Always Zulu, the labrador pup, moved like a glossy black shadow beside
her. Early on he had decided that Debra needed his constant care, and
had made her his life's work.
Quickly he learned that it was useless staring at her or wagging his
tail, to attract her attention he must whine or pant. In other respects
she was also slightly feeble-minded, the only way to prevent her doing
stupid things like falling down the front steps or tripping over a
bucket left in the passage by a careless servant was to bump her with
his shoulder, or with his nose.
She had fallen readily into a pattern of work that kept her in her
workroom until noon each day, with Zulu curled at her feet.
David set up a large bird bath under the trees outside her window, so
the tapes she made had as a background the chatter and warble of half a
dozen varieties of wild birds. She had discovered a typist in Nelspruit
who could speak Hebrew, and David took the tapes in to her whenever he
flew to town for supplies and to collect the mail, and he brought each
batch of typing back with him for checking.
They worked together on this task, David reading each batch of writing
or correspondence aloud to her and making the alterations she asked for.
He made it a habit of reading almost everything, from newspapers to
novels, aloud.
Who needs braille with you around, Debra remarked, but it was more than
just the written word she needed to hear from him. It was each facet
and dimension of her new surroundings. She had never seen any of the
myriad of birds that flocked to drink and bathe below her window, though
she soon recognized each individual call and would pick out a stranger
immediately.
David, there's a new one, what it is? What does he look like? And he
must describe not only its plumage, but its mannerisms and its habits.
At other times he must describe to her exactly how the new buildings
fitted into their surroundings, the antics of Zulu the labrador, and
supply accurate descriptions of the servants, the view from the window
of her workroom, and a hundred other aspects of her new life.
In time the building was completed and the strangers left Jabulani, but
it was not until the crates from Israel containing their furniture and
other Possessions from Malik Street arrived that Jabulani started truly
to become their home.
The olive-wood table was placed under the window in the workroom.
I haven't been able to work properly, there was something missing - and
Debra ran her fingers caressingly across the inlaid ivory and ebony top
- until now Her books were in shelves on the wall beside the table, and
the leather suite in the new lounge looked very well with the
animal-skin rugs and woven wool carpets.
David hung the Ella Kadesh painting above the fireplace, Debra
determining the precise position for him by sense of touch.
Are you sure it shouldn't be a sixteenth of an inch higher? David asked
seriously.
Let's have no more lip from you, Morgan, I have to know exactly where it
is. Then the great brass bedstead was set up in the bedroom, and
