EXTRACT FOR
Tishala Revealed
(Alice Ebuya)

The land was parched. The seasonal rains had failed again, and that had prompted panic in the village.

Twenty two year old Tishala knew that her burden would grow daily until the heavens opened, she would be responsible for taking the long walk to the closest working well. Two hours there, and longer back as she would be balancing a twenty litre jerry can on her head, being extra careful not to spill a single precious drop. It was a trip that she must make twice daily, and to add to the discomfort she knew that she would have to abide by village laws.

"It is because you are not married," her mother had said, her disappointment clear, "You know unmarried women must remain bare breasted, it is tradition!"

Exposing her 32B breasts to the world wouldn't have worried her that much if she hadn't spent three months in the city, a sponsor had paid for her to take a course in tailoring, and in those few months she had grown accustomed to wearing a blouse or t-shirt. But not finding work at the end of her training she had been forced to return to the village, and when she had appeared the next day wearing a floral pattern cotton blouse she had set tongues wagging. To cover herself was a taboo, and it was only minutes before she was dragged back into the family home, the offending garments confiscated, and sent back out dressed only in a tanned leather skirt and her tribal beads. And the skirt was only a flap of thin hide that covered her pubis, and another that barely covered her typically round and prominent African ass.

People cover up in the city she had thought, her temper beginning to simmer, it wasn't fair that she was being punished simply because she had refused to marry each of the thin old men her father had arranged. She was within her rights to refuse, but it simply wasn't the done thing, just because she could refuse, no-one ever believed that she would. 

And she had noticed the way the village men had begun to look at her, they noticed her nipples. It's difficult not to notice them she added silently, she had nipples that stood proudly erect on a permanent basis. They were almost an embarrassment to her, as thick as her thumb, if not slightly thicker, and mounted on her average to small size breasts their length and thickness always seemed exaggerated. But that attention she could handle, it was the more intimate moments that had begun to occur as soon as darkness fell.

How many times had she found an old man relaxing under the large mango tree in the family compound, he would usually be smoking some foul smelling herbs or drinking beer made from fermented millet. Always he would smell like he'd died the week before and suddenly got resurrected. 

"Tishala, you come here, I wish to speak with you."

That was how they always started. Obediently she would stand at their side, then kneel respectfully, her eyes lowered to the darkened ground.

"A pretty girl like you should be married." they would say as a gnarled old hand would grasp one of her breasts and squeeze. "I must discuss bride price with your father."

Always she would grit her teeth as the unwelcome massage continued. She had no right to refuse him, he would touch and caress, he would grope and probe, his dirty fingers with cracked and filth encrusted nails would slip between her lips to explore the tight passage that he knew he couldn't plunder until bride price had been settled and paid, and always her nipples attracted attention.

"Good for feeding the many babies I will give you." they would always say as each nipple was pinched and twisted and pulled.

Tishala would shudder and bite her lip, the only action that she knew could stem the evil words that wanted to pour out from inside her.

Maybe dad is right about me she would wonder, he always maintained that her time in the city had put ideas in her head, suddenly she was better than every other girl in the village.

What makes me so special? It was something he asked frequently when she refused the formal advances of her nocturnal suitors. 

I just think that there is more to life than this, I think my path leads away from the village!

She just didn't know where it would lead... or who would be leading her.