The Girl in the Red Dress

Published in Living Now Magazine March 2007

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the girl in the red dress.

“Brake” said the feeling.

“Brake hard and brake now!” it repeated.

Without thinking I jammed on the brakes.

The bus coming the other way passed by us and out from behind it came running the little Zulu girl in the red dress. She ran straight in front of the car. As she saw the car she stopped in surprise – right in the middle of the road.

We screeched to a halt just in front of her. She stared at me in disbelief. Her eyes were big. Her dress was bright red and contrasted sharply with her deep brown skin. I stared back for what seemed an eternity. Finally she smiled, turned and ran off.

“We would have run right over her” I said, turning to Savannah in the passenger seat.

“What made you brake?” she asked.

I thought about it for a while.

“Ancestors” I said slowly.

The Zulus believe that our ancestors are always watching over us and that we can receive guidance from them in our dreams. Some people are chosen by their ancestors to be Sango…