Threads of Fire

The Teacher’s Ledger by Lawson Chiwara  Chapter 1 — The Six O'Clock Ghost The sun was still clinging to the horizon when Mr. Moyo drained the last of his "Scud." Around him, the "Council of the Thirsty" at the local bottle store was just warming up. The air was thick with the smell of opaque beer, roasted peanuts, and the loud, boastful laughter of men who didn't want to go home to their wives' "to-do" lists. "Ah, Teacher! You are standing up already?" Tinashe, a man whose shirt had lost three buttons and his dignity twice as many, checked his cracked watch. "It’s only six. The night hasn't even cleared its throat, and you are already running? Does the Nurse have a whistle she blows from the hospital?" A ripple of laughter went around the table. "Maybe she’s out of diapers," another man shouted, leaning back in his plastic chair. "I saw him yesterday, carrying the child on his back like a '...