Shabanu Read Online Free Page A

his fury to Dadi, whose stave is still jammed between Tipu’s great jaws. The camel backs away and lowers his head, knocking the stick aside with a toss of his neck. His fierce eyes fix on Dadi’s face. I run toward Tipu, screaming, my stick raised to strike at him, but he lowers his head again, preparing to lunge. My blow falls short by several feet, and I throw the stick at him with all my strength. He doesn’t notice when it glances off his ribs.
    Dadi locks his eyes steadily on the camel’s, unwinding his turban as he backs slowly away. Tipu rubs a foot over the ground, swaying forward and back, building momentum for a charge. As he lunges, Dadi flings his turban into the camel’s face and runs.
    We’re not far behind when Phulan’s
chadr
twists about her legs. Tipu seizes the turban and shakes it furiously, his eyes wild with hatred. I turn back to Phulan and unwrap the black cloth, throwing it to the ground. She looks confused for a moment, but I grab her arm and run, and she stumbles to keep up with me.
    I look back over my shoulder to see the camel toss back his brown domed head, shooting Dadi’s turban into theair as if it had weight, then dashing it to the ground like a broken body. He falls on it with a roar so terrifying the female camels bolt, nudging their babies into the center of the gamboling herd.
    Tipu pestles the turban to shreds in the sand with his knees and the pad on his mighty chest. We run like the hot summer wind over the hard-packed earth that surrounds the
toba
, our eyes blurred, the air whistling in our ears, feeling the shiny, cracked clay crunch under our feet.
    Once we’re beyond the
toba
bed, the shifting dunes suck at our feet as we scramble up the powdery sand, our progress dangerously slowed. Tipu is still venting his wrath on Dadi’s turban, too absorbed to realize we’ve gotten away.
    Phulan cries out and I turn in alarm, but it’s Guluband trotting up behind us. Dadi twines his fingers into the camel’s fur and swings up onto the long muscular neck. He pulls Phulan up behind him and reaches down for me.
    “Mithoo!” I say, looking around for him.
    “Don’t be stupid,” says Dadi. “Tipu isn’t interested in him.”
    “I can’t leave Mithoo alone,” I protest. The females will shove him away. He’ll be frightened.
    Dadi reaches down and grabs my arm roughly, hauling me from my feet onto Guluband’s back.
    “No!” I scream, fighting to break his grip.
    But Dadi clicks his tongue and commands
“Hunteray,”
and Guluband stretches into a long, loping gallop over the dunes, the sand glistening as it flies beneath us. I lookbehind and Tipu is smaller against the edge of the water, his head thrown back in a roar.
    A hundred feet ahead I spot Mithoo, legs flailing as he runs, veering first to the left, then right, bleating like a little lamb, but headed in approximately the right direction. The brass bell on the red cord around his neck jangles wildly.
    Dadi looks back at Tipu and orders Guluband to kneel. “Uuuussshh!” In three strides Dadi catches Mithoo, lifts him into his arms and carries him back. I throw my arms around Mithoo’s neck and Dadi’s, and we all come close to falling off as Guluband rises, back legs first, pitching us forward. Our heads bump, sending up clouds of dust. Phulan and I laugh with relief, but Dadi is silent.
    Mama and Auntie run toward us, their long, bright skirts and
chadrs
flying out on the wind. Grandpa is far behind, hobbling on his stick. We meet them halfway to the settlement, and Guluband slows to a trot. Mama is gulping air as she reaches up and grasps Dadi’s ankle before Guluband comes to a full halt. She lays her cheek against his foot.
    “Thank God, thank God,” she says over and over, tears running down her face. Mama seldom cries.
    Guluband kneels and Dadi sets Mithoo down. He scampers away, and I am about to follow when Dadi turns and grabs me by the arms.
    “Don’t ever disobey me!” he says, shaking me so