Dr Fixit (151 - 160)

 151

As the 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 and we shortly 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 into 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 story-tellers 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 practicing 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)

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