7 The field opposite the cabin that morning was of the most vivid-green ryegrass as it extended all the way out of sight to the end of the property a pine forest was visible in the distance, the sky was a heavenly, cloudless blue Dominique was proud to show off the view to Amma who knew her London flat so well, with windows that backed on to a pub's blackened walls and belching water pipes surely Amma would be convinced she'd made the right move in at least one respect – this is paradise, right? Amma mumbled something about the right place with the wrong person and complained about the godawful cup of dandelion 'coffee' she'd been forced to drink as the real thing wasn't allowed, and she now had a banging caffeine withdrawal headache barely numbed by the painkillers Nzinga had caught her popping out of their plastic casing at breakfast, who then proceeded to tell Amma off for bringing drugs into her home the only words she's spoken to me so far, Dom they sat there for a moment, soaking it up, Dominique wondering when Amma was going to kick off
she didn't disappoint, launched into one about her friend being under the Evil Cindy's spell and did she know that cult gurus controlled their followers by cutting them off from their family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, anyone who might intervene and say, hey, what's happening here? I'm going to organize a rescue attempt, Dom, a group of mates from London who'll descend like an SAS squad and rescue you from Batshit Crazy Cindy she laughed, Dominique didn't I'm in the middle of something, Ams, I'm trying out a new way of living, a new way of being, Nzinga is showing me how to live a truly womanist life, male energy is disruptive, Amma, the patriarchy is divisive, violent and authoritarian, misogyny is so unthinkingly entrenched I can see why women give up on them for ever, it's so special here, so liberating to be removed from having to deal with male oppression every day I've always known you to like men, Dom, we even love those who are close to us, we might understand the patriarchy (thanks for telling me how it works by the way), but we see men as individuals, don't we? you were never separatist or misandrist, what's happened to you? nothing's happened to her, Nzinga's voice boomed over their heads, she'd been standing behind them she wedged one damp, muscular leg between the women, and then the other, effectively separating them physically – they'd been linking arms Nzinga plonked herself down in the space she'd created, was wearing a towel, still dripping wet, launched into a speech about all men ultimately being complicit in a patriarchal system that enabled female genital mutilation and seeing as women's genitalia are being butchered all over the globe in the name of culture or religion or whatever, why not do the same to men who perpetrate most of the world's sexual violence? bank their sperm when they're virile teenagers then castrate the bastards Nzinga pressed herself up against Dominique, an arm around her neck it felt less like a sign of affection more like a strangling Amma stood up, went into the house, packed her carry-all, returned to stand in front of them I'm off, back home, your home too, Dom, come with me
Dominique didn't need rescuing, she shook her head Nzinga pulled her closer, kissed her noisily on the cheek, good girl.