The moon was shining; it was nearly as bright as the sun and lighting up the world. It was midnight and all that could be heard were the hoots of owls and the cries of far off animals. Many were snoring in their beds, but Chipo was standing under a tree in her garden. She was completely naked, her sinewy legs and flat stomach awash in the moon’s light. She had the body of someone who had done a lot of physical labour as she had grown up. The pubic hairs between her thighs were as black as a moonless night, her hips protruding at the side. A hoe was by her side but she had no intention of touching it. Chipo looked to the moon, staring at it for a minute and then she said a quick prayer to the gods. “Tonderai,” she then whispered after her short prayer. She spoke his name with the softness of one speaking to her lover. Chipo closed her eyes, inhaling the cool midnight air. When she opened her eyes, Tonderai was kneeling right in front of her naked body with his head bowed. He too was naked; Chipo shivered a bit thinking of the power she possessed. She held Tonderai’s head and slowly guided it to her crotch. She rubbed his forehead against her crotch. “Tonderai, my dear, how does it feel to be under my control? You are mine now, my slave and my minion. You must have felt special looking down on me, your heart swelling with pride while you saw me suffer from the struggle and loneliness. I always see you as an eager, young and strong man. Your mother tells you to jump and you take off as if you were a rocket. Today I’m your mother, I tell you to jump and you do it without hesitation. Now I want you to weed this entire garden before sunrise. I will be watching you from under my makeshift bed over there.”
Chipo then let go of him and handed him the hoe, Tonderai stood up and received it. Tonderai’s eyes were pitch black and they looked like the eyes of a beast. He obeyed her orders and began weeding the garden. Chipo slept on the blankets she had brought and watched her slave toil. Tonderai was slaving away as if he had never felt any tiredness in his life and he gave his whole being into the task he had been given. He would weed a patch of the garden, shake the soil free from the roots and throw the remains of the weed onto a pile. Chipo was really impressed as she watched his sinewy and muscular body glisten with sweat in the moonlight. “Wake me up just before dawn,” she commanded as she prepared to sleep. Just before the cocks started crowing, Chipo felt rough hands on her shoulder which woke her up. “Go home boy. I am your master and that will not change soon,” she told him with disdain in her voice. She closed her eyes in prayer to the gods and once she opened them, Tonderai had vanished into thin air. Chipo then quickly made her way home. She really needed to learn how to do the teleporting trick from her grandmother.
Mai Tonderai was sweeping the yard just after sunrise. It was Saturday morning so she didn’t expect her son to be awake so early. So she continued with her sweeping, humming her church hymns sweetly. The sun had just risen and activity in the village was stirring. Smoke rose from all the different yards. The cattle lowed as the herders got ready for a day of watching over the beasts, making sure they did eat the crops growing in other families’ fields. Mai Tonderai got busy in her own territory, cleaning what had to be cleaned and preparing what had to be prepared. She wondered why it was taking Tonderai so long to wake up. It was almost eight o’clock and she did not hear any movement from his room. She knocked on his door and called out his name. She heard movement and her son unlocking the door. He stepped out but he looked exhausted, his eyes were blood shot and looked as if he had only slept for a few hours. “Your eyes are so red! Did you stay up late last night? I am sure I never saw candle light coming from your room.” Tonderai’s mother quizzed him. Tonderai himself felt it too; the first thing he felt was a skull-splitting headache. He was so tired and his arms, upper body and legs felt so painful. He did not understand how this was so, he had not done any hard labour the whole week. “I slept the whole night but I feel as if I’ve been up the whole night. I feel as though I walked to the capital city and back. My whole body is aching,” he told his mother.
Tonderai had dreamt about the woman next door again, although this time it was an even stranger dream. She seemed to be controlling him and that was impossible, he had been in his room the whole night. He had heard the funny stories about her family but had never taken it seriously. He knew his mother believed these things, she even feared them, but he thought it was just a myth. He would not tell his mother about the dream as she would just panic and start fussing over him. At the moment all he needed was rest. “I feel so tired Mama. I need a bit more sleep, please wake me up in two hours.” Tonderai’s mother nodded her head and let her son return to sleep.