Dr Fixit (231 - 240)

 231

and then made us imbibe the notion 

that seven days make a week. In our tuition,

our teachers made this their core instruction 

and gradually, the old underwent deletion.

Our town was full of artisans 

and apprentices. Most were from clans

outside our own and every weekend 

you'd see them on conveyances bend

their legs as they wheeled their bikes or would pay 

the commercial ones who would find the way 

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to their ancestral homes in the outskirts.

They littered our streets with fine shirts,

gowns, trousers and skirts. Afro hair was in

and everyone seemed to wear it. It was a din

along the main roads and parks. Somehow, the kite

went real high and far that we suffered our sights 

to have it in focus and then downwards it did spin.

The thread hooked on a branch. Its fate did dim

when the kite-flyer pulled and pulled on it 

and then it broke. From street to street 

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we suspected could lead us near 

the lost kite, the owner and his fans were 

on their feet scouring to retrieve it.

When it took long to see the kite, some kids

started dropping off - mostly near a school hall

where some youngsters kicked the football.

I could watch but I was always stalled

from playing it. Why? Generally, our folks

were concerned more with the type of fun 

that wouldn't ruin our health. They helped us shun

234

kicking football so the bone-setting bills

wouldn't eat into their pockets. The thrills

of being a footballer today was absent then

for they were dropouts and poorly-paid men.

Our parents wanted us to turn out

as doctors, engineers and bankers. I'm keeping out 

teachers and barristers. Teachers' dividends 

were commonly said to be in Heavens 

but our folks wanted to invest 

where they'd quickly reap the interest.

235

Barristers could make you think,

even if your eyes glitter like the blink

of silver, that black is indeed blue 

and everyone would believe it's true.

This one fact turned off folks from

letting their wards to buy a form

and pen down these courses as paramount.

Who ignored parents' wish would amount 

to a rebel and would either forego

their education or think of how to roll

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a plan to pay their tuition fees.

Some fathers had disowned their kids 

for ignoring their wish. While in the midst

of the spectators, I remembered the gist

in grandma's tale about time and also how

the termites surpassed the army ants. Aloud, 

I said to my friends: 'I'm going home.'

One or two joined me and we did roam

back to our neighbourhood.

I hung in the kiosk, then went and took my food

237

and crossed over to go play with Moonit 

and her sisters. This time I simply did

what kith and kin expected of me - I sat down 

on a bench and watched a die cast down 

on a ludo board on a stool in the middle 

of two benches the sisters sat on. With a needle,

another was on the half wall mending a dress.

Their mother checked to see nothing anyone misplaced 

in the remote nooks of the larger compound -

she poked them with a tool in her hand.

238

The soundbox supplied the vibes

ever composed by all the musical tribes -

high life, reggae, pop, rock, country and calypso.

Who won a round, would jump up, jiggle her torso

before returning to resume the game.

Then Moonit - after a string of losses - did name

my very self to take her place. The sun

was steadily sailing towards the horizon 

to roost. With so many people leaving the town 

for the outskirts, you'd expect the sound 

239

at night to be dull. (Who thinks that is wrong.

The opposite was the case.) Beats quite strong

enveloped the town from every angle -

young people in fancy clothes and feet entangled 

in shoes which added extra inches to their heights,

males and females, holding themselves tight

trooped out to hot spots where live bands 

sampled popular music here and in foreign lands.

They'd jiggle to music all night and return 

to their homes bleary-eyed in the morn.

240

But the entire Antburg didn't look

at these cliques with good eyes for they shook

the foundation of the value system here

with their behaviour - how youngsters did dare

to choose partners for themselves was hard

for most parents to comprehend and quite sad,

many a girl was getting pregnant and vamoose

would be the young man as the girl on a noose,

metaphorically speaking, now would hang. For being loose,

every folk blamed the girls. Truly, who did lose