Dr Fixit (181 - 190)

 181

'or maize. If you're hungry, come home and eat.

Right here, you're safe - from head to feet.'

Of course, other people's things were on farms

and private compounds. Government didn't tie charms

to their properties. We were free to pick fallen fruits 

in the GRA but not stone them - the same rules 

applied in schools but to avoid rowdiness,

an extra layer of rules (so we wouldn't soil our dress)

could be added but out of the sight 

of the teachers, we picked and gave them a bite.

182

Then again, some folks offered food and drinks 

right at the crossroads to their gods. Only one at the brink

of madness would pick them to eat and drink.

Yeah, fruits in the village square were free. We'd slink

to wait at the bases of ehkom and bush mango trees 

during a windy day. As the fruits slipped from the leaves,

we would rush for them. Ehkom nuts dried in the sun 

tasted like a mixture of milk and sugar 

and the bush mango juice was sweeter than Fanta.

Again, some fellows claimed they ate food at the crossroads.

For most folks, it was abomination and those with 'long throats'

183

(greedy people) could dare do it. First, what offered

were sacrifices and the crossroads were like alters

to the gods who would roam the clans 

at the darkest hours of the night and if they chanced

upon the offerings for wrongdoing or healing,

they'd partake of the goodies and reeling 

like a drunk from the pleasures would grant

the seeker's request. And so every army ant 

believed who ate these things could offend 

the gods or the illness could come to their end.

184

And the one fellow I knew who had

the effrontery to partake was in fact mad .

There was a bank of river in a clan

not too far from ours where a woman

serving an 'ndem' (god) had a shrine and white chickens

freely roamed the place at all ends -

there was no enclosure or doors

to rein them in. Even wild predators 

didn't seem to target the fowls but Dumpit,

the mad guy, gathered firewood and lit

185

a fire often close by the shrine and chose

any chicken he fancied, roast and chewed.

Again, it was said the one way a starving man

could take items safely on the farm

that had on it mbiam (curse) was to eat

the items there and not take away anything (even the peels).

The hebuck (general name for curse, charms

native medicine and magic) didn't harm

knowing you were hungry and that you took

your fill. Taking anything out in the bad book 

186

would put your name and the hangman's noose 

would seek your neck. Before we got home, the news

was in every nook of our clan and beyond. The elders

over corn and pears roasting on glowing embers 

of fire dragged the pros and cons of fetishes:

the traditionalists for and churchgoers against. 'Be it fishes,

beans, coconuts or whatever; be it fresh 

or rotten,' Big Mama said while I ate the flesh

from the pear in my hand, eyeing her and her co-wife

sitting and chatting around the firelight,

187

'that's what the army ants would eat 

when the time comes.' The two rarely would sit

and chat like this except over grave issues.

They both had prudence embedded in their tissues.

I'd give it to grandma's co-wife. She worked with a purpose.

She was a workaholic who quite early rose 

to trek to distant clans to buy palm oil and 

cassava tubers and had distant farms she did plant

her cash crops. She was up at dawn 

and returned late at dusk so homework was drawn 

188

late as she returned or early before going out 

and her first daughter would oversee this was carried out.

She had four daughters and thirteen or fourteen 

was the eldest. To follow her mother's footsteps she was keen.

I dropped my eyes remembering an unwritten rule 

in the army ants' enclave - it was assumed rude 

for a child to stare at the faces

of elders when they had a chat. They thought the basis

for staring was to eavesdrop and that a flippant tongue 

would spread the topic to others which was quite wrong.

189

So I dropped my eyes to the things in my hands,

chewing one after the other. Others had in their hands 

the same corn and pears. If they didn't want me 

to listen in, they'd ask me to feel free 

to go play outside. Mama Moonit (that was the name 

of my grandma's co-wife - the word is the same 

for month and moon in Antish, that is 'Ahfeong'.

It's the name too for the female child while the male is 'Ehfeong'.

Mama Moonit's name was derived from the name 

of her first child - Moonit.) She said: 'The thing quite sane 

190

'to say is, that man was too rash

trying to use such force to get his cash 

from the defaulting tenant without

exploring sensible avenues. He allowed 

his emotions to take control of his senses.

He should've put on his smart lenses

and read the scribble on the sand.'

My grandma laughed. 'Keeping a knife near hand 

means you could use it even over a slight quarrel.

A ring with charm has a force that'd propel