Dr Fixit (061 - 070)

 061

towards the wellbeing of the person and family.

You're asked: 'Huka?' That is, 'How is your mommy?'

and also: 'Husor?' How is your father?

'Ahka hukeh?' is the probe further

to know where you are going. Done answering,

the parting word is, 'Wara.' The uttering

all over Antburg means, 'Goodbye.'

Before I resume my narrative, let me try

and explain some related words to the ones above.

'Ehka' is mother, 'husor' is father. I still point above:


062

the 'husor' and 'huka' with question marks make

the sound, 'hu' mean 'how is (or) where is ...' If awake,

in or out, in good health ... is the question 

and if from a known person, the core option

is to answer truthfully. Otherwise, use your head.

Your parents would tell you, you're smart. I bet.

Done with the greeting, I'd fill the bucket

with water and wash my face, from forehead

to chin and wipe it with a clean rag

and pick the chewing stick and wag


063

the stuff up and down to clean my teeth.

Then, I would pick the broom and sweep

the compound from the front yard to back

and the refuse (mostly leaves) I would stack

on the bases of banana and plantain.

If there were any domestic animals, to the pen

I'd drag them but they never lasted long there

as the army ants' fangs were impatient to tear

and make meat of their flesh which they'd freeze

and store for future use and yes, this -


064

I hissed recalling grandma's take last night -

made the army ants drop from a great height

and the termites eventually stole the limelight

of being the first to erect a house with a long flight

of stairs that brushed the distant cloud.

Oh, that would have made us really proud.

To have a dream is great but quite lame

(from the tale) would be it if I couldn't tame

or even drop some carnal pursuits...

I'd thought hard and forgot the threshold, so my foot


065

I hit. I bent down, nursed it and then limped

to the kitchen. I took out the rubbish bin

and emptied it and returned, the basin

and it's contents to wash. There was a din

in a compound next to ours for kids,

around my age and a bit older, would quarrel and hit

each other for disagreement was rife

(for they were plenty as bees in a hive)

about who would clean what or cook,

sometimes they'd fight and tear a book.


066

It was time for school. Done with domestics,

I took my bath as grandma's ladle did acrobatics

in the oil sizzling in a pan as she fried

plantain which I took with beans and pap. I dived

along the path where I met other kids

with their school bags and boxes. We did proceed

happily and noisily to our school.

We kept our things in the classrooms. Being the rule,

the boys picked the cutlasses, rakes and brooms

to tidy the paths and fields. The classrooms


067

and the flower beds the girls maintained.

The Compound Master and the prefects attained

robustly to overseeing every task was done.

When the timekeeper rang the bell, we'd turn

our shoed or bare feet to the assembly ground.

There we  formed the lines based around

our classes, shorter pupils at the front,

the taller ones behind. When the band beat the drums,

we joyfully sang along and stamped our feet

and marched around the pitch. Every week


068

a different teacher was assigned for devotion

but the head teacher on a special occasion

would take the podium and address all

and on such a day, we'd gather in a large hall

and not the football pitch. My class teacher,

Mrs Bearit, was in charge today. She did patter

her feet and sang along with the kids,

every foot stepping and arm swinging to the beat

of the boisterous school band. When the first row

of pupils spontaneously stopped (that was quite a show),


069

stamped their feet and the rows behind followed,

then everyone automatically turned and the last rows

now being first, marched back to the point

they all started from. When all stopped and turned

to face the front of the assembly ground,

the school band would shortly stop to pound

their drums and the singing and marching would end

as to the spiritual, the teacher would attend.

We sang a hymn, prayed and to the classes

we all dispersed. The head with his glasses


070

gazed smilingly through a space between louvres

of the front window of his office at the teachers

and pupils rushing back to the classrooms.

The Compound Master and the Labour Prefect gave brooms

and other working tools to latecomers 

and took them to the remote corners

like the farms and lavatories to work.

Only those who finished would return to the school block.

The pupils quietened as lessons began.

It was our second lesson. A boy ran

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