These are some moments for which we have no evidence of their occurrence. Sometimes, “you want a picture so bad but know you just have to experience it.” We were fortunate to live two of these that Friday.
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It's midnight and we're nearing Mulungushi Dam. It's my fifth trip on this rocky road, and the first attempt in the total dark. Not another soul ahead or behind us, we thought.
We pass a phone tower, and beyond that see a fire burning in a trash can. A soldier emerges from the dark and stops our car.
"Good evening, Sahs"
"Good evening, we're going to the boat house."
"OK, just move very slow. Very slow." He takes a long, eery look and let's us pass.
We continue down, and soon we see the bodies --- hundreds of them -- crouched down in the tall grass beside the path, guns pointed at the sky. The young militamen stare at us as we pass, but the only sound we hear is the clicks of re-loading rifles.
We're plopped into a scene from a war film, and yet we know, maybe too resolutely, that we're far from danger, and we're just going camping.
Spooked but comforted, we go on to the lake.
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The lake has risen 20 feet since we were last there in January. The lanscape is magically changed, but still familiar and reminds us of good times.
Exhausted, bleary-eyed, we step out of the car and peer up at the Milky Way. It wraps the night sky, hanging just above the trees. Then, for just a moment, a meteor with blue and green flames shoots out towards the horizon, as if to welcome our return.
"Let's get the Mosi."
WS