The door closed behind him.
Ana thought that the difference between Captain Svartman and Crewman Halvorsen had been ironed out the moment they entered the establishment where women were for sale. But she couldn’t get over the fact that Halvorsen had thought she was a whore. At that moment something ended irrevocably.
61
After Halvorsen’s unexpected visit, Ana began noting things down in her diary more often. What had previously been an occasional activity now became more and more important for her. She wrote down in minute detail absolutely everything about Halvorsen’s visit, and his churlish behaviour.
The day after his visit she went with O’Neill down to the harbour. There were two English ships and one Portuguese berthed at the quay. She had no way of knowing which of the ships Halvorsen was a crew member of. Nor could she work out afterwards why she had made that visit to the quay. Perhaps it was nothing more than curiosity that she had no control over?
During the night a swarm of grasshoppers had descended on Lourenço Marques. Nobody knew where they had come from, nor why they had chosen Lourenço Marques to fall down and die in. There were dead or dying grasshoppers lying all over the place — in the streets, on steps and on roofs. When she walked from the brothel to the harbour, she had the impression that this was what a battlefield looked like: every grasshopper was a wounded or dead soldier.
The only one who seemed to appreciate all these grasshoppers was Carlos, who sat on the roof of Ana’s house feasting on the insects.
That afternoon, when she made her usual visit to Isabel in the fort, she was confronted by an officer she had never seen before. That day she had chosen to take O’Neill with her rather than Judas. Commanding Officer Lima had succumbed to some illness that was probably malaria, and had been taken to hospital. His military adviser had taken over Lima’s place. He introduced himself as Lemuel Gulliver Sullivan. Despite his English name, he spoke fluent Portuguese. He was a young man, and could barely have celebrated his thirtieth birthday. Ana hoped that his youth would contribute to more tolerance and consideration for Isabel than Lima had displayed.
But the moment he started speaking, she realized that what she had hoped for would not, in fact, take place.
‘As long as I am in charge here, stricter rules will be applied,’ he began. ‘Those who are imprisoned in this fort are criminals. Their punishment must be felt. At this very moment I am discussing with my fellow officers about the possibility of reintroducing whipping. Giving miscreants a good walloping has always produced good results.’
Ana thought at first that she had misheard what he said. Was Isabel’s life in her wretched cell going to become even worse than it was already? She said as much, without attempting to conceal her concern.
‘Her crime must be treated extremely strictly,’ said the new commanding officer. ‘The only thing that matters in this case is that she killed a white man. If we don’t clamp down strictly on that, it could be interpreted as a sign that the respect we demand is not total and unconditional.’
Ana could see that it was pointless to try to argue with Sullivan.
‘Are there other regulations that will come into force from now on?’ she asked instead.
‘We shall not permit more than an extremely limited number of visitors.’
‘Who, to be precise?’
‘You, of course. And that priest who keeps turning up and trying to accumulate lost souls. Plus a doctor, should that become necessary. But nobody else.’
‘What about if she should acquire a legal adviser?’
Sullivan burst out laughing and advertised the fact that he was short of quite a large number of teeth, despite his age.
‘Who on earth would want to advise her? And about what?’
Ana asked no more questions. She went down the stairs into the darkness where Isabel was sitting motionless on her bunk bed, looking as if she hadn’t moved since Ana’s visit the previous day. But the basket was empty: Isabel was still alive. She was eating.
‘Somebody will come to visit you,’ said Ana. ‘I think and hope he’s a clever man who might be able to help me to have you set free. He’ll pretend to be a doctor when he enters the fort. As he speaks the same language as you, nobody will be able to understand what the pair of you are saying, not even me.’
Isabel didn’t respond, but Ana had the impression that she was listening.
‘The next time I come I’ll bring you some clean clothes,’ she said. ‘By then it will be three months since you were locked up here. I’ll ask once again for them to give you sufficient water for you to get washed.’
Ana only stayed for a few minutes. The important thing now was not her visits, but whether or not Pandre would be able to change her situation.
On the way back she made a detour via the harbour. When O’Neill wondered why, she snapped at him. She didn’t like him asking questions all the time. She had begun to discover sides of O’Neill she didn’t like. She was annoyed by the way he eavesdropped on her, and, moreover, she had heard that he’d been seen in the company of the owner of another of the town’s brothels. Perhaps she had made a mistake in employing him?
‘What does she do all day?’ he asked. ‘Does she regret her sins? Does she hammer on the cell walls as if they were tom-tom drums? Does she turn up the whites of her eyes?’
Ana stopped dead.
‘One more word from you and you can go away and never come back.’
‘But I’m only asking a few questions.’
‘Not a word. Not a single word. From now on part of your duties is to remain silent.’
O’Neill shrugged, but Ana could see that he had understood the risk he was running.
When they came to the harbour Ana noticed that one of the English ships had left. She suspected that must be the ship that Halvorsen had signed on to as a carpenter.
She had also noted that O’Neill was staring hard at her. When she left the harbour she told him to stay where he was until she had disappeared round the first corner.
A few days later Pandre sent a telegram to say that he was on his way. Ana met him at the newly built railway station. Although Pandre had said in his telegram that he only intended to stay for two days, he had a large number of suitcases, bags and hat boxes with him. Four porters and two trolleys were needed to transport the luggage to the car that she had once again borrowed from Andrade. A horse-drawn carriage was filled with all the luggage for which there was no room in the boot of the car.
They drove to the hotel where, in accordance with the instructions in Pandre’s telegram, Ana had rented the largest suite they had. Ana had been a little worried when she went to the hoteclass="underline" would they accept Pandre, who was coloured, as a guest? But the hotel manager had assured her that a lawyer of Indian origin would be most welcome. Ana was committed to paying all expenses for Pandre’s visit, and handed over a sum of money to pay for his stay. She began to wonder if Pandre was intentionally doing all he could to squeeze out of her as much money as possible; or was this the way he always lived whenever he left Johannesburg on business?
After Pandre had taken a bath, changed into a newly ironed white linen suit and then spent some time admiring the view, they sat down to eat in the empty dining room.
Dark clouds were gathering over the inland mountains, presaging a storm that would arrive in Lourenço Marques by the evening. Ana told Pandre about her conversation with the new prison governor, and explained that Pandre would only be allowed in if he played the role of a doctor.
‘I don’t have a white coat with me in my luggage, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘Being a lawyer doesn’t normally mean that one needs to adopt a disguise.’