Dr Fixit (151 - 160)

 151

As the elderly couple passed, the rat-drawn cart

followed shortly after with uniformed men playing the part 

of a police patrol. When the cart trundled past,

Bendit dropped his bucket, wheeled round fast,

stood at attention, pushed his chest out

and placed the back of his hand, palm spread out,

right across his forehead. The patrol men

acknowledged him. The rest of us waved at them 

and they all waved back. The vehicle disappeared 

at a bend. We walked on and then appeared 

152

at the junction where Library Avenue 

bisected Stadium Road and from here we could view 

the stadium podium ahead of us and the high-rise 

(two storeys actually as the termites stole the star prize 

for the tallest edifice ever built under the plants)

to the right of us housed books written by army ants 

on every topic they tailored to a course

from cookery to engineering and of course 

the military and politics. But my fascination 

was about books on Mr Tortoise and the notion 

153

that on several occasions he outwitted 

Mr Lion. Throughout the clans, he was lauded

by the storytellers as we sat in the moonlight 

listening to their tales. I desired to sight 

these books as I was told more of these tales

were embedded in them and prominently placed 

on the shelves of the library. I would decode 

every tale in the books if every note 

by my teacher I could read and understand.

So visiting the library was one of my core plans.

154

Some cadets were practising on the main pitch 

of the stadium with a ball, others near the ditch

by the road were sprinting along the track 

and by a corner, some gloved hands hit the sack 

filled with sand, then we heard the bugle blow.

The lights in the town were on and the flow

of traffic was homeward. After the complex

called Post Office was the leisure park next:

it was encircled by paths forming

a conglomerate of junctions. Running 

155

from a distant clan to form a T-junction 

with Stadium Road and passing where millions 

of army ants stashed their cash in bank vaults

to form a crossroads (where the carts did somersaults 

due to reckless driving by some drunken rats)

was Bonesetters Road. The three paths 

joining it to form the crossroads 

were Dancers, Snailwatchers and Bush Mango Roads.

Prison Staff Club Crescent linked Bonesetters 

and Bush Mango Roads. Long yarns by storytellers

156

had it that dancers is a euphemism 

for fawners as these folks would flick their 'nsim'

(that is, tails) like dogs till they would get hold 

of what you treasured and vamoose. The role 

of the Snailwatchers clan wasn't for fun 

they just watched the snails walk and run

all over their neighbourhoods. It was a taboo

if they messed around with one they'd woo

grave consequences like ill-health or even death.

Why? Because once when war posed a threat

157

to the collective peace of the clan,

the consulted ahbiah hebuck shattered the plan

quite heinous by concocting his mojo

and the advancing enemy troops moved slow

and even changed their minds from the planned assault.

Big snails were seen as sacred by default 

all across the clan. Just like snails 

walked freely in Snailwatchers, the shells

of tortoises were seen moving in all the nooks 

of the Bonesetters clan from remote brooks 

158

to the tarred paths of the town. The collarbone

of a dead tortoise that had died on its own

was the fundamental element 

in the bone-setting ingredients

that would speedily reposition 

a dislocated joint, not in a concoction,

but by merely slinging and tying it 

to the affected part. Who dared kill and eat 

a tortoise even in utmost secret 

would be known for being sacred,

159

its vengeance was wrought alone

by the gods who daily lapped the things thrown 

by the traditionalists on the ground 

(who daily watched their shrines shrinking all around)

invoking them to keep doing their deeds

even when bulk of worshippers' spirits 

stood and faltered at the crossroads.

Long as we had ponds and the toads 

still infested them and their croaks

were heard across the clans, the folks 

160

who ate what was forbidden across the clans

would be plagued by strange ailments that would demand 

the attention of the ahbiah hediong (the man

or woman attending to the oracle) who would scan

with his instrument of divination 

the spiritual realm for instruction

on the cause and cure for the ailments.

The ahbiah hediong to a predicament 

was brought in to intervene when it seemed 

to be protracted. Their role was to reveal a sin,