security

The officer follows me beyond the battered wire fence of the station. "Do you know anyone who is interested in machines?"

Machines?

"I am only a policeman because of security," he says. His black boots are well-shined, unlike (I noticed earlier) his superior's. He is 24, he says. I imagine his mother ironed his grey shirt that morning. "There were white people coming to my place to look at my machines. They said I was an MDC supporter. It was better for me to join.

"But really, it is not what I want to do."

His eyes light up when he talks about his inventions. Machines for grinding nuts, machines for irrigation. What he wants to do is make something big. Like Daniel Shumba's helicopter in Harare (which hasn't taken off -- yet).

I feel old standing next to him and his eagerness -- old and aware people are watching. How many other kids, brimming with potential, joined the force "because of security"?