Quotes from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Your eyes betray a sadness that only a worthy man can conjure, but never solve”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Every good story starts with a simple premise. This one begins with the notion of survival. The determination to live is both instinctive and ferocious. It often encourages compromise with evil. Only the Devil ever benefits from such a bargain.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“... cynicism is the only tool that can scrape away the tint off rose-coloured glasses.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“... the poor always live on debt. At this point, time is the only thing I still have the credibility to borrow.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“He had the muscular definition of a man who had spent his life restraining elephants in heat.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“The plant and animal kingdoms (excluding humans) offered some pleasant surprises. Organisms from these realms are much simpler to figure out. Their behaviours are not muddied by personality factors or flawed belief systems. If an insect smells like a fart, you can be sure that the stench has a genetic basis. It is neither trying to make a lofty point, nor is it suffering from an inferiority complex.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“In Panama, I found a spider that eats its own limbs during lean times. I am told they grow back. But though the distinction is razor-thin, desperation is not the same thing as determination. Nevertheless, auto-cannibalism is one the most intriguing phenomenon I have ever heard of.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Blood is a reservoir of delights. It is a treasure trove for those who know what to look for, and how to isolate it from the rest of the junk. I know how to do both.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Being a hangman requires you to take someone else’s life based on someone else’s judgment, and carry it out on someone else’s schedule. The job does not provide the same satisfaction that an ordinary murderer gets from smashing a skull. It robs them of the fulfillment of plunging a knife into someone’s throat. In the world of capital punishment, the prisoner’s crimes have been sanitized by years of sitting on death row. By then, the execution is a cold and impersonal affair. There is prayer, a noose, and a few last words. The prisoner then experiences a sudden rush of blood to the head. At the end of it all, you have a broken neck and a dead body swinging from the end of a rope. That is it. You don’t get to manhandle them with your own hands. That’s why the brutes you mention will never be hired. So you see, Vaida, this is not a job for a murderer. It is a job for a humanitarian.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“When a group of people are forced to navigate a minefield together, everyone feels a grudging sense of comfort when someone else gets blown up. Though there may be other unseen landmines left in the ground, each death creates a safe spot. A landmine cannot explode twice in the same place. Sure, the explosion robs the survivors of a comrade. Still, each death makes everyone’s next step marginally safer. So everyone keeps walking with grief on their faces, and relief in their hearts. Their own deaths are further postponed by the end of another life.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“I tell you, Professor, growing up is a full contact sport. Somewhere in our brains, foolishness and naïveté join forces with a false sense of invincibility. Together, they score own-goals against their host’s interests. All this happens while that referee known as ‘reason’ is collapsed in a drunken stupor, unable to stop the madness. When he finally wakes up, all he can do is grant the useless penalty known as ‘hindsight’. But the outcome remains unchanged. The game is lost …”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“I appreciate the gesture, but you don't have to undress in order to apologize”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“.... does a fair trial necessarily amount to a fair outcome?”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Never is a man more proud than when he shuffles paper in front of an illiterate person.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“The primitive craving for survival is universal in all things capable of dying. Now imagine if you could isolate the basic element that drives all animals to fight for survival? What would you do with it? I already had my own ideas when I started my search for an entity I eventually dubbed “The Determination Gene”.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Further north, I met a Siberian hermit who lived in the foothills of the Ural Mountains. His life’s passion was wrestling black bears ... in the nude (him not the bears). He did not know why he did it. All the hermit knew was that if he stopped wrestling bears, he would die.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“The funnel of my family’s salvation must continue narrowing towards the gallows. That journey cannot begin at the parted tips of another woman’s toes”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“An Abel Muranda without his wife and children would be a wandering bachelor without any dignity. He would sleep in caves and feed on wild berries. But no matter how lonely life became, he would never come to a place like this”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“You keep distracting from the main point, Vaida. I did not come to Harare to study other people’s scars. I have my own to worry about. They make me sick. I will never recover from the events that carved them into my body. You should focus on healing yours instead of creating new ones.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Vaida planted her shoulders into the back of her chair and slid her lower body towards the edge of the seat. The fabric of her retracting skirt increased the protrusion of her legs. When she was in position, Vaida made a fine adjustment to achieve the desired view.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Poetic words are usually more stimulating than accurate. Taking them too seriously is a mistake.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Every successful mission requires a clear plan. Tonight, Mrs. Sibanda’s mission was to enjoy some gratification. She would not be denied. Her plan was as clear as oxygen. It involved an expensive perfume, a bottle of wine, and audacious underwear. Yes, for such battles, lingerie was always a critical component of the offensive strategy.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“I will not mince words. There’s been enough mincing for one day. Therefore, I shall ask my question bluntly: How does a man know that his body has been turned inside out? … His eyes can see the back of his skull with an alarming clarity. I am told it hurts like hell. Especially when he refuses to explain why he has been investigating the hangman’s replacement”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“MUSHAKABVU, I may be in a tough spot, but I am more worried about you. I have never experienced anything close to a sense of kinship with any of my clients, let alone those I have never met. However, the world you sent me to investigate has inspired a selfless concern that is uncommon between strangers. I hope you are just a curious, distant observer in the affairs I have been probing ... But something tells me this hope was frustrated long before our acquaintance.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“One candidate who considered applying for the position explained his change of heart: “That job is like unprotected sex. It feels amazing at the time, but there is a good chance you will pay for it later. None of the benefits are worth the pleasure.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“... the successful recruit must be empathetic. This condition rules out the sadistic, the vengeful, and the enthusiastic. Therefore, many of the garden-variety killers who applied so far have had no chance of success, especially those who are already behind bars.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“As they say: A baking man will grasp at a hangman. Whoever gets the job will be dragged into the heat, forced to wear a massive pair of iron shoes, and frogmarched across the minefield at gunpoint.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“... the only difference between carnivores and plants is that the latter eat meat through ‘translator’ organisms. Maggots and bacteria ‘pre-chew’ dead animal matter, which plants then absorb as nutrients. So if eating pre-chewed food does not change the fact that a baby is human, why should a plant be any less of a carnivore because it out-sources the digestion of animal protein to organisms of decay?”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“The girl had a special way of saying “anything”. The gods had blessed her voice with a special monopoly. It delivered an acoustic chocolate that was laced with all flavours of euphoria. The substance led to surges in testosterone in all types of men, including the average botanist. “Anything.” The way she handled the word endowed it with so many possibilities. Professor Khupe decided to investigate how many of these Ketiwe would let him explore. To his delight the parameters of the word had proven to be quite elastic.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

“Mr. Gweta and his daughter were the cosmetics camouflaging an infected blackhead. The rest of the ugliness ran deep into a world where plants ate people and botanists lay at the bottom of the food chain.”
― Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, quote from The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption

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