Sounds of the African Night
One night I woke to hear Leigh snoring, but when I prodded him he said he was already awake and denied the accusation. We lay awake listening to the sound - it was coming from very close by, right outside the front window.
Still smarting from the snoring accusation Leigh got up to have a look and was soon motioning me out of bed. I climbed out of bed and walked over to the shade netted window. In the moonlight I could see the huge bulk of an elephant lying across the large termite mound in front of our house - and it was snoring.
'It's an elephant and it's snoring, how cute' I muttered softly.
The look I got from my husband made me wonder what I had said wrong.
'What's the matter?' I asked later when we were back in bed.
'Never mind. It's nothing'.
After some time of lying in silence I heard him say 'So I irritate you when I snore but when an elephant wakes you up with its snoring it is cute?' Leigh asked, but I could hear the smile in his voice.
It is still one of his favourite stories when we relive the Mombo days with people today.
by Sharon Kemp