Natural speed, please
Making the windmill
Gilbert and Geoffrey arrived around seven the next morning. The windmill’s frame weighed about ninety pounds and I knew the only way we would get it to the top was to use a pulley. I used my mother’s thick clothes-line wire and tied it to the windmill’s handle.
Taking the other end, I climbed the tower and put the wire over the top rung of the ladder, then dropped it down to Gilbert. Geoffrey stood on the middle rungs to guide
the machine as it went up. ‘Okay, Gilbert,’ I shouted. ‘Bring it up!’ Carefully he began pulling the wire. The frame rose into the air. The three of us pulled at the wire with all our strength. ‘Come on, guys,’ I shouted. ‘I’m pulling as hard as I can!’ Gilbert said.
‘Don’t let it slip, Geoffrey!’ ‘You do your job and I’ll do mine,’ he replied. Little by little, the windmill made its way up the tower. With each pull, it swung and hit its huge blades
against the tower. ‘Don’t let the blades break!’ After half an hour, we finally had it close to the top. I grabbed the handle and screamed down to Gilbert, ‘Tie it down!’ Gilbert put the wire around the pole and the windmill held. Then Geoffrey joined me at the top to secure it in place. The day before, we’d made two holes in the wooden poles. We’d also taken the bicycle to Godsten1’s shop and he’d made two holes in the frame. As Geoffrey pulled the °bolts and °nuts from his pocket, I held the windmill. I could feel the
machine pulling in my hands. ‘Make it fast, this thing is heavy!’ I said. Geoffrey put in the bolts and tightened them. Then we looked at each other and smiled. I could hardly wait to watch the blades spin. While Geoffrey made his way down the tower, I stayed at the top. To the north, I could see the roofs of the trading centre and the brown huts behind the market. Then something strange began to happen. A line of people began walking in my direction. They’d seen the tower from the distance. Within a few minutes, there were a dozen people at the base. I recognized a few of them. One was named Kalino. ‘What is this thing?’ he asked. Since there’s no word in Chichewa for windmill, I used the phrase magesti a mphepo. ‘Electric wind,’ I answered. ‘What does it do?’ ‘Makes electricity from the wind. ‘That’s impossible,’ Kalino said, laughing. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘just stand back and watch.’ I climbed down from the tower and ran to my room to get the final piece. That morning I’d found a thick reed and cut a piece to hold the dynamo’s small light bulb. I then put a long copper wire around the base of the bulb and put it through the reed, so that one end hung out the side. This was my socket. Holding the socket and bulb, I climbed the tower again and connected their wires to the
ones from the dynamo. As I worked, more and more people arrived. ‘What do you think he’s doing now?’ asked a farmer named Banda. ‘This is the misala from the scrapyard my children were talking about,’ another man answered. ‘His poor mother!’ Looking out, I saw my parents and sisters at the back of the crowd, eyes wide and waiting. Their mouths hung open, as if there were seconds left on the clock and I had the ball. In addition to my family, there were about thirty adults, and just as many children. They
pointed at me. ‘Let’s see how crazy this boy really is.’ Wind whistled through the rungs of the tower. The bicycle spoke was in the wheel to hold it in place, but now the machine moved, as if begging me to free it. Here it goes, I thought. I pulled the bicycle spoke out and the blades began to spin. The tyre turned slowly. I needed it to go faster, immediately. ‘Come on,’ I begged. Come on, I thought. Come on. Just then the wind pushed against my body and inches above my head the blades began to spin like a set of angry propellers. I held the bulb before me, waiting for my miracle. It flickered once. Just a flash at first, then an amazing bright light. My heart nearly burst. ‘Look,’ someone shouted. ‘He’s made light!’ It was beautiful light, and it was mine! I threw my hands in the air and screamed with happiness, laughing so hard that I became dizzy.
I looked down at the eyes below … now wide in disbelief. ‘Electric wind!’ I shouted. One by one, the crowd began to cheer. They raised their hands in the air, clapping and shouting, ‘Wachitabwina! Well done!’ ‘You did it, William!’ ‘We doubted you, but look at you now!’ ‘That’s right’, I said. ‘And I’m going bigger now. Just wait and see.
