Locust Betrothal

May 29, 2008 - 16:34 PM PST

She is especially aware of her circumcision today, and the empty feeling between her thighs, because today she is a mwali: bride. Her husband will be Khalfani, a village boy, who often gifted her with many locusts always repeating the names of each. Now, she thought of names: Mosi, Zuberi, Akilah, Tumaini; the countless locusts of naïve seasons. Her name is Sabra: patient; and on the doorstep of her fiancé’s family hut, she will lose it forever.
Sabra is weighted in layers of bright cotton; the blues of the god’s great eye over the migration of wildebeest and the thievery of hyenas; the reds of cattle blood drunk warm around the vast bonfire during celebrations. Sweat streaks down her striding thighs, gathering in the cotton layers and the skin rubs together as a reminder of years of patience and chastity. She enjoys the heat of the sun on her virgin brow and the salt of sweat on her lips.
The rays of the Kenyan sun beat on the proud forehead of her father as he parades Sabra. She remembers her father years ago, the same beaming face on the day she became a woman. He announced her betrothal to Khalfani on that day, baring his proud teeth like knives over ripe fruit. Sabra’s womanhood was claimed that day; her fruit was severed and sewn to protect the seeds within.
Today she will claim her womanhood again.

****

Kalfani watches her approach along the rusty dust path to the hut, with the tall figure of her father at her side and an entourage from the village. Her chin is angled submissively, but as she is paraded up the path he notices fortitude rear below her kohl lashes. She is direct with her stare and he feels her eyes forcing him back into the hut, into privacy. He senses the sweat gather between his own thighs, spurring an urgency between them. The wetness reminds him of his patience, and of his promises.
As his father embraces Sabra and ceremoniously offers gifts of sheep and strong cattle, Kalfani thinks of his locusts, his gifts to his mwali. He had chosen all the names carefully: Mosi: first born, Zuberi: strong, then Akilah: wise or Tumaini: hope. There were many names to chose from, and she had accepted them all. They had built their own dowry, their own promises with every season of locusts.
Today he will make her a woman, his woman and, with the marriage, gift her with a new name, Kinaya: Complete.