A Short Story
The last Black Man (Part 1)
By Hassan Ali Ganda
There was no escape but by the way he had come. He pressed himself hard against the rough rock and peered over the edge. The granite scraped and cut into his body but he did not notice nor did he feel his blood as it mingled with his sweat. He thought that he could hear a sound. He cocked his ear.
It was distant and he could barely make it out but he listened. It was the soft chopping rhythm of their helicopter. As it approached, it broadcast a message: "Number LT 207: You have been seen! Surrender yourself! You have been seen! Surrender..." As it got louder it repeated itself.
He slipped back into the shadows. Again, his breath came heavily and he could hear his heart beating within him. He would not be retrieved. He would not let them, upon that he was resolved. He detected a silence and he strained his ear after it. The helicopter seemed to have gone. He went down on his stomach and crawled towards the entrance. The dust had settled and their vehicles were now clearly visible.
On the rock below, men, like so many ants, were clambering up towards him but there was no helicopter. He slid back inside. His throat felt dry and he felt cold. He saw his blood on the wall and he touched it and touched his torn body. It occurred to him that his body, its muscles and its strength had already served their purpose. He would never wrestle again and that pained him.
Suddenly the helicopter was back. This time it hovered directly over him. The vibration was intense. The dobermans too were within earshot and their high pitched barks filled the air. The noise was too much for him. He closed his eyes but it did not help. He put his hands to his ears but it did not stop. He could not bear it. They were closing in on him. He had to break out. He threw his hands away from his ears and with a cry raced out.
He laughed as he hit the air. It felt warm and he felt peaceful. Slowly and quietly he turned cartwheels as the sky free from the grip of his pursuers. For an instant he thought that he glimpsed Aisatu. She was beautiful and very big. So big that she covered the sun.
She held out her strong hand to him. He was stretching and reaching for it when the granite hundreds of feet below the escarpment broke his bones and twisted his body. He was the last blackman.
THE PLAN
The plan had been simple. They would break out at dusk and head for the zones of death. The group would be made up of ten, five men and five women. They would be the best at the centre. Those in the best physical condition and with the toughest mental attitude. They would be the seeds of the new generation. That had been the plan.When Hassan Ali had been retrieved he had been put under code one surveillance so even though he had thought of the plan, it was left to females had spoken. Amadon to put it into effect. They liked him and trusted him. A man of almost seven feet and of immense power, Amadou had been the greatest wrestler in Cassamance and now they made this gentle giant wrestle with their machines.
It was Amadou who had revealed that Brazil had been completely cleared. If they went there they would be easily recognised and retrieved. They had to make for the heartlands into the zones of death. It was rumoured that in those zones there were still some blacks.
They called themselves the Trogs and they had gone to ground, living a troglodytic life in the belly of the earth. Hassan Ali had decided that these maroons must be their target. They had to be reached.
The first recruit had been Aisatu. Six feet tall and lithe as the black leopard they used her body but she kept her spirit and for that Amadou loved her. He would be awake, her image dang- ling and dancing before him and wish- ing only for the gentlest touch. Yet it could not be. The third universal law prohibited it. But in his heart Amadou knew that he could not and would not leave without her. She would be the beginning of his new life. Never once had she shown that she knew of his need. Never once did her eyes lock into his to give him the sign that she cared but he knew that when he broke out she would be by his side.
THE PARTY
When the Trogs had been defeated it had spread despondency. A few of them had been paraded. They had frightful wounds and they looked a terrible sight. Some of the troops had let on that these cavemen were indeed men. They had fought in their tunnels and in their holes and in the desert virtually to the last. It had been a good battle. The Commander had organised this party to celebrate.At the party, they had been drunk. For entertainment they had brought the inefficient females. They had also called Amadou and made him wrestle with the new dragon machine. He had broken it and his victory had jolted them out of their drunkenness. The commander had risen, half clad from his couch and brushing aside the
"Number LT 207. You have shown your brute strength. . . on the scale of universal achievement it is no achieve- ment." He paused and surveyed the room, "...But for you it is an achieve- ment which deserves reward." He paused yet again and then continued, "You have destroyed the dragon machine! Now you shall destroy this female. He had pointed directly at Aisatu. "You shall destroy her will. You shall destroy her here and now!"
The Commander's order was a direct contradiction of the third universal law: "No inefficient male and female shall touch, speak with, each other". There was shock and only his manic laughter hung in the air. Gradually his men had followed him as they saw the brilliance of his proposal. They too broke out in drunken laughter. Who better to break an inefficient than another inefficient. This female was too proud for her own good. She had yielded to no one. She had to be broken. They cheered on Amadou.
They had stood confronting each other. They had grown used to nakedness. That was one of the rules. Inefficient males and females were to be naked at all times. But Amadou could still not bring himself to look at Aisatu. He knew that it should not be like this and in such a place. He did not know what to do. He was saved, for the Commander rose again. He demanded silence and pointing to Amadou and Aisatu spoke:
"These are magnificent examples of a dead species. They are as magnificent as the dinosaur was magnificent and like the dinosaur they must disappear ... They must disappear because…”
...They are inefficient," retorted his men.
"The first universal law states that..." demanded the Commander.
"The inefficient must make room for the efficient. Disorder must make room for order. Barbarity must make room for civilization. The Black, The Brown and The White must make room for The Yellow." The men recited their code, their fists pressed to their hearts. "For The Yellow!" shouted the Commander, eyes glistening.
"Yellow for ever!" replied the men. They were delirious with joy. They stamped their feet and jumped up and down and fell once again upon the drink and the naked women. They seemed to have forgotten about Aisatu and Amadou. After a while their glee subsided and it was then that they had remembered the man and the woman also stood silently and still in their midst. They wanted their sport and they demanded of them that it should commence.
They had begun. At first hesitantly and slowly, and then more quickly. Now straining and then in harmony their bodies entangled and locked and writhing they gave each other strength and took it away again. Her eyes were luminous like the moon in the olden days when it would hang perfectly round in the skies above the desert. They gave nothing away till Amadou driven by his love for her and his hatred from them broke her and forced her to yield. Her spirit was the gentlest and at the last she yielded it willingly.
They had not understood. They had risen as one to cheer. She had been destroyed. Their day was indeed complete. They had not heard the whispers that had passed between the lovers.
