Chasing Tail

Chasing Tail Chapter 1

There is a trifle of Little hair balls, a manic nattering of tiny growlers, these beautiful miniature packages of insubordination. Tumbling, fumbling prowling all over each other. A mass of them, a flurry of them, a Savannah gold carpet of them.

"Shumba, shumba, shumba, shumba, shumba, shumba, shumba, shumba"
"Shut up Last!" I hiss

He does, immediately, but I can see out the corner of my eye he mouths it to himself twice more. One shumba for each of the lion cubs we can see, an even 10 cubs. I'm in awe of this accumulation of tiny jungle kings. Last is even more so, his heavily hooded eyes huge.
"eeeee medem!" he exclaims
"I know Last, 10 right?" I ask because he has bush eyes, he sees everything I don't.
"Yes Medem, 10!" He points one knolled charcoal coloured finger at the cubs and starts pointing at each individual again announcing quietly as he counts " Shumba, Shumba, Shumba..."
"Ok Last, thanks!"
I had to cut him short, no need to announce all 10 shumbas again, Shumba is the shona word for lion and shona is my companions native and favorite language.

Last came into my life, like most people do, by accident. No one quite so much by accident as Last. A couple years ago I had hit him with my truck, it happened while juttering down an old dirt road at an incredibly reasonable speed, no matter what he says! When he, atop an already dilapidated rust crusted bicycle, found himself in front of my bonnet, and shortly after, on top of it. Some people will walk invited through the front door of your life, others will crash unceremoniously through the windscreen of it. You have to take what you can get and I was happy to get Last in my life.

I had known him 6 months before working up enough curiosity to ask why someone would be called Last. As it turns out it's quite simple, you call your last born Last as a stamp on him that he will forever be the last born, it is the hope for the future. Months after that I met Lasts younger brother Acceptance and his even younger sister Tolerance. I guess you will accept one more child after your last but only tolerate a second.

We're lying flat on top of a termite mound where we have a clear view of this congregation of little lions, they're all moving restlessly under a huge acacia tree, its flat top giving them a wide berth of shade. The sound had caught us before we saw anything, some quite angry little growls are being emitted while they play at being ferocious beasts, Last had instantly known what it was, or at least what species. I almost doubted him but had taken his instruction to belly crawl to our current position only once we were here could I see the squabbling mass.

"See the mothers?" I whisper, Binoculars scanning the brush behind them
"In there." Last warns pointing behind the cubs

I can't see a thing but hell! I believe him they wouldn't be far from their brood, I'm guessing about 4 mums to the 10 little ones. 14 lions at least, or do the cubs only count as half lions? In that case 9 lions at least. where did they come from? We're not supposed to have lions here. We're hundreds of kilometers from our nearest national park, did they travel with their cubs or did they take up residence before popping them out? These little buggers can't be more than 2 months old. 2 months oh hell! Surely someone would have noticed lions in the last 2 months?

"Sheeeeet" Last lets it out slow and quite
"Yeah." I say, shit is right.

We have neighbors, about 800 neighbors, I guess you'd call the neighbors the Local Community. Subsistence farmers living off the land, they have a basic lifestyle and very few possessions their homes are thatched roundavles, the better ones brick and mortar, and at the lower end of the scale there are those living in clay mud and mopani tree huts. What they do have, however, is cattle. Between them is over 400 head, and these are their most prized assets.

The cow is central to Shona spiritual beliefs and are rarely slaughtered outside a religious function, every part of cattle's existence in these local communities is important,As odd as it may sound, there is even uses for the cow's urine, firstly to sterilize the inside of the gourd that would carry the milk, secondly to sterilize the hands that would do the milking and lastly there is a recipe that includes a cow's urine in the milk. I'm told this isn't always included, so whenever I've visited the local homesteads and indulged in their milk offerings I've done my best not to know whether the cows urine was included or not and simply enjoyed the creaminess of truly fresh milk. Bliss is not knowing what of your food includes piss. The great cattle herds across Africa are the pillars of many of our ancients cultures in particular here in Zimbabwe the MaShona breed of cattle reigns king across the nation. So much so that in court you could get two years for 'stealing' a elephant against nine years for a cow. I'm not sure exactly who or how anyone is stealing live elephant but despite the logistical issues involved it is a lesser risk than taking on a cattle heist.

What I'm trying to say is these 400 head of cattle are important to our neighbors, and they walk their lumbering herds through our land, thats part of the deal. Last and I, I know his mind has gone where mine has, we're thinking about the neighbors, and we're thinking about their cattle. If they find out we have lions it could be trouble. Trouble for the lions, trouble for us, trouble for the farm. Trouble, trouble, trouble.

As un-menacing as the little tykes in front of me look they're already meat eaters, and their mothers hiding in the tall grass still invisible to my eyes are killers. Maybe they're not guilty yet, not of cattle killing/stealing anyway, but definitely killers of something, and almost certainly future killers of cattle.