Birds on a Wire

It was the day after Christmas when we heard the evening news. Three buses had been attacked on the main road from Harare to Bulawayo. According to the report the buses had been stopped by the police for a person-to-person search, which was a common occurrence in the post war Zimbabwe. This time all the occupants were asked to leave the bus and then shot. The statement given suggested the police signs used were false, and no one currently was claiming responsibility.

The news made me want to vomit as we were to travel back, by car, on the very same road the following day. Our car was a vintage 6-vault VW Beetle, and we were two women travelling alone to the Beit Bridge boarder post.

My father, deep into his fourth gin and tonic for the evening, said I wasn’t to worry. ‘It’s not your time’ he added with a watery eyed smile. I tried to keep the panic I felt away from Lynn, my new partner, she had experienced enough mistreatment from my family over the festive period and she was keen to leave.

The next morning we set off early, there were hardly any cars on the road in the post-Christmas holiday period. Lynn was driving and I knew the killing had taken place about 50miles outside of Kwekwe. I was looking for any signs of trouble ahead, I hadn’t slept the night before and, in many ways, it was a relief to be in the car and not just imagining it.

That was when I saw them, birds on the wires. Thousands of them, just sitting in rows on the wires that ran alongside the main road. There were more birds than I had ever seen in my life before, and all different kinds, just sitting on the wires. Then, to the side of the road, we saw the burnt-out buses and the scattered cases and small piles of belongings.

“What are the birds here for?” I asked aloud.

Lynn, who was ten years older than me, an artist and spiritual teacher, replied, “They are here to carry the souls of the dead to the next life”.

Her thoughtful response offered me a different vision for this tragedy, and although it is now over 40 years ago, I have never forgotten how her wisdom gave me some comfort while witnessing that catastrophe in the country of my birth.

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