Chipande, “A Soldier’s Embrace”
Chipande has been exiled from South Africa for some time, but is now accompanying the future President in expectation of his assignment as the leader’s confidential secretary. As white people are fleeing the nation in droves, Chipande serves to take on iconic status as their greatest fears come to life: he hails from “the slummiest part of the quarter” and is not just an intelligent black man, but carries an air of casual cockiness about this seeming disconnect.
Dr. Franz-Josef Von Leinsdorf and the Cashier
That the male character in “Town and Country Lovers” not only has a name, but such a name in comparison to the cashier being referred to only by her lowly employment status says much about their relationship Leinsdorf is a geologist from Austria who has spent the past seven years working in South Africa. The cashier is a young mixed-race woman working the cash register at the grocery store just across from his home. Such is the fate of their meeting that evolves from strictly a working relationship to a kind of teacher/student thing verging on something more passionate. Before that can happen, however, they are arrested for committing the crime of being together.
Anita Gonzalez, “The Need for Something Sweet”
The first-person narrator of this tale is looking back from the perspective of time that has witnessed him become successful in business, but stuck in a dead-end marriage. He is recalling a time he spent working in the Civil Service when he actually tried to cure an alcoholic. Her name was Anita Gonzalez and after a single meeting connected with his job he completely by mere chance comes across her again three days later in a department store and before you know it they are having sex. But all these years later it is not really the sex that sticks, but the philosophy she casually espoused that didn’t stick at the time: “You don’t realize it will all happen to you.”
The Photographer, “A Hunting Accident”
Ratau is the leader of the safari expedition, a manly sort who knows his way around a rifle and is content enough in his established position to not have to show himself all the more authoritatively for it. When everyone knows you are the alpha male, you don’t need to hold rallies to try proving it. And so his lack of full regard for the manly qualities of the photographer Christie has brought along is not terribly great. Even Christine much reluctantly admit that it was she specifically who brought along the “smallest and slightest” person there; a man far too sensible and lacking in style to ever stare down danger gallantly in the eye. Or so it seems, anyway. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this story is written by a woman who actually called Africa home and not Ernest Hemingway who did not.
The Termite Queen, “The Termitary”
This story is another first-person recollection of a more innocent time by a narrator who has aged into experience. It is a memory of the time three exterminators—two black men and one white—managed to add some excitement to the dreary daily grind of small town life for a young girl. They are there because of termite problems, but they have not brought poison. Instead, their mission is to stop the infestation at its root. Kill the queen the colony will die. The queen is the star of the show here even though her appearance is limited mostly to describing her appearance in the most purposely unpleasant imagery possible. She is a metaphor, clearly, but exactly for what may be up to each reader to decide.
