The White Giraffe

Jemmy lands safely on the ground, and Martine realizes that they haven’t disappeared but have landed in a secluded grotto hidden by draping vines. Towering walls of granite protect the lush bower that Martine names the “Secret Valley” (104), and she now understands that this is the place where Jemmy hides. She sees a tunnel into a cave, and although she knows it could lead to danger, Martine moves to investigate it as if an invisible force is pulling her. The cave is dark and filled with bats, and its slimy, dank interior unnerves her. However, once she moves into the larger cavern and shines her flashlight around, Martine discovers drawings from ancient peoples covering the cavern walls.

The drawings tell the story of how the people lived and died and include depictions of giraffes dying. Feeling overwhelmed by her discovery, Martine sits down and considers all that has happened since coming to South Africa and how much she has changed, including learning to face her fears. She decides to tell no one about the Secret Valley so that she can protect it from those who would exploit its mysteries. Taking another look at the paintings, Martine sees a depiction of a child riding a white giraffe, and she shudders as she remembers Tendai’s pronouncement of the myth and Grace’s words about her gift.

Martine must leave the cave and return home before anyone notices she is missing. She hugs Jemmy goodbye and crawls out of the cave while staying hidden from the poachers who are nearby. Seeing the poachers as her only way out of the preserve, Martine makes a quick decision to jump in the back of the truck and hide under a tarp. As the truck moves, Martine tries to catch a glimpse of the poachers, but they have disguised their appearance with masks. She can tell that one man is white and one man, who has a tattoo on his wrist, is Black. While they ride, Martine thinks about the mysterious death of her grandfather and realizes that over the years, the poachers have not been hunting just any giraffes; they are hunting the one giraffe, her Jemmy. Martine wonders if Alex is the culprit or if someone else at Sawubona is plotting against them, but she cannot allow herself to think that it might be Tendai. The truck swerves, tossing Martine from the truck bed, and she races to the house to shower, wash her clothes, and prepare for school before Gwyn returns.

Police officers arrive, and Martine sees her grandmother speaking with them, along with Alex and Tendai. The poachers are also there in handcuffs. Alex shot their tires so they couldn’t escape, and with Tendai’s help, held them until the police arrived. When Martine studies Tendai’s face, she suspects that something is amiss. As Martine walks away, Alex approaches and apologizes to her for threatening her. He claims that he has become obsessed with catching the poachers and has gone too far to protect the animals in the preserve. Sensing Martine’s reticence, Alex explains that he shot the kudu as a test of Tendai’s resolve and to make certain he could trust him. Afterward, Martine isn’t sure whom to trust at Sawubona, except for Jemmy.

Ten days pass with no sign of Jemmy, and Martine becomes desperate to know that he is safe. Ever since the incident at the botanical gardens, the students at school have been bullying Martine. Ben smiles at her in the hallways but doesn’t speak, and Martine feels utterly alone. She also discovers that her grandfather was a dog trainer and finds his collection of dog whistles. Humans cannot hear the sound of the whistles, but Martine wonders if Jemmy might be able to hear them like dogs can. When she tries it, Jemmy responds, and the sight of her friend, safe and healthy, thrills Martine. She longs to ride him again and must teach him to lie down so she can mount his back safely. Jemmy learns quickly, and after several tries, she once again rides atop his back as he flies through the preserve. Martine still recognizes the dangers of the bush, such as aggressive hippos, but she feels safe sitting on Jemmy’s back and falls deeper in love with the African landscape. She spends the night snuggled with Jemmy while watching the stars and telling him about her life. As she speaks, “Jemmy’s ears [flick] back and forth, and he [makes] his fluttering musical sound, and somehow she [feels] that in his giraffe way, he [understands] everything” (125). Martine continues to use the whistle to call Jemmy a few times a week, careful to make sure that no one notices.

Martine longs to speak with Grace again to see if the old woman can answer her many questions. However, each time she asks Tendai to take her to Grace, he says that her grandmother forbids it. Taking matters into her own hands, Martine decides to return to the Secret Valley to search for answers. She whistles to Jemmy and rides him to the hidden bower. When she arrives, Grace is there dressed in traditional clothing, as if she is waiting for Martine. Though Martine has many questions, Grace explains that all the answers are written in the drawings on the cave wall, for the drawings are laid out like a story and tell the events of her people.

Grace explains that many generations before, all the people that lived in the cave died to save one girl who was a “sangoma, a traditional healer (131). When the sangoma called for help from the gods, they sent fire, which explains why everything near the valley looks dead. Grace explains that Martine is also a healer in a long line of sangomas, and she has come to the cave to give Martine a warning that danger is coming and that Martine will soon be called upon to use her gift. Using small bottles of tinctures, Grace teaches Martine all that she knows about plant medicine. Before Grace leaves, Martine asks her why her grandmother is so cold, and Grace explains that Gwyn loves Martine but has secrets in her past that plague her. Grace is more concerned that Martine is alone at school and encourages her to make new friends, but Martine says that Jemmy is the only friend she needs.

At school, Martine overhears the Five Star Gang taunting and bullying Ben near a ravine that towers over the Black Horse River raging below. The group members say horrible things to Ben as they push him closer to the edge. Martine intervenes by berating the group and hurling personal insults at each one. The gang disperses, but Ben is not appreciative of her help as he says, “I prefer to fight my own battles” (137). Though Ben doesn’t speak to her after the incident, all the members of the Five Star Gang change their attitude toward her and are kinder and more inclusive, as if they respect her because she stood up to them. Despite feeling less alone, Martine has an uncanny feeling that someone is snooping in her locker when she notices that a drawing she made of Jemmy is missing.

Martine arrives in class late after searching her locker and hears Miss Volkner teaching a lesson about African folklore. When the topic of giraffes comes up, Miss Volkner asks Martine what she knows about giraffes since she lives on the preserve. Martine reluctantly divulges her extensive knowledge of giraffes but carefully avoids saying too much. Lucy claims that giraffes are “dumb,” and Martine instinctively defends the species, proclaiming their intelligence. She even asserts that people can call them with a dog whistle, but she regrets the words immediately. Xhosa asks if she knows about the mythical white giraffe, and she claims that it doesn’t exist. Later after swim practice, Martine returns to her locker and finds that the dog whistle is also missing.

After the disturbing disappearance of the whistle, Martine discovers that someone has changed the combination on the preserve gate’s lock, and Tendai is missing from his home. Martine has a fitful night of sleep as she worries over every possible horrific thing that the poachers might have done to Jemmy. She also has a nightmare that the Five Star Gang is chasing her through a forest fire. When she awakens, Gwyn Thomas is at her door and tells her that she knows about the white giraffe. Gwyn shows her a piece of Jemmy’s hair that Tendai found caught in the fence when he went to investigate a call that animals had escaped. The call was a false alarm: just a way to divert his attention so the poachers could break into the preserve.

Gwyn tells her granddaughter that Martine was born in Sawubona. At her birth, Grace proclaimed that she would be the fulfillment of the prophecy, and all the animals in the preserve came near the house. However, Grace also prophesied that Martine would also experience tragedy, so her parents decided to leave Sawubona. Gwyn and Henry were heartbroken, but they understood their daughter’s fears for Martine’s safety. Four months ago, Grace predicted that something bad was about to happen and begged Gwyn to warn Veronica. When Gwyn told Veronica and asked her to move the family back to Africa, Veronica became angry and refused to believe the prophecy. Gwyn regrets that her last conversation with her daughter was an argument. Gwyn apologizes to Martine for being so emotionally distant, but she is afraid to grow close to someone whom she fears losing again.

Gwyn explains that Jemmy was born after Henry was attacked by the poachers. The poachers killed his mother, but an elephant adopted the white giraffe and shepherded it to the safety of the hidden valley. Henry made Gwyn promise that no record of the giraffe’s birth would ever be made and that its existence would be kept a secret. Martine tells her grandmother that Jemmy is her best friend, and she must help him.

Gwyn takes Martine to Grace’s house to ask for help in finding Jemmy, but the tone between the women is frosty. Grace insists on feeding Martine porridge, and as soon as she eats the food, it calms Martine’s nervous stomach. Grace asks Martine if she saw the poachers’ faces, and she tells her that she thinks Alex is involved. Gwyn protests, claiming that Henry trusted Alex, but Grace quiets her and asserts that they must listen to Martine. Grace closes the curtains and produces a small pouch of bones which she scatters on the floor. As the ritual begins, Grace’s eyes roll back into her head, and Martine sees smoke rising from the bones. In the smoke, she sees faint images of people from long ago. Grace proclaims that she sees “blue water and boats that go up to the sky” (158), and Gwyn interprets this to mean that the poachers have taken Jemmy to the port in Cape Town to transport him overseas.

After fighting traffic and several roadblocks, Martine and Gwyn arrive near the coast. Martine notices how the landscape changes as rows of nicer homes give way to the impoverished part of the city, and she thinks about Tendai’s childhood in Soweto. When they arrive at the docks, Martine insists on going by herself, claiming that Jemmy’s capture is her fault. Gwyn agrees, saying that she will come looking for her if she’s not back in under an hour. Martine sneaks past the guard shack but soon realizes that a Rottweiler guard dog is blocking her path. Using her gift, she speaks to the dog assertively and demands that he let her pass. The dog backs down, and Martine moves toward the towering stacks of shipping containers. Suddenly someone knocks her to the ground and says she is trespassing, but when she looks up, Martine sees that Ben is her captor.

Ben’s father is a sailor on the ship Aurora, and after Martine tells him the full story of Jemmy, he agrees to help her find the giraffe. He explains that his father has been suspicious that someone is using the Aurora to illegally transport “exotic” animals abroad. After diverting a security guard by telling him that the captain needs to see him, Ben helps Martine find the key room. A large man bangs on the door, but they race away toward the lower-hold area. They run into another sailor Ben knows, and Ben lies, saying that he’s just giving Martine a tour. The man tells them they must leave the ship before it sails in 15 minutes. Ben doesn’t want to risk his father losing his job, so he tells Martine that she must find Jemmy on her own.

Using the key, she opens the heavy door to the storage area. The room is filled with crates full of sad, sickly animals, but she doesn’t see Jemmy. She does see a crate holding leopards, which she knows belong to Sawubona. Martine finds holds a notebook with a list of animals, and she locates the giraffe. When she finds Jemmy, he is lying down, severely injured. She places her hands on him and feels the heat transfer “a pure feeling, like love” (171). Jemmy begins breathing more strongly, and she gets him to a standing position though he is still weak. As they take the elevator back to the upper levels, Martine climbs on Jemmy’s back, preparing for their escape but not knowing exactly how she will pull it off. When the elevator door opens, Alex is there speaking to someone on his phone about how easy it was to capture the giraffe. He sees Martine astride Jemmy, turns pale, drops his phone, and calls for someone to secure the exit. Jemmy kicks Alex and knocks him out, then leaps across the closing gangplank just as the ship is pulling away from the dock.

Jemmy bounds through the gates of the shipyard and out into the streets of Cape Town, but miraculously, no one chases them, and Jemmy instinctually knows the way back home. Most people are in stunned awe at the sight of them. When Martine and Jemmy reach the outer limits of the city, Jemmy stops running, and it begins to rain. People stream out of their homes to watch them ride past.

The police arrest Alex and Xhosa’s father, who were working together to steal and sell animals to a man in Kazakhstan. They learn that Alex only chased the other poachers because they were rivals. They also later learn that Alex insisted that he tried to save Henry’s life the night the poachers attacked. Tendai arrives, and Martine is relieved to see the stolen leopards in his Jeep. She rides Jemmy home, where Grace is waiting for her. She says a tearful goodbye to Jemmy and bids him to return to the Secret Valley for safety. Though Martine expresses her fear that she has failed in many ways, Grace commends her for her bravery and good decision-making. Grace explains that this incident was just a test and is only the beginning of Martine’s global adventures.