One Face in a Million Book 1: Mu Shangaaniana. William Bond

to be with her daughter and make various preparations for Christmas! Clearly, her mother was an amazing woman!

      At school, Christine recalled looking at various magazines. Some had been fashion magazines and others had contained pictures and stories about various celebrities. Some of them were movie actors and actresses who lived in a place called California. Many movies were made in Hollywood, California, and the photos she had seen revealed that movie celebrities were usually good-looking people who dressed nicely and often had expensive cars and luxurious homes that even had private swimming pools! Christine knew that she would like to have nice things, but she didn’t have a clue as to how one became an actress. There was something that was very alluring about the various things that she had seen in those magazines, and it was tantalizing to consider what it would be like to be rich and famous.

      She knew, however, that she would not be discussing those things with her mother. Instinctively, she knew her mother would not be pleased to discover that her daughter had even entertained thoughts about becoming an actress! She suspected that acting was one career that could never be considered. Christine could only hope that, when it came to selecting a college, or a career, she would make a good choice. So much seemed to depend upon it.

      Christine had noticed that the pesky flies were biting, and that seemed to be an indication that the weather was going to be changing. As she glanced toward the east, she saw that the sky was becoming both dark and menacing. Shadows from the nearby palms and the cashew trees had lengthened across the parched ground as the sun, now almost red in color, descended slowly toward the western horizon.

      The atmosphere near the Shangaan huts had become rather hazy because of the smoke that rose from the fires where women were now busy preparing their evening meals. A barking dog in the distance drew Christine’s attention to the health-care center where she saw that her mother had begun making her way up the hill toward home. She set her fan on the swing, left the veranda, and headed out to meet her mother.

      When they had come closer together, her mother greeted her in the traditional Shangaan fashion.

      “Xe weni!” she called out, raising both hands high in a joyful manner. “Xe weni!” Christine replied, greeting her mother in the same way.

      When they had come together, Christine smiled and asked if her mother had any news. “Well, Marietta finally had her baby this afternoon, and she had a safe delivery. She had a little boy who seems to be strong and healthy. She is naming him Josiah. Ms. Ferguson said she would spend the night there with them in case Marietta or the baby should need her. By tomorrow, however, I expect they will be going home.”

      “I’m sure hungry. Are you?” asked Christine.

      Mother acknowledged that she was, but as they were heading toward their home, they had noticed the threatening sky in the distance. Although neither of them had yet said anything, they were both a bit concerned about the weather that appeared to be headed their way.

      At last Christine said, “It looks like we’re in for a storm of some kind.” “I see,” agreed her mother.

      Although the dark sky looked rather ominous, it might only be a thunderstorm. And yet, over the years, they had experienced some storms in the area that had been quite destructive. Mother remarked that, in America, they had occasionally had storms which are called tornadoes.

      “Some had even occurred in parts of Michigan. None had ever been in the area where we lived, but I have seen photos in some newspapers that had shown the kind of destruction that they can cause.”

      She had also seen photographs in newspapers that had shown the destruction that can be caused by hurricanes. She had not personally seen any areas in the United States that had been ravaged by a hurricane, but she knew that they often had gale-force winds, torrential downpours, and the duration of such storms could last for hours—if not days.

      “Back in 1900, when I was about twenty, there was a terrible hurricane that virtually destroyed a coastal city in Texas called Galveston, located on Galveston Island. It was estimated that winds approaching 145 miles per hour hit the city, and although the low-lying island had some breakwaters, the surge of wind-driven waves from the Gulf of Mexico basically swept over the island and virtually destroyed the entire city. I don’t know the exact number of casualties that there were, but I think it was around 6,000. It was a great disaster, but since then, there have been many other hurricanes in the United States.

      “In the Pacific region, similar storms are called typhoons, and they have caused much destruction and a great loss of life in coastal areas of China, Japan, the Philippines, and other places. Sometimes, huge waves created by underwater earthquakes have caused tsunamis, and they, too, can bring about great destruction and a tremendous loss of life. Fortunately, tsunamis, typhoons, and hurricanes rarely occur in this part of the world, but as you know, we can get heavy thunderstorms, high winds, and widespread destruction.”

      “I know,” Christine replied. “About a year ago, you wrote that a very bad storm occurred in this area. You mentioned that lots of trees were knocked down, and many buildings and numerous native homes around Manjacaze were destroyed. I have seen that some buildings have not yet been repaired.”

      “That’s true,” said her mother. “Repairing buildings can be a real problem because the needed materials may not be readily available, and some construction requires a degree of skilled labor. Repairing any damage can be both time-consuming and expensive, and as you know, most people around here have barely enough money to care for themselves in the best of times—and it is a real hardship to recover from bad storms or natural disasters.”

      Christine again glanced at the threatening dark sky in the distance. For the moment, there was no hint of wind or the onset of any rain, but it seemed more than likely that a storm was coming. In fact, the sky seemed to promise that a change in the weather was imminent.

      As they continued up the hill toward their home, Christine acknowledged that the chicken which Joao was preparing for dinner had smelled wonderful. She instinctively knew that the meal would be delicious, and even though Christine didn’t care for fried bananas, she intended to eat some—if they were served. No doubt they would also have something good for dessert. Whether it was homemade cookies, fruitcake, or pie, Christine was certain that whatever they had for dessert would be great!

      Chapter 2

      The evening meal was as delicious as Christine had expected it to be, and even the fried bananas weren’t so bad. Mother had always said that if one was hungry enough, almost anything would taste good. During the meal, they had talked about the activities of the day, and although Mother had kept busy and had even helped to deliver a baby who was being named Josiah, Christine acknowledged that her day had been pretty uneventful except for the fact that Joao had killed a snake that afternoon near the poultry pen. This disclosure caused Mother to recall that Ms. Ferguson had awakened, one recent morning, to find a snake curled up on her kitchen floor! She had managed to get the creature out of her kitchen without much trouble, but the incident had served as a reminder that snakes did inhabit that area, and they were apt to be found almost anywhere. Mother used the incident to remind Christine that she should always look on the floor before stepping out of bed, and extra caution is needed to be exercised whenever a trip was made to the outhouse. Christine knew, of course, that while one watched the ground for cobras and mambas, one also needed to exercise caution when walking under trees because the deadly boomslang vipers attacked their unsuspecting victims by dropping on them from the lower branches of trees. This discussion concluded with the acknowledgment that they both hated snakes and always needed to be on the watch for them.

      Christine also mentioned that she had spent some of the afternoon looking through two photo albums, and for a time, they reminisced over some trips they had taken together.

      Christine had not decided if she would mention anything about Jim Pearson to her mother, but she did ask if she could take a couple of pictures with her when she returned to school, and she was happy that her mother voiced no objections.

      When they had completed the main course of their dinner, Joao came in and cleared away some of the dishes. A few