. ‘Mrs Carling is not here at this moment but she will return very soon.’
‘I’m afraid I have to leave straight away.’ Eliza switched to an African language and began talking quickly, an urgent tone in her voice. Adina nodded intermittently, turning her eyes from Eliza to Anna and back.
Watching on, Anna felt torn between wishing Eliza would wait here and explain the situation directly to Mrs Carling when she returned, and wanting her to hurry up and leave. The sooner Eliza continued on her way, the sooner she could return.
When Eliza finished speaking, she turned to the children. ‘Come to the car. I’ve got some treats for you!’
They shook their heads in unison.
‘We aren’t allowed outside without Mommy or Daddy,’ Lily explained.
‘It’s only to the car —’ Eliza began, then stopped herself. ‘Of course you’re not. Just wait there.’
As Anna followed Eliza down the steps she glanced back at the house, fenced in with mesh. The gaps between the crisscross bars were large enough to allow in snakes, scorpions, even rats or bats. The metal itself was solid. The barrier was obviously intended to protect the inhabitants from something big and strong. And it had been put up in the last couple of years – yet the family had been here much longer. Some new threat must have emerged.
Anna hurried after Eliza, reaching for her arm. ‘Is it because of the Simbas?’
Eliza shook her head. ‘I remember now. Rose wrote to me that she was worried about chimpanzees. They’d just heard from a missionary family in another part of the Congo who had lost their five-year-old son. He was taken from their house.’
Anna looked at her in surprise. At Melbourne Zoo, chimps were a favourite with young and old alike; they entertained the biggest crowds of visitors, swinging from ropes or playing with old car tyres.
‘The mature males hunt monkeys as prey. They’ve been known to take human children by mistake.’
Anna’s eyes widened. ‘You mean – they eat them?’
Eliza gave a shrug that could have meant yes or no. ‘Look, you don’t need to worry about it. It’s only small children who are at risk. Or pygmies – but they know how to look after themselves.’ She glanced back towards the verandah. ‘Don’t say anything to Lily and Sam. Just pretend it’s normal, having to stay inside.’
Before Anna could respond, Eliza turned away, checking her watch. ‘It’s nearly eleven.’ The realisation that the morning was almost over seemed to spark a fresh urgency. She strode back to the car, unloading the cooler and a box containing more food. She added a tin of toffees and a bag of fruit for the children.
Anna dragged her suitcase from the back seat. Feeling its familiar weight swinging from her hand, she was reminded of arriving at the Hôtel Royal Kivu. It was only yesterday, but felt much longer ago than that. Eliza pulled out the picnic basket, now dusted with ash from their fire on the hotel patio.
‘Don’t you need to keep anything for yourself?’ Anna asked.
Eliza shook her head. ‘I’ll be looked after.’
The words were dropped into the air with such confidence. Anna felt a flash of envy as she absorbed their meaning: Eliza knew she would not be let down.
I’ll be looked after.
Anna thought of the photograph she’d seen of Eliza and the soldiers. There was something about the expressions on their faces and the way their bodies fitted together – self-contained, yet close – that went with these words. Anna identified, in that moment, something rare and precious that she wished she could have for herself. But then, as she pictured the guns, the camouflage shirts and battle helmets, envy was replaced by a spike of fear. Anna had no idea where Eliza was going, or what she was intending to do. All Anna knew was that it was going to be dangerous.
She put her hand on Eliza’s arm, stopping her in her tracks. ‘Please be careful?’ she pleaded. As she spoke, everything the two had shared in the time since Anna had arrived in the Congo flashed through her mind. ‘Come back safely.’
Eliza rested her hands on Anna’s shoulders, giving her a smile. ‘Don’t worry about me. I’ve got nine lives – like a cat.’ She stepped towards the driver’s door, as if ready to leave. Then suddenly, she was back beside Anna, pulling her into an embrace. As the women clung together Anna closed her eyes, breathing Eliza’s perfume, feeling the softness of her hair against her cheek.
The moment seemed to stretch out, and yet be over in an instant. Eliza waved towards the house, her gesture mirrored by four little hands reaching out through the wire. Then she jumped into the driver’s seat. The engine roared into life, and she drove off without a backward glance.
As the car disappeared from view, Anna took a step after it as if pulled by an invisible cord. Then she stood still, staring at the empty track, the tyre marks fresh in the soft red earth. Her hands tightened into fists and her breath caught in her chest. She was swept by an irrational belief that she would never see Eliza again.
The cards were bent at the corners, the edges soft with wear. Lily dealt them out into neat little piles, one for Anna, one for Sam and one for herself. The three were sitting on the floor, on a mat made from woven rushes. Anna’s legs were folded to one side, her skirt pulled down over her knees. Sam was sprawled on his belly. Lily had been kneeling earlier but had now rearranged her posture to mimic Anna’s.
‘Do you know how to play “Happy Families”?’
‘I think I remember,’ Anna said.
‘You have to collect four to make a family. Mr, Mrs, Master and Miss.’
‘But don’t get the frogs,’ Sam said.
‘They’re his favourites,’ Lily told Anna, ‘but don’t listen to him.’
Sam narrowed his gaze as he arranged his cards in his hand. ‘I want to go first.’ He turned to Anna. ‘Have you got Miss Rabbit?’
‘Sorry.’ Anna shook her head. She eyed her cards. They all showed animals dressed as humans. One had a frog in a sailor’s outfit, clearly bound for adventures far away. She guessed this might be a card that held a special appeal for Sam, cooped up here in the mission house. She wondered how she could make sure he ended up with it.
‘You have to ask for what you want,’ Lily said patiently.
Anna turned to Sam. ‘Do you have Master Shrew?’
Each player took their turn and soon there were several complete families laid out on the mat. Mice. Badgers. Robins. Owls. Creatures of the English countryside. They all looked friendly and kind, with no hint that one family might, in real life, prey upon another.
As Anna listened to the children’s requests and added her own, she kept thinking about Mr and Mrs Carling – wondering what they were doing. She knew almost nothing about missionaries. She had vague ideas that there must be a church nearby, perhaps a small school and a clinic as well. She pictured the couple hard at work, sparing no effort to help the Africans. Meanwhile their children were barricaded inside their house, being cared for by an ayah. It was hard to imagine a life more different to Eliza’s with all her luxuries and adventures. Anna wondered how they’d all come to be such good friends.
At twenty past twelve, Lily pointed to the clock mounted above the bookcase. ‘It’s time for Mommy and Daddy to come home for lunch.’ She and Sam went to stand near the front door.
Anna joined them, peering out through the wire mesh towards the turning circle. ‘What have they been doing?’ she asked.
Lily looked at her in surprise. ‘Working at the hospital, of course. They were going to do an operation this morning. A boy has a bad pain in his tummy.’
Anna stared at the girl in disbelief. ‘An operation? Out here?’
Lily nodded. ‘Daddy is the doctor. Mommy helps him.’
‘We don’t go there,’ Sam said solemnly, ‘because there are lots of people with bad diseases.’
Anna suppressed a shudder as she recalled the scenes she’d encountered in the villages: people suffering from horrible medical conditions that had been left untreated for far too long. No doubt the situation was the same, out here in the forest – or even worse.
‘Mommy checks our schoolwork when she comes back.’ Lily’s voice broke into Anna’s thoughts.
With an effort, Anna focused on her. ‘Have you finished what you were meant to do?’
Turning round, Anna saw Lily’s exercise book lying open on the table. When she’d first walked back inside the house, trying not to think of the Jaguar speeding away, Sam had led her to a chair and begun showing off his toys. He had an aeroplane made from two bits of wood nailed together. A selection of Matchbox cars with chipped paintwork. A book about dogs. Lily had made a show of being more mature; she took out the exercise book and pretended to be busy with schoolwork. But she watched Anna constantly, peering from beneath lowered lashes. When Sam had produced the pack of cards she’d eagerly joined the game.
‘I’ve only done half,’ Lily confessed. ‘But I don’t care. I hate mathematics.’ She tossed her head, her straight blonde hair fanning out around her face. The ends were ragged and one side was longer than the other. Someone – presumably her mother, or Adina – had snipped it off crudely, perhaps even using a basin as a guide. A mission station was no place for vanity, Anna guessed. She wished she’d removed her red nail polish for the journey. Lily was fascinated by her manicure; during the card game she’d literally taken Anna’s hand, in order to study the shiny varnish close up.
On the dot of twelve-thirty, a woman emerged from the trees, just beyond the turning circle. Skirting the Land Rover, she headed for the house. Anna took in a slender figure in a plain blue dress and solid lace-up shoes. Blonde curly hair was pulled back from her face into a bun. Loose strands, frizzy in the humidity, formed a halo around her head. Sun gleamed from a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
‘It’s just Mommy,’ Sam said, his voice low with disappointment.
‘Daddy must be too busy,’ said Lily.
As she neared the house, Mrs Carling waved at her children. Then she held her hands in the air like a soldier surrendering. Adina hurried to open the wire door.
‘What a morning!’ Mrs Carling stepped up onto the verandah. ‘Daddy couldn’t stop today.’ When she saw Anna, she faltered in surprise, her hands still raised.
Anna smiled nervously. ‘Hello.’
‘How did you get here?’ Mrs Carling glanced back towards the track, looking puzzled.
Before Anna had a chance to answer, Adina began a hasty exchange with Rose, in what sounded like Swahili. Anna picked up Eliza’s name. The missionary’s face brightened, then a frown creased her brow. She seemed to be asking questions the ayah was not able to answer.
Anna fidgeted nervously, then collected herself. This was the moment to try and take control. ‘Let me introduce myself.’ She stepped forward, ready to shake hands.
‘No, no!’ Mrs Carling waved her back. ‘Don’t touch me.’
Lily and Sam followed their mother to the end of the verandah, where she removed her shoes. A basin of water had been set out on a small table, along with some bright blue soap and a frayed towel. Rose washed carefully, fingers wrapping over fingers as she worked the soap into a foam. She rinsed her hands and dried them meticulously. Only then did Lily and Sam approach her.
Mrs Carling offered her hand to Anna. ‘I’m Rose. Welcome to our home.’
Anna clasped it lightly. Even though she’d just seen Rose washing, she worried there might still be lingering germs. She didn’t like to think what kinds of diseases might turn up in a jungle hospital.
Sam’s voice piped up. ‘She’s called Anna. She’s got the rabbit family, and the foxes. But I got all the frogs.’
‘She brought some toffees for us,’ Lily cut in. ‘Adina’s looking after them.’
‘I see you’ve made friends with the children already,’ Rose said. Like Lily and Sam, she had an American accent, but it was blended with something else.
‘I’m really sorry to turn up like this, without any warning,’ Anna said.
‘Not at all,’ Rose responded. ‘You’re an answer to our prayers! One of our nurses has gone home to his village for a wedding and the other one is sick. We could do with an extra pair of hands over at the hospital – even just for a few days. We’re snowed under.’
Anna’s polite smile froze on her face as she absorbed Rose’s meaning. She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. I’d like to help, but I can’t.’ She knew she was being rude, but she felt certain the Carlings’ hospital – out here in the forest – would be a far cry from the Hôpital Européen. She didn’t even want to visit the place, let alone be put to work there.
Rose studied Anna’s face, as if trying to read her thoughts. ‘You don’t need to worry,’ she said kindly, ‘I’ll show you what to do.’
‘It’s not that,’ Anna explained. ‘I just can’t cope being around people with diseases. I don’t like blood . . . or anything like that.’
Lily’s eyes were wide with interest, turning from the visitor to her mother and back. Anna guessed she didn’t often hear anyone expressing unwillingness to do their duty. Anna felt guilty about not wanting to help; no doubt Eliza would have been happy to do it. But Anna was new to this country. It was true that she’d overcome lots of challenges in the short time she’d been here; as Eliza had pointed out during their conversation at the Hôtel Royal Kivu, she’d changed. But that didn’t mean she could suddenly become someone she was not.
‘I really can’t be a nurse,’ Anna said firmly. ‘I’m very sorry.’
Rose’s eyebrows lifted a fraction. Anna lowered her eyes, but could feel the woman’s gaze travelling over her – taking in the smart dress, the shoes with a slight heel, the lipstick. She could almost feel Mrs Carling coming to the conclusion that Anna was self-indulgent, perhaps spoiled. She had some lessons to learn, and the mission hospital was the place for it to happen.
‘You’ll be surprised how quickly you get used to it,’ Rose said briskly. ‘You can come with me after lunch. I will lend you some clothes if you don’t have anything more suitable.’
Anna looked at her in silence for a moment. ‘Eliza said I could help with the children.’ She gave Lily a quick smile, hoping to spark her support. It was her last hope.
‘Please, Mommy, let her stay with us,’ Lily said, picking up the cue.
‘There will be time for her to do both.’ Turning to the ayah, Rose took Molly into her arms, kissing the baby on the cheek. ‘Now, let’s eat, shall we?’ She led the way to the dining table.
The provisions Anna had brought from the car had disappeared into the kitchen; the meal the ayah served consisted of bean stew piled onto thick slices of homemade bread. As she breathed the steam that rose from her plate, she felt rising nausea – her stomach was knotted with anxiety. She wondered when she would have to face going to the hospital. Perhaps she could explain that she was feeling unwell, or say she was too tired. She forced herself to begin eating. All the food tasted strange: the butter was faintly rancid, the bread over-ripe with yeast, the stew smoky. Under the watchful eyes of Lily and Sam, she struggled to empty her plate.
Rose talked about the work of the mission, and how it was originally supported by her husband’s home church in Massachusetts. Several years ago the funds were diverted to another project and since then, Eliza had been covering the costs.
‘She’s a very generous person,’ Rose said. ‘I don’t know where we’d be without her. Of course, there’s plenty more work that could be done, if we had even more funds . . .’
Anna wondered if Rose thought her surprise visitor was another wealthy woman who might be looking for a cause to support. She started to explain why she’d come to the Congo – but Rose held up her hand.
‘No, stop – please. Let’s hear your story tonight when Harry’s here. There’s no point in you having to go through it all twice.’
‘Of course,’ Anna agreed. She already understood this remark was typical of Mrs Carling. Every word Rose said, every movement she made, signalled practicality and competence. No wonder she had no time for Anna’s fear of blood and germs. She was kind as well, though – just as Eliza had promised. Rose hadn’t hesitated to welcome the stranger she’d just found in her home. She was probably the perfect missionary wife. Anna looked over at the wire barricade, which kept the children safe from marauding chimpanzees. Another woman might have baulked at the ugliness of a home that had been made into a cage. But then, another woman wouldn’t have been prepared to raise her family out here in the Congo jungle.
Rose turned to her son. ‘What have you got to show me?’
Sam brought over a drawing of an aeroplane with a long line of windows. This afternoon, he declared, he was going to draw a picture of Eliza’s zebras. Rose ruffled his hair affectionately. Now and then, Anna noticed, a twitch passed over her face: both eyes screwed up for a second. It made her look nervous, even though Anna knew that could not be the case.
Before shifting her attention to Lily’s schoolwork, Rose directed Anna to the bathroom so that she could get changed. Opening up her suitcase on the torn lino floor, Anna located a khaki skirt and shirt. As she pulled them on she looked around the room. The bath was clean but stained with orange rust below the taps. A bar of the bright blue soap Rose had used sat in a chipped china dish. Though there was a faint smell of bleach suggesting recent scrubbing, mould grew in the grouting between the tiles, forming a pattern of pink and green. The towels were threadbare and faded. Apart from a small metal cabinet mounted above the sink, the walls were bare. The only bright spot in the place, aside from Anna’s red suitcase, was a yellow plastic duck perched on the edge of the bath. There was a key element missing from the space; it took Anna a few seconds to work out what it was: there was no mirror. It made her feel strangely vulnerable to be denied the familiar sight of her own reflection – to be faced instead with blank spaces that gave nothing back.
When Anna reappeared in her bush clothes, her lipstick rubbed off and her hair in a neat ponytail, Rose nodded her approval. She closed the exercise book she’d been examining and headed for the front door, signalling for Anna to follow. The children stood at the wire barricade, watching the departure.
When they were well away from the house, Rose stopped. She turned to Anna, a faint frown on her face. ‘Do you know where Eliza’s gone? Or what she’s doing?’
Anna’s pulse quickened. ‘She didn’t really say.’
‘It must have been a very sudden change of plan. I’m surprised she didn’t come to the hospital and explain.’ Rose’s eyes flinched again. ‘There’s nothing wrong, is there?’
Anna took a few moments to reply. She didn’t want to lie to Rose; she had the feeling the missionary might be able to tell. ‘No . . . she just got a message about something she had to do. She seemed quite excited about it. She was happy.’
‘Oh, that’s good.’ Rose looked relieved. She gave a tolerant smile. ‘You never really know what’s going on with Eliza. She dances to her own tune. She’s been very kind to us, you know, over the years.’
‘She’s been very kind to me, too.’ Anna’s voice caught in her throat. Eliza had only just left, but already she longed to see her return safely. She pictured the rifle Eliza had loaded into the Jaguar back in Albertville; she was glad it was there, even though she hoped its presence would serve no purpose.
The pair walked on without talking until they reached the Land Rover. Then Rose stopped again, eyeing the bare axle. ‘It’s a pity we missed seeing Eliza. She might have been able to pick up our new wheel on her way back here. It’s at the Catholic mission a bit further along the main road, towards Banya. We had one stolen right off the axle. The spare went missing, too.’ Rose sounded sad rather than outraged.
‘Why would someone do that?’ Anna asked. The forest didn’t look like a place where the local people drove around in vehicles.
‘They want the tyres. They use the rubber to make sandals, door hinges, mats – all kinds of things . . . It’s an irony, really, that rubber is so sought after, when it comes from here in the first place.’ She pointed into the forest. ‘See the wild rubber vines?’
Anna peered at the thick ropes that hung from the trees, and others that seemed to rise up out of the ground. None of them looked familiar to her. She was disappointed; she kept hoping she would begin recognising things that she saw or heard or smelled, now that she was back in the area where she was born.
Rose walked past the Land Rover, disappearing down a narrow path into the forest. Anna hesitated, peering after her. Tangled branches met overhead, forming a tunnel. The light was dim, the air dense with the smell of rotting leaves and fungi. She thought there might be another corpse flower somewhere out there. She pictured running back to the house and resuming her place in the game of ‘Happy Families’ – swapping the buzzing and screeching of the forest for the sound of the children squabbling over their favourite cards, and Adina singing English nursery rhymes to Molly. But Anna knew she had to go on: if she didn’t follow, she felt sure Rose would simply come back and get her.
Plunging into the forest, Anna walked quickly like someone crossing thin ice, fearful it might collapse beneath them. She kept her eyes on the ground ahead, the mud imprinted with the deep-treaded soles of Rose’s sturdy shoes.
When they finally emerged from the forest, they stood in a clearing facing a long, low building with doors and windows all covered in wire mesh. Now that Anna had absorbed the image of the Carlings’ home, the cage-like appearance seemed almost normal.
‘This is the hospital,’ Rose said, gesturing with one hand. ‘The main ward is at one end, next is the maternity ward. And the theatre. Behind this building, out of sight, is the leper colony.’
Recoiling instinctively, Anna took a step back towards the path. An image came to her from a film she’d seen not long ago, set in medieval times: a leper with a face so disfigured he looked barely human, and limbs covered in filthy bandages. As he hobbled along on stunted feet he rang a bell and called out in an eerie voice, ‘Unclean. Unclean.’
Anna swallowed. ‘I thought leprosy was something from the past.’
‘Not here in the Congo, I’m afraid.’ Rose smiled. ‘Don’t look so alarmed, dear. It’s really quite hard to catch. And anyway, it’s not the disaster it once was. We have Dapsone now. A cheap and effective cure. We hope to wipe it out completely in this area.’
As she talked, Rose moved on towards the entrance to the building, Anna following behind her. On the other side of the wire mesh a large cat stood on its hind legs, stretching up, its body long and lean, claws hooking over the crossbars. Anna recognised the striking markings of a Siamese – a white body contrasting with dark ears, face, legs and tail. She remembered the fleeting glimpse she’d caught of a similar animal streaking through the forest.
Stepping inside, Anna was met by a strong smell of disinfectant blended with kerosene and something sweet and ripe, like rotting fruit. She was in a long narrow corridor with three doors. Above each was a hand-painted sign; they identified the two wards and the operating theatre that Rose had mentioned. As Anna took in her surroundings, a second Siamese cat appeared. It gazed at her with big blue eyes as it stalked close to the wall. A tiny kitten tottered along behind – a miniature version of the adult, but with paler markings.
Anna looked at Rose, frowning with confusion. An African hospital didn’t seem the place for keeping pets.
‘We breed them for the leprosy patients,’ Rose told her. ‘They each take one home when they leave. As you probably know, people with leprosy very often lose sensation in their extremities. While they’re asleep at night, rats can chew their fingers and toes right off, and they don’t even wake up.’ The woman’s tone was matter-of-fact; she might have been reporting on the weather. ‘We chose Siamese because they have the best reputation when it comes to hunting.’
Anna fixed her eyes on the kitten, trying not to let the images evoked by Rose’s words settle in her mind. In the quiet she heard the distant rumble of a generator. Then, from behind one of the doors came the distinctive cry of a peacock. She recognised it straight away from the time she’d spent at Eliza’s house in Albertville.
‘What are the peacocks for?’ Anna asked cautiously. She felt like Alice in Wonderland – she’d fallen into another world where the normal boundaries of reality could not be relied upon.
Rose looked bemused for a moment. ‘Oh, that,’ she said as the cry was heard again. ‘That’s not a peacock. It’s a baby. Born last night. Six pounds, four ounces. A healthy little girl.’
She walked off along the corridor. Anna forced herself to follow, taking steady breaths, struggling for calm. She knew she should be able to control her emotions – she’d been trained to do so. But at the same time, she felt sure that when Miss Elliot was handing out her advice, she wasn’t expecting that one of her secretaries would ever end up in a situation like this.
At least it was only for a few days, Anna reminded herself. Then Eliza would come back and rescue her. She tried to work out exactly what Eliza’s words might have meant. Three days? Four? Surely five at the very most. Anna would just have to find a way to survive. The time would pass, and soon she would be gone.